Beethoven Essays [Paperback]

Maynard Solomon (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 388 pages
• Publisher: Harvard University Press (October 1, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0674063791
• ISBN-13: 978-0674063792
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,169,673 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Well-written psychoanalysis of Beethoven's life and works., October 14, 1997

By 

Brian Carpenter ([e-mail]) (Visalia, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beethoven Essays (Paperback)

After having read Solomon's work regarding Mozart, I was interested to see his work about Beethoven. Interestingly, although his _Beethoven_ was shorter, I found his theories much more convincing and interesting in the latter. The work synthesized multiple facts about the composer, including the near-psychotic attacks on his sister-in-law, Johanna, and a chapter regarding the Immortal Beloved, who, I am now convinced, was Antoine Brentano. This chapter was allthewhile extremely moving--it nearly brought me to tears. At the same time, although I was treated to a brief overview of Beethoven's life, I feel that there are large gaps in the biography that were simply glossed over, since they were not critical to Solomon's psychoanalytic theses. As a result, I am now tempted to find Thayer-Forbes biography to fill in these holes. Yet, in all, it was an extremely enjoyable read.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lucid and Probing, November 6, 2005

By 

Frank B. Brown (Indianapolis, IN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Beethoven Essays (Paperback)

In these essays, Solomon explores in more detail certain topics that he had only been able to touch on more generally in the earlier, full-fledged biography he had written of Beethoven. (He has since followed up more essays strictly on "late Beethoven.") I find these essays thoughtful, probing, and lucid--not least the fine essay on Beethoven's genuine but ambivalent quest for faith.
--Frank Burch Brown

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Polemic is not Science, September 9, 2011

By 

John E. Klapproth "JohnSpecialK" (Papawai, New Zealand) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Beethoven Essays (Paperback)

Especially the chapter "Recherche de Josephine Deym", written in a polemic style, is a futile attempt to discredit the evidence in favor of Josephine as the most likely "candidate" (see Beethoven's Only Beloved: Josephine!: A Biography of the Only Woman Beethoven ever Loved)by pouring scornful ridicule on her "advocates". By (mis)interpreting letters around the time in question, speculates that Josephine and Stackelberg "must" have been (1) both in Vienna, (2) together and (3) happily so! Overall, sadly, disgraced by a prevailing misogynistic attitude.