Beethoven: Anguish and Triumph, Jan Swafford


I enjoy the few pieces that I’m familiar with (Symphonies 5 –9, the Egmont overture, Fur Elise (duh!) and the Moonlight Sonata) simply because they ‘sound nice’. I need to relisten to them with this book in hand to understand why they do so! I’m sure the intricacies will be lost on me, but that’s fine!

I just knew the bare facts about Beethoven — mainly his deafness and eccentricities that followed. However, this genius came at a high cost. Too high? 


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