Set in the framework of Beethoven's life, William Kinderman's detailed examination of the music traces the composer's intellectual and musical development, from the early works written in Bonn to the Ninth Symphony and the late quartets. Beethoven's innovations in form and style, his musical symbolism and narrative structures are illustrated in analyses of all the main works, showing that the deepening of his musical thought was a continuous process throughout his life. William Kinderman also shows how Beethoven's response to the political and philosophical currents of his time is reflected in some of his greatest masterpieces. Although the implications of Beethoven's deafness and other personal crises are fully addressed, so too are the lighter aspects of his personality - his humour, his love of puns, and his delight in juxtaposing the exalted and the commonplace. Combining musical insight and the most recent research, Beethoven is both a portrait of the man and a guide to his music.

William Kinderman's profile page

William Kinderman is Professor of Music at the University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. He is internationally known as an authority on Beethoven and as a leading concert and recital pianist.

'A most welcome addition to Beethoven literature ... combines a musician's perception of the music and an informed musicologist's command of recent Beethoven scholarship.' Alfred Brendel

'Kinderman handles the notoriously tricky task of integrating life and works into a single narrative with unobtrusive skill, plus a most helpful grasp of the cultural and philosophical issues of Beethoven's time.' BBC Music Magazine, October 2001

'this is both a richly drawn portrait of the man and a reliable guide to his music ... The author writes perceptively of the music' The Sunday Telegraph

'he writes with unfailing lucidity: this is one of those increasingly rare books on music that contrives at once to meet the expectations fo the serious student and of the ordinary listener who simply loves the work.' BBC Music Magazine, October 2001

'The great strength of William Kinderman's Beethoven lies in its superb analyses of many of the composer's works. Kinderman is at his best when revealing the "dramatic narrative" intrinsic to Beethoven's greatest compositions. Kinderman's analyses are original - sometimes breathtakingly so - insightful, sympathetic, and entirely convincing. It is impossible to read this book without having gained renewed appreciation of Beethoven's massive achievement ... it is impossible adequately to convey in a short review the book's powerful overall impact ... William Kinderman not only brilliantly accomplishes what he set out to do, but he has also produced a work that will be useful as a handbook or guide to Beethoven's music. Taken in its entirety, Kinderman's Beethoven will stand as a modern classic in Beethoven scholarship.' The Beethoven Journal, Fall 1995, Volume 10, Number 2