To the list of Beethoven biographies (surveyed recently in Lewis Lockwood's Beethoven's Lives: The Biographical Tradition, Boydell 2020), Laura Tunbridge has added another, in a new style symbolic perhaps of a new phase of Beethoven scholarship. As we know so much (though, of course, still so little) about Beethoven's life, biographies can tend toward the exhaustive – and exhausting. Beethoven: A Life in Nine Pieces is quite different: a refreshing view of Beethoven, refracted through nine compositions serving as lenses. The book is published by a trade publisher in the UK, but the US edition is from Yale University Press, indicating an intention to reach both the scholarly and the more general reader. It is clearly written for the layperson but also has much of interest for the expert; indeed, the more background one has, the more one can appreciate some of the fresh ideas that emerge out of Tunbridge's stripped-down juxtapositions. An undergraduate Beethoven course using this book presumably would be very popular and adaptable to the instructor's expertise.

The success of Tunbridge's approach, of course, depends to a large extent on her specific selection of pieces – nine being, as Tunbridge points out, a symbolic number for Beethoven reception. The Ninth Symphony itself, however, does not make one of their number – a justifiable decision, in that the Ninth has so much its own identity, afterlife, and even ‘personality’ that whole books are dedicated to it alone, and it might wrest the entire portrait in a different direction. But indeed the Ninth is addressed in its proper place, as are many other works that are not given a chapter heading. Each chosen work is less an analytical focal point than an opportunity to look at genre, performance practice, publication history, Viennese society, Beethoven's habits, politics and history. Each work is also paired with a dimension of Beethoven's life typically addressed in biography (here Success, Friends, Heroism, Ambition, Love, Liberty, Family, Spirit, Endings), and the whole arranged in rough chronology. Thus, much of what is usually noted in Beethoven biography is available somewhere, although perhaps with differing emphasis. One might note some common themes that did not merit a chapter heading, such as deafness, health, pianism and improvisation, but that is not to say that they are not addressed.

The works are as follows: The Septet Op. 20 (1800), the so-called ‘Kreutzer’ Sonata Op. 47 (1803), Symphony No. 3 ‘Eroica’ Op. 55 (1804), the Choral Fantasy Op. 80 (1808), the song ‘An die Geliebte’ WoO 140 (1812), Fidelio Op. 72 (1814), the ‘Hammerklavier’ Piano Sonata Op. 106 (1818), the Missa Solemnis Op. 123 (1823), and the String Quartet Op. 130/Grosse Fuge Op. 133 (1826). The spread of genres is thus fairly even (including sonatas, string quartets, symphonies, large- and small-scale vocal works, and a few ‘wild cards’). They are also reasonably spaced over the composer's middle and late periods (though no Bonn works are represented in the nine, and only one early-period work). Each choice clearly does double or triple duty: the ‘Eroica’ has many associated concerns that make it an evident symphonic choice, the ‘Hammerklavier’ is not just a piano sonata but a representative late work, the Op. 130/133 pairing is an apposite example for discussing Beethoven's changed endings (and his own ending). But other choices may surprise. Tunbridge defends the selection of the Op. 20 Septet effectively throughout, showing its role in Beethoven's success (and even noting in Chapter 9 how its autograph went for much more than that of the Missa Solemnis at auction after Beethoven's death, indicating its contemporary importance). As an opportunity to discuss love and relationships, WoO 140 (‘An die Geliebte’ or ‘To the Beloved’) might seem a less obvious alternative to the Op. 98 song cycle An die ferne Geliebte – but as a way to upend old associations it is most apt. Each of the nine chapters (as well as the framing Introduction and Coda chapters) also touches on many other works, sometimes extensively, but typically through their relation with the work occupying the chapter (for example, the Choral Fantasy refracts through the concert on which it premiered to the Symphonies Nos. 5 and 6, and also connects to the work it prefigured, the Ninth). The works themselves are described in terms accessible to lay analysis, aided by a ‘Note on Musical Terms’ preceding the Introduction.

The very first item in the book is a ‘Note on Beethoven's Finances’ – a dry opening, one might think. Yet one should certainly start there: not only is it one of the clearest and briefest summaries of the complicated currency changes and spiralling inflation of early nineteenth-century Vienna, it is not a bad introduction to the other issues in Beethoven's life. (We think of the Beethoven who moved house frequently, but what about the Beethoven who drank coffee religiously and counted out his beans daily?) The tone is set for a biography that uses Beethoven's works to reflect on changes in Viennese society and music, and also uses those changes to throw different elements of Beethoven's life in relief. Indeed, this remains so true throughout that one might just as well say that this book is a ‘biography’ of Vienna during the Beethoven years. The Introduction makes this clear; although the Bonn portion of Beethoven's life is outlined, there is very little of the typical focus on his childhood, upbringing and early works. While this may be missed by some (especially those enamoured of Maynard Solomon's ‘Birth Year Delusion’, not mentioned until the end of Tunbridge's book, or Solomon's ‘Family Romance’, not mentioned at all),Footnote ¹ the elimination of such details and focus on Vienna allows for interesting observations on the relative weight of trios against quartets, the ‘other’ Op. 1 of the ‘Se vuol ballare’ Variations and the role of alcohol in Beethoven's family. It also begins by ‘looking backward’, so to speak, with an important event in Beethoven reception, the campaign for the Bonn monument erected in 1845. The rallying of the musical community around memorializing Beethoven in ways that only later became commonplace becomes another perspective on the composer's significance.

Chapter 1 uses the Septet Op. 20 to focus on the theme of Success. In so doing it takes on broad questions: why would this Septet be popular, how is Beethoven's career going in 1800, how do orchestras and concerts ‘work’ in Vienna. Very accessible definitions (such as for ‘Academy’) are included for the layperson but the chapter is still revealing for the scholar. As is true throughout, performances become a way to radiate outward to other issues. Beethoven's 1800 Academy, on which the Septet was performed, links to concomitant works (the first Piano Concerto and Symphony); the 1799 premiere at Prince Schwarzenberg's palace affords discussion of patronage, ‘private’ concerts and aristocratic listening. A review of the work is also a lens for contemporary philosophy, exploring the work's critical reception in terms of eighteenth-century views of ‘taste’ and ‘feeling’. Indeed, the chapter seems more a biography of the work than of Beethoven, as the various threads (drafts, performance, publishing, arrangements, reception) that make up its ‘life’ come together.

The theme of Chapter 2 is Friends, for which the Sonata for Violin and Piano Op. 47 is apt, given that it was written for and performed by his friend, the Black prodigy George Bridgetower (though dedicated to the French violinist Kreutzer, the source of its often-used popular title that I hope may soon be discarded).Footnote ² The piece and its genesis are themselves worthy of, and receive, extensive discussion. Yet the chapter also reflects on Beethoven's capacity for friendship and indeed the nature of friendships around 1800, the ways in which class and gender boundaries could (and could not) be crossed, the value philosophers placed on friendship, and the mercenary side to his many aristocratic friendships. As Tunbridge notes early in the chapter, ‘no composer can afford to be an island’ (p. 43), and this chapter contributes to the general thesis that Beethoven's contributions to the world are in part made through him and his abilities by a host of supporters. It also brings together Beethoven's attitudes toward friendships – his fraternal mockery bordering on cruelty (as concerning Schuppanzigh's weight), and his effusive (and frequently necessary) apologies. The relative differences of this Sonata for keyboard ‘and’ violin (as opposed to the earlier eight ‘with’ violin) are examined with respect to the ‘mixed’ genre of the Sonata, which Beethoven calls a sonata ‘concertante, quasi come d'un concerto’ or ‘almost like a concerto' for his published version. On one manuscript Beethoven also inscribed a lengthy title beginning ‘Sonata mulattica’, which obviously refers to Bridgetower; it is explained that the title may also apply to the ‘mixed’ nature of the work as part concerto, part sonata. The Sonata's length and difficulty, recent research into Beethoven's relationship with the Sonata's other dedicatee Louis Adam, and an explanation of bow types are all brought to bear effectively. The role played in reception by Tolstoy's Kreutzer Sonata novella, which violently rejects the idea that women and men can be platonic friends and musical partners, further cements the associations of this work with ‘friendship’ in all its problematic manifestations.

The ‘Eroica’ Symphony, unsurprisingly, is chosen for its association with the theme of Heroism for Chapter 3. Not much attention is paid to the concept of a ‘Heroic’ decade; rather, this is a chance to reflect on the political situation around 1804 and revolutionary ideas of Beethoven, the popularity of Gossec's Funeral March, and Beethoven's French orientation that is also evident in the dedication of the Op. 47 Sonata. The chapter begins with the music but avoids the typical discussion of the symphony's programmatic elements, which emerge piecemeal over the course of the chapter for the reader to assemble. The material seems refreshed by telling the story of the ‘Eroica’ from the angle of its publication (and his brother's somewhat unhelpful assistance in negotiating with publishers), as well as helping readers imagine the space of its performance without illustrations or lengthy tangents. The split in Beethoven reception between enthusiasts and those not enamoured of his ‘bizarre’ qualities begins to be outlined; the reader is reminded that the symphony's connections to Napoleon, and the trauma of Beethoven's encroaching deafness as revealed in the ‘Heiligenstadt Testament’, were not known to contemporary listeners. This also allows a fresh perspective. An apparent tangent concerning the ‘heroism’ of piano duels allows us to examine the ‘Westerby-Meredith’ hypothesis concerning whether a theme by Daniel Steibelt was mockingly employed in the finale.Footnote ³

The Op. 80 Choral Fantasy allows an examination of Ambition in Chapter 4. In a way it is an exploration of Beethoven's failures, because as Tunbridge notes, ‘within them hides the key to understanding Beethoven's musical ambitions’ (p. 94). Nor is it just the experimental Choral Fantasy (presaging the Ninth) that is discussed, but the ambitious, freezing-cold, four-hour extravaganza devoted to Beethoven's music on which it was shakily premiered – a concert usually noted as a conduit for the Fifth and Sixth Symphonies. Tunbridge marks this 1808 Academy as a turning point in Beethoven's ambitions, and also uses it as a gateway to contemporary criticism and performance, as critics begin to realize they need more time to grasp a work, and ensembles need more time to rehearse one. Also discussed are improvisation, the 1809 annuity supporting Beethoven in Vienna and the war's effects on a move toward more self-consciously Germanic works.

Chapter 5 discusses Love through the lens of the WoO 140 song ‘An die Geliebte’. It begins with the subjects of lieder, Goethe's relationship with Beethoven and Beethoven's poetic interests, as well as giving some details on the text's author, Joseph Ludwig Stoll. The chapter also reconnects to the currency devaluation theme and notes that a financial trough begins here for Beethoven (later rectified when he sues for back payment of his missing annuity). The expected discussion of the so-called Immortal Beloved letter and the identity of the intended recipient occurs, with some apparent support for Solomon's identification of Antonie Brentano but with more emphasis on exploring why contemporary reception is so concerned with it. As anticipated, the Op. 98 song cycle is drawn in; unexpectedly, a connection to portraits and the life-mask, as well as to Maelzel's ear-trumpets, is made.

The theme of Liberty, apparently separated from the Heroism of Chapter 3, is assigned to Fidelio in Chapter 6. The decision to focus on the opera's 1814 production (rather than its 1805 premiere, the circumstances of which might be unclear to novices in this telling) allows a glimpse of Beethoven's apparently most successful year, in which Vienna was gripped by the Congress of Vienna and also the now much-derided Wellington's Victory. Again we are guided not so much to the music as through it, for example noting the relation of choruses to the celebratory mood of 1814 Vienna. Leonore/Fidelio also serves as a focus for Beethoven's interest in strong women or androgynous heroism: the unwritten Joan of Arc opera on Schiller's Die Jungfrau von Orleans, the 1814 Leonore soloist Anna Milder whose voice (according to Haydn) was ‘the size of a house’, not to mention the later role of Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient in shaping the character of Leonore. The chapter helps position these years as a nationalist period for Beethoven, linking to his temporary change to German expressive markings in Op. 90.

Chapter 7 on the ‘Hammerklavier’ Sonata continues the focus on nationalism (‘Hammerklavier’ being part of a search for a German word for fortepiano), and it is chronologically well-positioned to be a discussion of Family (code for the guardianship dispute over Beethoven's nephew Karl). This chapter is perhaps not so well tied together as some of the others and includes a few typos and old canards (such as the idea that the folksong settings for Thompson were a ‘lucrative deal’, contradicted both by Barry Cooper and indirectly by Tunbridge's own introduction concerning inflation).Footnote ⁴ Yet both subjects (‘Hammerklavier’ and Family) are indispensable, and they are not unrelated. Beethoven's friendship with dedicatee Archduke Rudolph is naturally elucidated as well. An insightful examination of the ‘overcoming adversity’ theme in Beethoven reception and its relation to works like the ‘Hammerklavier’ is enlightened and enlightening. The Sonata is an excellent choice for introduction to the ‘late style’ and the issues in reception that emerge as Beethoven's works become increasingly out of the grasp of performers and critics alike. Tunbridge manages to continue to write accessibly and to challenge oft-repeated ideas about Beethoven even as the musical points become ever more esoteric and the mythologies against which she writes require more introduction.

The eighth chapter, on the Missa Solemnis, naturally connects with Spirit, including the idea of religion (and Beethoven's intense analysis of the Mass text), but also of Beethoven's increasing solitude and isolation. The restrictions of Metternich Vienna are also brought to bear, as is Beethoven's increasing attraction to Russia (where the Missa Solemnis premiered, in St Petersburg). Naturally, connections are made to other works on the famous 1824 concert wherein three of the Missa Solemnis movements were performed and the Ninth was premiered. Tunbridge draws our attention to the number of people needed to make these works a success, and the growing devotion to the preservation of Austrian musical culture to which this concert – advertised and received as a celebration of serious German music – contributed, in contradistinction to the increasing popularity of Rossini and the waltz. Besides observing the elements that create success apart from genius, the chapter notes how Beethoven was already beginning to be historicized in his lifetime.

Chapter 9, on Endings, is thematized appropriately by the String Quartet Op. 130 and its originally intended conclusion, the Grosse Fuge Op. 133. Students and laypeople will be fascinated by the issues arising from what Beethoven scholars commonly know: that particularly in the late period Beethoven was quite open to changing his mind about a work's conclusion and frequently did so. Not only was the Ninth sometimes performed without its finale, as Tunbridge notes, but Beethoven himself seriously considered the critical suggestion to withdraw its finale. These thoughts tie into the suggestion that the Op. 130 Quartet has a claim to being Beethoven's last work, as he wrote its new finale after the acknowledged last Quartet Op. 135. Such a claim forces us to confront our ideas about compositional intent, mythologies about the life-summative ‘final work’, and discomfort with the idea that Beethoven could change his mind (as opposed to being compelled by financial exigency to capitulate to publishers’ or performers’ suggestions). It is refreshing and interesting to see this topic elevated to the level of some of other biographical themes such as the Immortal Beloved or guardianship dispute. The paradox of the late style against the composer's own gregariousness in these years (contradicted by much mythology) is addressed, as are some chronologically appropriate issues (the institution of Schuppanzigh's concert series, the dramatic story of Karl's suicide attempt, and Beethoven's relationship to Schindler, Holz and other unpaid secretaries). Beethoven's own ending – his death and funeral – is of course covered. Tunbridge also notes that perceptions of Beethoven's personality softened after his death as personal documents he left behind came to light and revealed his struggles.

A Coda chapter, mostly concerning Beethoven reception, seems appropriate to rounding out the book. The ‘Further Reading’ is a nice substitute for a bibliography in that it is fairly comprehensive and truly inspires further reading. The chapter endnotes, which are not too extensive, access a broad cross-section of scholarship, including younger scholars and varying fields.

Would this creative and tapestry-like biography be so effective if there were not so many more complete Beethoven biographies that had come before? One might well ask, but as indeed there are so many, the question is moot. As it stands, the author's command of the details is demonstrated in the ability to pick and choose from among them, and the resulting book remarkably can serve both as an introduction to themes of Beethoven's life and works and a re-evaluation for those already well acquainted.