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Mohrbooks Literary Agency
Sebastian Ritscher |
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| English | |
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| normanlebrecht.com | |
WHY BEETHOVEN
A Phenomenon in 100 Pieces
An insightful and kaleidoscopic experiment in biography, in which the renowned music critic and historian Norman Lebrecht illustrates why and how Beethoven's inimitable genius was both instantly recognised and lastingly acknowledged.
At the heart of music is Beethoven, that irascible, unpredictable, warped genius who from the get-go stretched what music could do to breaking point. This new book by the famous music critic and historian Norman Lebrecht is not a biography, so much as the author's lifelong tussle with the composer and his music.
It brings together everyone who has attempted to understand the power of this man, from his contemporaries hearing his compositions for the first time, to the history of who has performed him and what it has meant to successive generations; as much about multitudes of musicians battling with the works as it is about the messy life centred around the Napoleonic era.
Full of revelations and structured in a deliberately improvisatory way to mirror Beethoven's own creative technique - breaking rules as soon as he follows them - it's a detective story and a confession and it contains a colourful rollcall of all who have engaged with Beethoven. Above all, it rises to the challenge of how to encompass the relentless energy of the man through whom all human life flows.
Norman Lebrecht is the author of twelve works of non-fiction and three novels. His international bestsellers THE MEASTRO MYTH, WHY MAHLER? and THE LIFE AND DEATH OF CLASSICAL MUSIC have been translated into 17 languages. His first novel, THE SONG OF NAMES, won a Whitbread Award and has been made into a major feature film. His website, Slipped Disc, is the world's #1 classical music noticeboard, with 1.5 million visitors each month. In his 40-year journalistic career, Norman was a columnist for the Daily Telegraph, presented Lebrecht.live on BBC Radio 3 and served as the Assistant Editor of the Evening Standard. He writes for the Spectator and the Wall Street Journal and has taught at numerous universities, including Yale, Syracuse, Carnegie Mellon, Peabody/John Hopkins, Tel Aviv, and the Shanghai Conservatoire of Music.
It brings together everyone who has attempted to understand the power of this man, from his contemporaries hearing his compositions for the first time, to the history of who has performed him and what it has meant to successive generations; as much about multitudes of musicians battling with the works as it is about the messy life centred around the Napoleonic era.
Full of revelations and structured in a deliberately improvisatory way to mirror Beethoven's own creative technique - breaking rules as soon as he follows them - it's a detective story and a confession and it contains a colourful rollcall of all who have engaged with Beethoven. Above all, it rises to the challenge of how to encompass the relentless energy of the man through whom all human life flows.
Norman Lebrecht is the author of twelve works of non-fiction and three novels. His international bestsellers THE MEASTRO MYTH, WHY MAHLER? and THE LIFE AND DEATH OF CLASSICAL MUSIC have been translated into 17 languages. His first novel, THE SONG OF NAMES, won a Whitbread Award and has been made into a major feature film. His website, Slipped Disc, is the world's #1 classical music noticeboard, with 1.5 million visitors each month. In his 40-year journalistic career, Norman was a columnist for the Daily Telegraph, presented Lebrecht.live on BBC Radio 3 and served as the Assistant Editor of the Evening Standard. He writes for the Spectator and the Wall Street Journal and has taught at numerous universities, including Yale, Syracuse, Carnegie Mellon, Peabody/John Hopkins, Tel Aviv, and the Shanghai Conservatoire of Music.
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Published 2023-02-02 by One World |