Beethoven's Letters
by Ludwig van Beethoven
List Price:
Our Price: $10.55
You Save: $4.40 (29%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $7.00 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Ludwig van BeethovenEdition: Paperback
Audio: German (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 1972-06-01
ISBN: 0486227693
Number of pages: 410
Publisher: Dover Publications
Book Reviews of Beethoven's Letters
Book Review: BEETHOVEN "A Look Behind The Notes"
Summary: 5 Stars
Beethoven's Letters
As a pianist, teacher, adjudicator, examiner, critic and author, I am often presented with performances of Beethoven's works that offer no insight or understanding of Beethoven the man or his music! When giving master classes, I encourage students to read his letters and analyze his music before attempting to perform it. Most consider Beethoven an unpleasant, angry, reclusive human being! Beethoven's letters prove these thoughts to be totally invalid! When writing to his brothers (Heiligenstadt Testament),Beethoven shows an essence of lament because he is so distraught about the false opinions of others toward him. In his letter's we find the true essence of this great man.
Beethoven was a man of morality, truth, and beauty very much like Schubert. Beethoven's deep love of nature is well-known and well documented in his letters and shows in his music too! He was a deeply religious man. Beethoven's attitude may have been more of conventional Catholic ecclesiastical views, but as his letters show, there are countless evidences of his spirituality.
In Beethoven's letter's the fundamental differences are clear. I feel the most important ones are these:
Purity. There is never one single moment of something demonic or unhealthy in his music.
Dignity. He is always completely honest in his music. And there is never a trace of something that might be interpreted as self pity. Pain and sorrow, yes, but nothing to suggest that he ever felt sorry for himself.
His letter's convey a very good guess that Beethoven's deafness may have been a result of his attempts to press his excellent hearing sense to the extreme in order to gain the ultimate understanding of music! The reading of Beethoven's letters is paramount for those who truly want to know the essence of the man and how to approach performing his music!
Author: Raymond Vacchino M.Mus.(MT) A.Mus. L.R.S.M. Licentiate (hon.)
Biographies & Memoirs Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Audiobooks on Cassette
- Audiobooks on CD
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- e-Books
- Engineering
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Medicine
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in A LOOK BEHIND THE NOTES!
Prokofiev's Piano Sonatas: A Guide for the Listener and the Performerby Boris Berman
Yale University Press; Published: 2008-04-24; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $27.75
Price in other shops:
This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsessionby Daniel J. Levitin
Plume/Penguin; Published: 2007-08-28; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.41
Price in other shops:
The Letters Of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozartby Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Kessinger Publishing; Published: 2004-06-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $14.72
Price in other shops:
The Romantic Generation (The Charles Eliot Norton Lectures)by Charles Rosen
Harvard University Press; Published: 1998-09-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $14.76
Price in other shops:
The Classical Style: Haydn, Mozart, Beethovenby Charles Rosen
W. W. Norton & Company; Published: 1998-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.25
Price in other shops:
Practical Piano Pedagogyby Martha Baker-Jordan
Warner Bros. Publications; Published: 2004-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $29.59
Price in other shops:
The Art of Teaching PianoMusic Sales Corp.; Published: 2004-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $23.16
Price in other shops:
Mozart's Piano Concertosby John Irving
Ashgate Publishing; Published: 2003-02; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $99.95
Musical Thoughts and Afterthoughtsby Alfred Brendel
Noonday Pr; Published: 1991-04; Paperback; Book
Price in other shops:
Beethoven's Lettersby Ludwig van Beethoven
Dover Publications; Published: 1972-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.17
Price in other shops:
Similar books summaries and other product reviews
Beethoven: The Man and the Artist, As Revealed in His Own Wordsby Friedrich Kerst
Dover Publications; Published: 1964-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.69
Price in other shops:
Memories of Beethoven: From the House of the Black-Robed Spaniards (Canto original series)by Gerhard von Breuning
Cambridge University Press; Published: 1995-03-31; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.00
Price in other shops:
Chopin's Lettersby Frederic Chopin
Dover Publications; Published: 1988-02-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.42
Price in other shops:
Beethoven: His Spiritual Developmentby J.W.N. Sullivan
Vintage; Published: 1960-02-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.29
Price in other shops:
Late Beethoven: Music, Thought, Imaginationby Maynard Solomon
University of California Press; Published: 2004-10-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $14.39
Price in other shops:
Beethoven: The Universal Composer (Eminent Lives)by Edmund Morris
Harper Collins; Published: 2005-10-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $5.70
Price in other shops:
Mozart's Letters, Mozart's Lifeby Robert Spaethling
W. W. Norton; Published: 2005-12-19; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.88
Price in other shops:
Beethoven: The Music and the Lifeby Lewis Lockwood
W. W. Norton & Company; Published: 2005-01-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $13.10
Price in other shops:
Beethoven As I Knew Him (The Norton library)by Anton Felix Schindler
W. W. Norton & Company; Published: 1972-11-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $21.17
Price in other shops:
Beethoven (Revised Edition)by Maynard Solomon
Schirmer Trade Books; Published: 2001-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.18
Price in other shops: