Really good, liked the separation of B's personal and musical lives. ( )

Provides a fascinating psychological perspective of the composer. It goes without saying that it is detailed and well-researched. ( )

Amazingly detailed and well-written biography of the composer Ludwig van Beethoven. ( )

Scholarly presentation, including a careful unwinding of the immortal beloved mystery, but the alternating presentation of "the life" and "the music" disintegrates the biography somewhat. ( )

This is a somewhat dated biography, originally written more than forty years ago and last revised in 1998, and that shows in things like the rather heavy-handed Freudian analysis Solomon brings to bear on his subject, on various minor characters, and even on himself as author. That seems to mean that the women in Beethoven's life, in particular, don't really get a fair hearing, and judging by reviews, is enough to put some readers off.

On the other hand, the psychoanalysis is only a rather small part of the whole, and Solomon certainly knows his way around the music and the biographical sources, both of which he'd been studying for many years before he started on this book, and that counts for a lot with a figure like Beethoven where there is so much historical misinformation flying around. Solomon takes us through the verifiable facts, reasonable inferences and probable falsehoods swiftly and efficiently, setting out clearly what the evidence is and how he reads it.

Of course, every Beethoven biography requires a theory about the "Immortal Beloved", the unnamed woman to whom Beethoven wrote a letter on Monday, 6th July of an unspecified year (we don't know whether he actually sent it, though...), and who seems to have been the only woman in his life who actually reciprocated his affections. Solomon puts forward a plausible case for Antonie Brentano (the Viennese sister-in-law of the ubiquitous Bettina).

On the music, Solomon seems to have found a good compromise, showing us why and how particular works bend the rules and display Beethoven's creativity (or don't!), and why they matter in music history, without either getting deeply into technical language or straying into the realms of superficial generalisation. There are a few odd moments, like the extended, lyrical epiphany about variation-form he goes into when discussing the Diabelli Variations, but on the whole it's all very sane and informative, telling you the sort of things you would like to know when attending a concert or listening to a record.

A good, brisk introduction to Beethoven. ( )