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Rating: 
Summary: Exhaustive Biography
Review: Everything you always wanted to know about Beethoven. That's what is in Thayer's biography. This is a two volume set, so there is a lot of reading. From a short history of Beethoven's family on to the composer's demise, there is not a stone that is left uncovered. This is a reprint, the original being written I believe at the turn of the last century. Doubtless there has been more info about Beethoven uncovered since then, but if you are a true Beethovenite, this biography is essential reading. Recommended, along with Vol. 2!
Rating: 
Summary: Essential reading
Review: If you're taking a course in Beethoven, at a graduate level, this is pretty important required reading. It's comprehensive, and along with the Solomon book, and the Kerman/Tyson offering in the small New Grove edition, you cover a lot of info. It's well-written and doesn't get too lagubrious, in spite of it being translated from the German. I found the subject matter spurred me on anyway. Even though the work first appeared in 1921, a lot of the information remains accurate, and one gains also some insight into what a remarkable historian Thayer was.
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