# Beethoven's best biography?



## antoni

Beethoven is by far my favourite composer! I'm now playing the Moonlight Sonata, which is very hard to get the "emotion", and it occured to me that I didn't know much about Beethoven... Was he deaf when he wrote that? What was his character? What event's led him to write this? And so on...
I think that all these are very important to get to "understand" the piece in front of me. So, I need a biography. A good one. And not Thayer's, for Heaven's sake! Already tried that on (free option , if you have a kindle and want an ebook). Any ideas?
BTW, Hello to all, this is my first post, and I hope it's in the right category(and in the right forum, actually).


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## Blancrocher

Hi Antoni--welcome to the forum. 

Lewis Lockwood's biography is good (if a bit dry), and Maynard Solomon is fun and interesting (if Freudian psychology doesn't bother you). Once you get the outlines of the life in your mind, you may enjoy reading through Beethoven's letters, which are accessible for free online. I'd also strongly recommend Charles Rosen's writing on Beethoven in his Companion to the Sonatas and in The Classical Style: in addition to being a reliable critic he's a great stylist (and, incidentally, a superb performer of Beethoven). 

Thanks for the thread--I'll be interested in the tips others have as well.


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## antoni

Thank you, I'll check them out! BTW, ever heard of "Beethoven, the Universal Composer"? 
There is a chance that a friend has it, so...


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## KenOC

I have, I think, most of the Beethoven biographies. The one I turn to most is Cooper, which is well-written and well-organized, quite meaty, and has very valuable appendix matter.

http://www.amazon.com/Beethoven-Mas...d=1400436396&sr=1-1&keywords=cooper+beethoven


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## PetrB

antoni said:


> Beethoven is by far my favourite composer! I'm now playing the Moonlight Sonata, which is very hard to get the "emotion", and it occurred to me that I didn't know much about Beethoven... Was he deaf when he wrote that? What was his character? What event's led him to write this? And so on...
> *I think that all these are very important to get to "understand" the piece in front of me.* So, I need a biography. A good one.


"*I think that all these are very important to get to "understand" the piece in front of me.*" Very little of that is helpful, really. Charles Rosen's _The Classical Style_ will get you much further along as to interpretation.

*Irving Kolodin; The Interior Beethoven* is another good biography, with some illuminating commentary which does not delve so deep into the theoretical, i.e. any layman could get all of it.


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## KenOC

PetrB said:


> "*I think that all these are very important to get to "understand" the piece in front of me.*" Very little of that is helpful, really.


Agree on that. The Beethoven literature is interesting because he was such an important figure in music and Western civilization as a whole. But nothing in his biographies will get you into his mind, and the books that purport to do so are little more than speculation and the opinions of people perhaps no more qualified to judge than yourself. My bookshelf groans with Beethoven books, many of which are well worth reading for interest, but the only sure path into his mind is...the music.


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