Beethoven, the Man and the Artist, as Revealed in His Own Words

Ludwig van BeethovenProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.5
Word count
134K words
Chapters
14

Tags

English Originals MusicArtists Portrait GalleryInspirationSlow ReadingMoral CultivationFamous Figures

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Beethoven, the Man and the Artist, as Revealed in His Own Words by BeethovenAuthor: Beethoven, Ludwig van, 1770-1827,Language: English, Class: ML: Music: Literature of music, Release Date: Nov 1, 2002

Editor's review

Drawing on Beethoven's own letters, notes, and recorded remarks, this book lets the composer speak directly about creation, artistic views, and daily circumstances rather than having later writers biographize him. The editor arranges the material by theme, so readers can see his insistence on musical expression, his attitudes toward publishing and performance, and scattered self-accounts of his deafness and situation. Its value lies in the firsthand nature of the material and the genuineness of the tone, making it a useful introductory corroboration for understanding Beethoven the man and the artist. Read it as a documentary selection rather than a complete biography, and note each item's source and context to avoid treating fragments as complete conclusions.

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Reading tips

  1. Read by thematic group and note the core points after each group
  2. For each quotation, read the editor's note first and then judge its context and weight
  3. Listen to Beethoven's works alongside reading to compare remarks with hearing

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14

FAQ

Is this a complete autobiography written by Beethoven? No. The listing shows it is a selection compiled from Beethoven's own letters, notes, and remarks, a book that presents the man and artist through his own words rather than a continuous autobiography. Read it as a collection of primary documents.
Can I read this without knowing music theory? Yes. The book consists mainly of remarks and letters, focusing on artistic attitudes and felt circumstances rather than score-based technical analysis. Basic English reading ability is enough; familiarity with Beethoven's major works will make it smoother.
Can the material be quoted directly as historical fact? The material has primary value, but the selection reflects the editor's choices and grouping. When quoting, check the specific source and context, distinguish Beethoven's own words from editorial notes, and avoid expanding fragmentary remarks into overall judgments.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Ludwig van Beethoven Author · German · 1770–1827

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) was a German composer and the most outstanding musical figure of the transition from Classicism to Romanticism. Baptized in Bonn in 1770 and died in Vienna in 1827, he composed nine symphonies, numerous piano sonatas, concertos and string quartets, among which the Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Opus 67, is the most widely known. He continued to compose despite deafness in his later years, and his letters and remarks have come down to us in such documents as Beethoven's Letters 1790–1826 and Beethoven, the Man and the Artist, as Revealed in His Own Words. This library holds five of his works, covering symphonies, letter collections and autobiographical documents; public information on the details of his life is limited, and the subject matter and documentary value of these works are the main basis for understanding his artistic profile.