Written by Pulitzer-Prize winning author Edmund Morris, Beethoven: The Universal Composer is a look at the man and music of Beethoven. It covers the cirumstances around his birth and how he grew to be a child prodigy: his ancestry of two generations of singers shows that music was in his blood. It also shows his ill health, his hearing loss, and his flirtations and love: in love with his doctor's daughter Therese Malfatti who rejects him. The book also eloquently describes what stimulated the genuis musical compositions, both popular and rare works. And it paints the picture of a genuis recluse, desperately wanting to secure (adopt) his nephew Karl to be his heir. | ||
Plot & Themes job/profession: Job/profession/poverty story Yes Phys disability/mental struggle? Yes Struggle with - physical disability/sickness Period of greatest activity? - 1600-1899 Subject of Biography Gender - Male Profession/status: Ethnicity - White Nationality - German Unusual characteristics: Setting Europe Yes European country: - Eastern Europe Century: - 19th century Writing Style Graphic sex in book? Yes What kind of sex: - How much dialogue in bio? - significantly more descript than dialog How much of bio focuses on most famous period of life? - 51%-75% of book |