| Other author/creator | Forbes, Elliot editor. |
| Other author/creator | Deiters, Hermann, 1833-1907, editor. |
| Other author/creator | Riemann, Hugo, 1849-1919 editor. |
| Other author/creator | Krehbiel, Henry Edward, 1854-1923, editor. |
| Uniform title | Ludwig van Beethoven's Leben. English |
| Portion of title |
Life of Beethoven |
| Contents |
Volume 1. The electoral court at Bonn -- The Beethoven family -- Beethoven's birth and childhood, 1770-1784 -- Elector Max Franz and his Court. The Von Breuning family ; The years 1784 to 1786 -- The years 1787 to 1788. The operatic seasons from 1789 to 1792 -- The years 1789 to 1792. The move to Vienna -- The compositions written at Bonn, 1786-1792 -- Beethoven's teachers in Vienna. Viennese composers and society -- The years 1793 to 1795 -- The years 1796 and 1797 -- The years 1798 and 1799 -- Beethoven's friends and fellow musicians. The Brunsvik family ; Character traits ; Sketchbooks ; Possible origin of deafness -- The year 1800 -- The year 1801. Correspondence with publishers ; Early criticisms of Beethoven's music ; Letters to Amenda and Wegeler concerning deafness ; Ferdinand Ries -- The year 1802. The Heiligenstadt testament ; Beethoven's brothers ; Correspondence with publishers -- The year 1803. The court theatre ; Work on the "Eroica" symphony -- The year 1804. Beginning of work on "Leonore" ; The "Eroica" privately performed ; Beethoven and Breuning ; Friendship with Countess Deym -- The year 1805. Public performance of the "Eroica" ; Countess Josephine Deym ; "Leonore" completed and performed -- The year 1806. The revision of "Leonore" ; The Razumovsky quartets ; The fourth symphony -- The year 1807. Work on the fifth symphony ; The mass in C -- The year 1808. Completion of the fifth and sixth symphonies ; The concert of December 22nd -- The year 1809. The annuity contract ; The siege of Vienna ; Piano concerto no. 5 -- The year 1810. Decrease in productivity ; Therese Malfatti ; Bettina Brentano -- The year 1811. Bettina, Beethoven and Goethe ; A sojourn in Teplitz ; Sketches for new symphonies -- The year 1812. The Austrian Finanz-patent ; Second sojourn at Teplitz ; Letters to the immortal beloved -- The year 1813. Financial difficulties ; Suspension of payments ; Concerts at Graz ; Malzel and "Wellington's victory" ; Concerts of December 8 and 12 -- The year 1814. Quarrel with Malzel ; The revision of "Fidelio" ; The Vienna congress. |
| Contents |
Volume 2. The year 1815. Resolution of annuity payments ; Death of Carl Van Beethoven ; Guardianship of the nephew -- The year 1816. The nephew in Giannatasio Del Rio's school ; Negotiations with Ries, Birchall and Neate -- The year 1817. Beethoven and the public journals of Vienna ; An offer from the philharmonic society of London ; Beethoven and the metronome -- The year 1818. A mother's struggle for her son ; The pianoforte sonata op. 106 -- The year 1819. Karl's education ; The conversation books ; Composition of the Missa Solemnis begun -- The year 1820. End of the guardianship litigation ; Missa Solemnis not ready for installation ceremony ; Pianoforte sonata in E major, op. 109 -- The year 1821. Attacks of rheumatism and jaundice ; The pianoforte sonatas op. 110 and op. 111 -- The year 1822. The Missa Solemnis ; Beethoven and the publishers ; The last pianoforte sonata ; Music for various occasions -- The year 1823. Subscriptions for the Missa Solemnis ; More negotiations with England ; Grillparzer and opera projects ; Progress of the ninth symphony -- The year 1824. The history of the ninth symphony ; Its first performance ; Continued negotiations with publishers ; Prince Galitzin and opus 127 -- The year 1825. Another invitation from London ; Increasing trouble with the nephew ; The three Galitzin quartets completed -- The year 1826 through the autumn. Difficulties with Prince Galitzin ; The nephew's attempt at suicide ; Gneixendorf ; The last compositions -- December, 1826-1827. The return from Gneixendorf to Vienna ; The final illness ; Death and burial. |
| Abstract |
Thayer talked with Beethoven's surviving friends, gathered anecdotes, and sifted hundreds of documents. The resulting wealth of detail stimulated other students, and a mass of Beethoven scholarship appeared. Now Elliot Forbes, one of the foremost Beethoven scholars of our time, has used this new material to bring the Life up to elate without sacrificing Thayer's text. |
| General note | Although some portions of Thayer's original text have been deleted because recent Beethoven research has proved them inaccurate, "the majority of the text used consists of the coordinated treatment of Thayer's notes and manuscript by these three editors [H. Deiters, H. Riemann, and H. Krehbiel]" with additions and corrections by the present editor. |
| General note | "First publication of works after Beethoven's death": volume 2, pages 1077-1084. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (volume 1, pages xxiii-xxv) and index. |
| LCCN | 63016239 |
