71 of 73 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A New Study of Beethoven, June 25, 2001
The work of great artists is inexhaustible. In Beethoven's case, his music remains a stunning achievement. His achievement as a composer, together with the nature of his character, his deafness, his thwarted love affairs, and his relationships to his musical predecessors and successors, has led to a fascination with him and to a literature that is likely to be written and rewritten as long as people listen to his music. As is Beethoven's music, and is is history, Beethoven's life and character, and the means by which one is to understand them, are open to a multitude of approaches.
In his Preface, Cooper writes (at x) that "surprisingly little is known for certain about Beethoven." He points out that some studies, such as Maynard Solomon's fine biography that appeared shortly before Cooper's own, featured a psychoanalytical approach to Beethoven that attempted a fuller explanation of Beethoven's character than those that had been attempted by other writers at the cost of questionable psychological theory and speculation in the face of a scarcity of evidence. Cooper endeavors to write a biography that holds closer to the known facts about Beethoven's life and to emphasize those facts that may shed life on his activities as a composer.
Cooper also spends a great deal of his book analysing the music itself. There are lengthy accounts of the origins of the symphonies, concertos, quartets, sonatas,songs, masses, of Fidelio, of the folksongs and other parts of Beethoven's output. There are generous musical analyses and quotations. I was particularly impressed with Cooper's attention to some of Beethoven's work that is not as well known as it deserves to be, such as the Opus 7 piano sonata, the Creatures of Prometheus Ballet, and the oratorio, Christ on the Mount of Olives. These works are analyzed insightfully and lovingly.
As Cooper acknowledges, his study is perhaps less detailed than is Solomon's on Beethoven's life. His book does, however, offer its own perspective on Beethoven. Broadly speaking, Cooper is more sympathetic to certain aspects of Beethoven's actions than has been the case with many other writers. Unlike Solomon, Cooper takes Beethoven's side, for the most, part, in his dispute with his sister-in-law over the custody of Karl, Beethoven's nephew. Also, he disputes Solomon's account that Beethoven frequented prostitutes. In both these matters, I am not sure that Cooper has the better of the evidence. The portrayal endeavors to see Beethoven favorably without making him something different than a human being with fallibilities.
I also found interesting Cooper's discussion of Beethoven's religious views. Beethoven's views on such matters, as is the case with the views of any thinking person on these matters, were highly personal and difficult for a third party, such as a biographer writing 250 years after the fact, to ascertain and expound. Cooper acknowledges that Beethoven was not for most of his life a practicing Christian but finds him a devout believer in God as the source of human morality. Solomon's account emphasizes more Beethoven's predilection towards the Enlightenment. A difficult question, and I suspect that Beethoven had components of both views in him.
Too many recent biographers feel a need to deprecate their subjects. This is definitely not Cooper's approach to Beethoven. (For that matter, it was not Solomon's approach either.) Cooper writes of Beethoven that "despite much sniping from twentieth-century critics, his reputation as a giant among composers remains intact as we enter the twenty-first century." (Preface x)
This book is not hero-worship but it presents an inspiring and historically plausible account of a composer and a man who is worthy to be revered for his vision, attainments and character. This book will be treasured by those who love Beethoven's music. May it encourage the reader to become acquainted or reaquainted with these works of the human spirit.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beethoven Scholarship at It's Best, May 28, 2007
This surprisingly engaging and informative biography of Beethoven is written as a continuous narrative history, and is certainly a work that any Beethoven enthusiast would wish to have in the library. At some 400 pages of small text, the work is a carefully researched and highly detailed piece which presents a comprehensive portrait of this musical genius. Beethoven "comes alive" in the work, and one forgets that the work is describing a person who passed away some two centuries ago.
The work integrates Beethoven's personal life with a critical look at his musical work. This approach allows us to not only understand the entire opus of collected works, but to place individual pieces into the unfolding context of Beethoven's life. There is no sparing of details, but the book is nevertheless able to convey these details in a manner that doesn't require us to be musical experts to understand the descriptions. We also find in the text some eminently interesting details, such Beethoven's estimation of George Frederic Handel as the greatest of composers, a preference for Streicher pianos, and Beethoven's wrestling with the "finale problem" that kept his "Symphony in C," now sometimes nicknamed "Symphony 0," permanently unfinished. But these are just interesting notes in a symphony of words which Cooper has put together for us: the entire work is an immense musical play which we observe with great interest and pleasure.
The book also provides some very helpful informational addenda which serve as continuing reference for our Beethoven studies. These include a comprehensive "calendar" of Beethoven's life from 1770 to 1827 (including for each entry the year, Beethoven's current age, the event, and contemporary musicians and musical events), a comprehensive listing of Beethoven's works (including WoO, Hess, and opus numbers as appropriate), and a small personality glossary describing key people in Beethoven's life.
The book is an easy recommend to the Beethoven enthusiast, the music student, or the Beethoven scholar. The work easily stands on its own as a solid piece of historical scholarship, but when coupled with a good collection of Beethoven recordings (say, the Deutsche Grammophon "Complete Beethoven Edition" CD-ROM series), the work serves as a continuing reference for anyone wishing to know more about Beethoven's music.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not meant for the average classical music fan, June 4, 2010
I ordered this book for my wife and I who are avid Beethoven fans. Our hopes were that we could learn about who he was. In our opinion, he is the greatest classical music composer of all time. Whenever we listen to his music, we wonder about what a genius and musical revolutionary he was.
The book begins with great promise such that we start learning about this man's life and what made him so great. Nonetheless, the book degenerates into incredibility detailed musical descriptions that only a musical expert could comprehend. My wife and I just fans and have never studied music in the depth needed to understand what the author describes in those parts of the book where he analyzes the composer's music.
The historical parts that describe Beethoven's life are well done. Unfortunately, this is not enough to overcome the book's overemphasis on the in-depth analysis of his music. Too bad!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
