# Great biographies



## Waehnen (Oct 31, 2021)

I would be interested in great "Life and works" -type of biographies on Beethoven, Mahler and Brahms.

Can you recommend any? I hade a look at the sticky list but it is not all that comprehensive.

A good composer biography is written by somebody who is also able to analyze the music.


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

Jan Swafford's books on Beethoven and Brahms are both excellent.


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## RICK RIEKERT (Oct 9, 2017)

My choice for Mahler is Jens Malte Fischer’s in-depth biography which not only explores Mahler’s songs and symphonies in detail, but also his connection to literature, society and philosophy, and how these affected his music. The book was originally written in German and has been expertly translated into English by by Stewart Spencer, who also translated Hermann Abert's classic biography of Mozart.


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## Brahmsian Colors (Sep 16, 2016)

Jan Swafford's _Johannes Brahms_ and Malcolm MacDonald's _Brahms_ are the most enjoyable among the several works I've read on the composer.


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## Triplets (Sep 4, 2014)

Maynard 
Solomon Beethoven biography is great, albeit very Freudian. I haven't read Stafford's Beethoven biography but really enjoyed his Brahms


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## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

*Alan Walker*'s three volume biography of *Franz Liszt* is very good:

_Franz Liszt, Volume 1: The Virtuoso Years: 1811-1847
Franz Liszt, Volume 2: The Weimar Years: 1848-1861
Franz Liszt, Volume 3: The Final Years: 1861-1886_

He also wrote a good bio of Chopin: 
_Fryderyk Chopin: A Life and Times_.

_Summertime: George Gershwin's Life in Music_
*Richard Crawford*

_Schumann: The Faces and the Masks_
*Judith Chernaik*

I especially enjoyed this one, which is not a biography, per se, but does touch on that kind of thing:

_Crossing Paths: Schubert, Schumann, and Brahms_
*John Daverio*


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## Waehnen (Oct 31, 2021)

Thank you for the most valuable recommendations!


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## composingmusic (Dec 16, 2021)

A couple that come to mind are Oliver Soden’s biography of Tippett and the Peter Hill/Nigel Simeone book on Messiaen.


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## composingmusic (Dec 16, 2021)

Oh, I see you were looking for biographies specific to Beethoven, Mahler, and Brahms… the Lockwood book on Beethoven comes to mind.


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

If you're looking for things along the lines of The Man and His Music, biography and analysis, the extraordinary, lengthy, and expensive four-volume biography of Mahler by Henry Louis de la Grange is hard to beat. Every volume is exhaustive (and exhausting) in the details of his life and each volume has a very, very length discussion of the works written covering the time frame for that volume. For each symphony you get the complete detailed history of being written, changes in different editions, performance history, and then a movement by movement analysis of the music. 

For Brahms, the classic is Brahms: His Life and Work, by Karl Geiringer. It is not as detailed as Swafford, but quite readable and you get a good overview of his life. The discussion of the music doesn't require a music degree, which is a good thing.


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

Lockwood is the Beethoven biography I recommend for the person who will probably only want one. Solomon is good but overly Freudian; Swafford is long and has curious flaws.


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

PS: Solomon's detective work identifying the mysterious "Immortal Beloved" is first rate -- although some proponents of other candidates are still making noise.


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