The New Grove Beethoven

The New Grove Beethoven – Joseph Kerman

Ludwig van Beethoven is one of the towering figures of Western music, a composer whose works transformed the symphony, the string quartet and the piano sonata, and whose life story of struggle and triumph has inspired generations.

The New Grove Beethoven, by distinguished musicologists Joseph Kerman and Alan Tyson, presents the authoritative account of the composer’s life and music originally written for The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, revised and expanded for publication as a separate volume. It belongs to the respected New Grove Composer Biographies series, which made the dictionary’s scholarship available to a wider audience.

The book traces Beethoven’s life from his childhood in Bonn and early training to his arrival in Vienna, his rise as a virtuoso pianist and composer, the onset of his deafness and the personal crises that followed, and the extraordinary creative achievements of his later years. Alongside the biography, the authors examine his music period by period, discussing his working methods, his famous sketchbooks and the development of his style across the major genres.

A particularly valuable feature is the comprehensive catalogue of Beethoven’s works, together with an extensive bibliography, making the volume a superb reference for further study.

Concise, scholarly and clearly written, The New Grove Beethoven is an essential resource for music students, performers, teachers and serious listeners who want a reliable and insightful guide to one of the greatest composers who ever lived.