Ludwig Van Beethoven (Composer's World)

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Summary: The story of Beethoven's music in the context of his world
Review: One of the inherent problems with juvenile biographies of famous composers like Ludwig van Beethoven is that you only get to read about great music, you do not get to listen to it unless you happen to have a CD handy of the composer's greatest hits (although I am sure there are some books out there that come with their own CD that is cued to the text, which, it goes without saying, is a great idea). Wendy Thompson finds a way of dealing with this problem by including extracts from some of Beethoven's most famous works--the Third, Fifth, and Ninth symphonies, the "Emperor" piano concerto, and the "Moonlight" sonata--in simple keyboard arrangements. Of course, you need to have a piano nearby instead of a CD player, but you still have to appreciate the effort.

Thompson not only tells the biographical details of Beethoven's life, but she puts his music in historical context as well, presenting it as reflecting the Age of Revolution with its violence, passion, struggle, and upheaval, as well as the quest for personal and spiritual fulfillment, of those times. This explains why the inside front cover has a map of the Napoleonic Wars. The book is also illustrated with lots of historic etching and paintings. But the more important part is that Thompson takes pains to talk about the uniqueness and importance of Beethoven's key musical pieces. This is important to me because beyond the biographical details of where he lived, and what he wrote, and who he ticked off, I am most interested in being able to better appreciation Beethoven's music. Therefore I like an above average dose of music appreciation in such books. This Thompson provides, all within the context of Beethoven's world. This book is for students age 12 and up and is certainly one of the more analytical juvenile biographies of Beethoven out there.