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Thayer's Life of Beethoven, 2 Volumes Hardcover – January 1, 1967

by Elliot Forbes (Editor)

5.0 1 rating

Alexander Wheelock Thayer’s Life of Beethoven Has long been regarded as the classic biography of Beethoven. Thayer’s approach to biography was to present in chronological order the factual evidence concerning Beethoven, the man and his work, and to eliminate the analysis and aesthetic evaluation of the music. To gather the materials necessary for such an undertaking, he went to Europe. There he spent most of his life seeking out those persons still alive who had known Beethoven and studying the sources that were available. His biography succeeded in clearing away the romantic Fiction that was then, in the 1870s, current. He gave a full account of the composers life which was based on reliable, historical method. His work was originally published in German, and it was not until 1921 that H.E. Krehbiel’s English edition of the biography appeared. Since that time, Beethoven research revealed new facts which necessitated a revision of the biography. The present editor, Elliot Forbes, professor of music at Harvard University has incorporated these corrections and revisions in the spirit of Thayer’s original approach. Forbes has presented them as he believes they are would have done had he had the advantage of knowing, through the discovery of new letters, sketchbooks, and documents, what is now known about Beethoven’s life. Volume one consists of 27 chapters starting with the electoral court at Bonn and finishing with the year 1814. Volume two his 23 more chapters starting with the year 1815 and finishing with 1827. There is a bibliography in volume one and index at the end of volume two along with a separate index to compositions. Volume to also has nine appendices.

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"A model of objective biography, one that is amazingly modern and as valuable today as when it was written. . . . Thayer's Life remains the definitive biography." ― The New York Times