How much do you know about Beethoven's life? Most people had heard at least some of his compositions and probably know that he lost his hearing but the rest had usually been reserved for music historians (and people who just happen to read a biography).

Ruth Padel grew up with Beethoven. Not literally - she is not that old but she grew up in a musician family, playing the viola and Beethoven was part of her life (plus there is a a grandfather with personal history with the composer). She splits his life into 4 periods (as most historians do) and writes 12 poems for each of them. Some are about the composer's life or music. Some are about Padel's own history with his music and about a trip through the places he lived in. And some are somewhere in the middle - mixing the history with the personal. A lot of the poems start with a quote - from one of Beethoven's books or from a biography or another book about him.

You do not need to know much about Beethoven - Padel's poetry does a pretty good job in guiding you through his life. Although the more you know, the more you will see in some of those poems. But you do not need to go and find another biography - at the end of the book, the poet adds a coda: Life-Notes (I am not sure if this section is supposed to be poetry or prose - I consider it prose but modern poetry can be weird and there is something poetic in the notes and especially the format).

If you are looking for an insightful biography, this book is not for you. But it actually works as a biography - marrying poetry and music is not new although usually it is the other way around - music describes and elevates poetry. Here it is the other way around.

It is a very personal book - while the history is all there, the personal connection is the guiding principle through the collection. Which makes it a stronger one than it would have been if it had tried to go for the history only - poetry without feelings cannot work.

One thing to be careful about if you read this as a biography - due to the format, the scholarly debates are only lightly touched on (for example Für Elise had always been a bit of a mystery - scholars are not entirely sure who it was written for. Padel thinks it was Therese Malfatti - despite the title of the work - and does not even touch on the other options. Historians have had different opinions through the centuries and the question is wide-open - together with the fact that this Elise may have been a transcription error some time back in the days...). And if you want to read more about the composer, Padel added a pretty good Further Reading at the end of the book (together with a list of selected works from the composer).

My biggest issue with this book is that now I cannot stop listening to recordings of Beethoven's music - I am partial to piano works at the best of days and he was a master of the form. Which is not such a hardship after all. ( )