Beethoven's Letters 1790-1826, Volume 2

For those who think they know Beethoven, think again. These letters strip away two centuries of mythology to reveal a man incandescent with fury, tenderness, and obsessive dedication to his craft. This volume captures the composer in his middle years - deafening, financially precarious, battling for custody of his nephew Karl, and simultaneously writing some of the greatest music ever composed. You will hear him rage at publishers, weep over his failing hearing, beg patrons for loans, and instruct his brother on how to raise a child he believes was stolen from him. The Archduke Rudolph appears as both patron and student. Friends disappoint. And through it all runs the relentless current of a man who heard music the world had never known and could not understand why the world could not hear him. This is Beethoven not as monument, but as flesh: impatient, hypochondriacal, brilliant, and desperately lonely. The letters span 1790 to 1826, a period that includes the "Eroica" Symphony, the late quartets, and his complete deafness. For anyone who has ever wondered what genius sounds like when it speaks for itself.