| Abstract |
The reader will find portraits of the master from various periods of his life, will meet the personalities with whom Beethoven was in contact, will obtain a picture of the countryside, drawing rooms and concert halls in which events decisive in Beethoven's life took place. But above all, the reader will develop an understanding for Beethoven's time itself, the time which helped to bring about his genius as much as his genius and personality left their marks on the time. This book is replete with beautiful and carefully handled reproductions, numerous autographs, and first edition facsimiles. Much of the material deals with documents which are rare. The author has eliminated all pictures of Beethoven and the members of his family which are of doubtful authenticity. With respect to the "Immortal Beloved," he has given consideration to all contentions and has weighed them carefully. He has utilized the Thematic Bibliography Listing by Kinsky to which work, in his belief, attaches the same significance which is generally attributed to Einstein in regard to the edition of the Koechel Verzeichnis. A great number of scholars and collectors have helped the author to make the edition of this iconography possible. |
