# New Biography: "Beethoven: Anguish and Triumph" by Jan Swafford



## JACE (Jul 18, 2014)

Has anyone had an opportunity to read this yet? Or are you planning to?

I've read three of Swafford's previous books. His Charles Ives biography was a tremendous achievement. No joke: it's one of the best biographies I've ever read. His biography of Johannes Brahms was also excellent. And Swafford's _Vintage Guide to Classical Music_ is a well-written, fascinating introduction to classical music. Many years ago, as a classical music newbie, I read it voraciously from cover-to-cover.

I bet his Beethoven book will be just as good as the others.

It's quite a tome, coming in at more than 1100 pages.

Just released today.

BTW: I have no connection to Jan Swafford, commercial or otherwise. I'm just a fan.


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## Fugue Meister (Jul 5, 2014)

Thanks for this, I'm going to get myself a copy now that you've brought it to my attention. Must read everything on Beethoven.


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## DiesIraeCX (Jul 21, 2014)

Thank you for the info, unfortunately I haven't read it. I already have 2 Beethoven biographies. One is the "Beethoven: The Man Revealed" by John Suchet, which I fully recommend. It's written more like a page-turner than a true biography but it works very well for the most part. He's prone to theorizing and hypothesizing with the hopes of filling in some of the factual blanks, but he never passes them off as facts, he prefaces his theories with a disclaimer.

The other one is the definitive and authoritative "Thayer's Life of Beethoven Vol. 1 and 2". Thayer was born in 1817, he was actually able to speak with first hand sources. Stylistically, this is the opposite of Suchet's biography. There is little to no theorizing, it is a straight forward biography with no strings attached. And when I say it's extensive, I really mean it. Beethoven's entire life is in this book!

I recommend both.


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## Dustin (Mar 30, 2012)

Thanks for posting this! I'd almost forgotten about this but I have been anticipating this book for almost a year so I'll be purchasing it soon. I read Swafford's Brahms biography and enjoyed it very much.


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

I read the one by Maynard Solomon in my teens, and thought it was great, but have since learned that it has been criticized a bit, notably for all the Freudian psychobabble.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

The best right now (for me) is Cooper, but I'll certainly be getting this one. Swafford is always good as gold. 1100 pages!

Here's a very nice review in the NYT by Jeremy Denk (thanks Rasmus!)

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/03/b...t_tnt_20140731&nlid=68124185&tntemail0=y&_r=0


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## Dustin (Mar 30, 2012)

KenOC said:


> The best right now (for me) is Cooper, but I'll certainly be getting this one. Swafford is always good as gold. 1100 pages!
> 
> Here's a very nice review in the NYT by Jeremy Denk (thanks Rasmus!)
> 
> http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/03/b...t_tnt_20140731&nlid=68124185&tntemail0=y&_r=0


Thanks for that Ken. I'm not really one to ponder over and figure out motifs or development in music so the part about the beginning of the 5th symphony and the 4th piano concerto was really interesting to me. After having it pointed out, it is obvious they are made from the same rhythm, but a world apart in feeling. And the way I understood that article is Beethoven came up with them at the same time. The beginning of the 4th piano concerto has always been a favorite moment of mine and tremendously moving.


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## JACE (Jul 18, 2014)

I decided to order a copy last night. I'll report back when I've had an opportunity to dip into it.

The last music biography that I read, Terry Teachout's _Duke: A Life of Duke Ellington_, was disappointing.

I hope (and expect!) that Swafford's Beethoven bio will be terrific.


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## JACE (Jul 18, 2014)

I'm now about a hundred pages into Swafford's LvB bio. I'm really enjoying it. It's good as I'd hoped it would be.

One fun fact: I didn't know that one of Beethoven's music teachers, Christian Neefe, introduced Bach's WTC to him. This would have been unusual back in the day. But, fortunately for the WORLD, Neefe had lived in Leipzig and was familiar with Bach's masterpiece.


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

JACE said:


> I'm now about a hundred pages into Swafford's LvB bio. I'm really enjoying it. It's good as I'd hoped it would be.
> 
> One fun fact: I didn't know that one of Beethoven's music teachers, Christian Neefe, introduced Bach's WTC to him. This would have been unusual back in the day. But, fortunately for the WORLD, Neefe had lived in Leipzig and was familiar with Bach's masterpiece.


As I understand it, Bach was in fact very well known and respected among musicians at the time, if not the general public. But yes, the WTC was indeed one of Beethoven's early influences, and I remember reading that even as a boy, he impressed his contemporaries by his excellent performances of the work. Thank heavens he went deaf, or he might have made his living primarily as concert pianist and not composed all that much.


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## Lukecash12 (Sep 21, 2009)

brianvds said:


> As I understand it, Bach was in fact very well known and respected among musicians at the time, if not the general public. But yes, the WTC was indeed one of Beethoven's early influences, and I remember reading that even as a boy, he impressed his contemporaries by his excellent performances of the work. Thank heavens he went deaf, or he might have made his living primarily as concert pianist and not composed all that much.


I think I remember reading from Czerny that Beethoven called the WTC his "musical bible". Still, the Bach family may have been known during that time but he was mostly known as an organist and great improviser, I'm not aware of many people mentioning much of anything orchestral or choral until Mendelssohn premiered the St. Matthew Passion. Who knows how much of Bach was familiar to Beethoven, maybe a number of works we don't even know about today?

Yes, it's lucky for us that Beethoven went deaf. I wonder how much this book details his music students as well?


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## Giordano (Aug 10, 2014)

brianvds said:


> Thank heavens he went deaf, or he might have made his living primarily as concert pianist and not composed all that much.


Hmm... I think he would have composed just as much, or more, even if he didn't go deaf. Composing was his life mission, and he knew it. His life would have been a little bit easier, of course. IMO.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

In fact, Beethoven called Bach "the ancestral father of harmony." That said, he seemed to have esteemed Handel more. No accounting for some people's tastes!


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## ToneDeaf&Senile (May 20, 2010)

I'm currently on page 660 of "Beethoven: Anguish and Triumph", with brother Carl freshly dead and the battle over nephew Karl about to begin. It's decidedly good, and an easy recommendation. It's a slow read for me, not due to any fault in the writing. The author singles out certain works for lengthy descriptive analysis. (Little of this is "technical". Those not grounded in music theory need not fear feeling left out.) These commentaries are often so compelling they trigger marathon listening sessions of the work in question.

For instance, reading Swafford's commentary on the third symphony sent me scurrying to YouTube, where I heard four of five Eroica's in there entireties, several more than once, and spot-checked a good many more. (I also listened to the Eroica Variations on CD.) I did much of the same upon reading Swafford's discussion of the "Pastorale" and, to a much lesser degree, with several piano sonatas and string quartets.

The Suchet was for me a much quicker read, but he intentionally focuses on the man rather than the music, so that I was tempted to take lengthy listening breaks. In any case, Suchet's is a much shorter bio. (I quite like Suchet too, btw.)


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## Andolink (Oct 29, 2012)

I'm 87 pgs. into this and liking it a whole lot. 

Has anyone here read Swafford's Brahms bio? That might be my next book after this.


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## JACE (Jul 18, 2014)

Andolink said:


> I'm 87 pgs. into this and liking it a whole lot.
> 
> Has anyone here read Swafford's Brahms bio? That might be my next book after this.


Yes. It's excellent.

His biography of Charles Ives is even better.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Could another book on Beethoven reveal anything we haven't already learned from previous authors?


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## JACE (Jul 18, 2014)

I've only read one other biography of Beethoven. So much of the information in Swafford's book is new to me.

Also, having read all of Swafford's other books, I knew that I liked the way that he writes. He's an excellent author. 

That's what drew me to the book.


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## Dupamplont (Nov 2, 2014)

The October 20 _New Yorker_ has a lengthy review of the book >>> http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/10/20/deus-ex-musica


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## Chordalrock (Jan 21, 2014)

Beethoven died before composing the magnificent series of masses that he planned, as well as the tenth symphony and sixth piano concerto.

The book title should be "Anguish and Untimely Death".


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## Dustin (Mar 30, 2012)

I read the first 20 pages or so of this last night and was reminded why I like this guy's writing so much. I look forward to reading this monster of a book, especially since it'll be my first Beethoven bio.


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

Just ordered this for Christmas. Coming today!


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## scratchgolf (Nov 15, 2013)

DavidA said:


> Just ordered this for Christmas. Coming today!


Mine arrived last week but I probably won't get to it until well after the holidays.


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

Just ploughing through Swafford's Beethoven biography. It really is outstandingly good.


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## manyene (Feb 7, 2015)

I have just finished this biography, and feel a bit overwhelmed: it is very long, and in some cases technically detailed, and difficult for the average classical music enthusiast who has a limited knowledge of harmony, to follow. If fault is to be found, it is in the author's decision to write what might be considered a definitive biography of the Beethoven, the man, his life and times and his music. Arguably it might have been better, and easier for the normal reader to deal with the technical aspects in a separate volume to this. Certainly, it helps to listen to the works in question when they are being discussed in the text, although I suspect that even those with some expertise will still nevertheless miss some of the finer points of his analysis.

For the average reader (again) the most relevant parts will be those tracing his development from those early years in Bonn to his arrival in Vienna, his home for the rest of his life; the first great works of his maturity, starting with the Eroica Symphony and culminating in those final string quartets. I found his extended treatment of the Choral Symphony and the Missa Solemnis especially valuable. 

The author's account provides many important documents in full, including the letters written to the various women in his life and the 'Heilgenstadt Testimony', all providing insights into his personality. He rightly dismisses many of the legends perpetrated by Anton Schindler and others after the composer's death. One thing I have taken away from this very long book is the way that a man who seems to have suffered from a lifetime of ill-health managed to produce such great music.


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

I will have to read it too then....

Doesn't the world know I already have too much to read? Doesn't the world know I'm probably going to die within a few decades?


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## jim prideaux (May 30, 2013)

science said:


> I will have to read it too then....
> 
> Doesn't the world know I already have too much to read? Doesn't the world know I'm probably going to die within a few decades?


Thank God its not just me-I have considered both the biographies of Brahms and Beethoven but have not done anything about it yet-Vol 4 of Knausgaard just published and then there is the recent biography of Stefan Zweig etc etc.......


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## Guest (Mar 14, 2015)

I've read so many positive reviews about this book here on this thread that I've just placed my order for it. (30€, that's not a bad price for 1000+ pages, right?)


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## manyene (Feb 7, 2015)

The UK price is currently £11.99 for the Kindle version, still a bargain although I got this for much less when it came up as a bargain a few weeks ago.

science's reflections on the mismatch between things to read and the time available to read them in are feelings many of us share with him. The problem is that it never gets any better, only worse.


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## DiesIraeCX (Jul 21, 2014)

TalkingHead said:


> I've read so many positive reviews about this book here on this thread that I've just placed my order for it. (30€, that's not a bad price for 1000+ pages, right?)


A wise choice.

As a show of gratitude, somewhere in nonexistence, Beethoven just voted for _YOU_.


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## manyene (Feb 7, 2015)

If I could be allowed an addition to my original review: I didn't say sufficient about his times, and this is where I think Swafford has provided very useful information to those who are unaware of the political situation that developed in Austria after 1815. Many of the traditional authors said very little about this. 

His many references to the repression of the Metternich regime and the extinction of liberal thought put into relief the courage of Beethoven in setting Schillers' 'Ode to Joy', even in its edited form. He makes the point that his reputation as a composer, coupled with his many aristocratic sponsors such as the Archduke Rudolph, probably saved him from the attention of the authorities.


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## JeffD (May 8, 2017)

As a kid I read a biography of Beethoven. I remember pulling it from a shelf of those smallish Modern Library books, "The Life and Works of Beethoven" by John Burk. (Yes I had to look up the author.)

I just recently started John Suchet's book, Beethoven the Man Revealed. So far a fun read.

I will check out Jan Swafford's book. It look interesting.


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