Beethoven's conversation books

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) is recognized the world over as a composer of musical masterpieces exhibiting heroic strength, particularly in the face of his increasing deafness from ca. 1798. By 1818, the Viennese composer had begun carrying blank booklets with him, for his acquaintances to jot their sides of conversations, while he answered aloud. Often, he himself used the pocket-sized booklets to make shopping lists and other reminders, including occasional early sketches for his compositions. Today, 139 of these booklets survive, covering the years 1818 up to the composer's death in 1827 and including such topics as music, history, politics, art, literature, theatre, religion, and education as perceived on a day-to-day basis in post-Napoleonic Europe. An East German edition, begun in the 1960s and essentially complete by 2001, represents a diplomatic transcription of these documents. It is a masterpiece of pure scholarship but is difficult to use for anyone who is not a specialist. Moreover, Beethoven scholarship has moved on significantly since the long-ranging genesis of the German edition. Theodore Albrecht is Professor of Musicology at Kent State University, Ohio.

Front cover -- Contents -- General Introduction -- Acknowledgements -- Reader's Guide -- Directionality in Vienna (True and Perceived) -- Heft 17 -- Heft 18 -- Heft 19 -- Heft 20 -- Heft 21 -- Heft 22 -- Heft 23 -- Heft 24 -- Heft 25 -- Heft 26 -- Heft 27 -- Heft 28 -- Heft 29 -- Heft 30 -- Heft 31 -- Appendix: Descriptions of the Conversation Books in Volume 3 -- Bibliography -- Index of Writers of Conversational Entries -- Index of Beethoven's Compositions -- General Index