The Beethoven 2020 Diary

The Beethoven Diary 2020. Edited by Iris Eggenschwiler and Sophia Gustorff. ISBN 978-3-7618-2451-1. Bärenreiter-Verlag 2019. € 12.95.

September 1805: The premiere of the opera “Fidelio” is banned by the

censors. 19 July 1812: Beethoven meets Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

in Teplitz. 1811: “Mistakes – mistakes – you yourself are one big

mistake”, the composer writes to his publisher Breitkopf & Härtel and

1825 to Friedrich Kuhlau: “I must confess that in my case also the

champagne went too much to my head and that again I had to

experience the fact that such indulgence hampers rather than

promotes my ability to work.”

These are four of hundreds of entries that can be found in this

attractive “Beethoven 2020 Diary” that is designed to accompany

music lovers through the upcoming special anniversary year and

presents interesting as well as amusing insights into Beethoven’s life

and works.

Quotations by Beethoven and about him illuminate many facets of his

personality, whether familiar or surprising. He appears hot-tempered

and humorous, vulnerable and sarcastic, isolated and driven by

utopian visions of society.

Additional pages cast light on special aspects of his life – his

composing and piano playing, his violent emotions (rage, humour,

despair in the face of illness and death) and his relationship with

people in his close surroundings, whether his nephew Karl, the

“Immortal Beloved” or his brothers Kaspar Karl and Johann, the

recipients of the “Heiligenstadt Testament”.

(236 words)

[24.4.2019]