Publisher's Synopsis
The Immortal Beloved Compendium (Comprehensive Edition) contains the latest research into this perennially fascinating person - the key to a full understanding of Beethoven as a man and as a musician. It includes copious extracts from the composer's and his contemporaries' letters and diaries, documents that provide first-hand evidence of his personality. This is an indispensable guide, a standard reference work on Beethoven, a constant source of elucidation and enjoyment. An exciting journey through musical literature, this Comprehensive Compendium summarizes the most authoritative current thinking on Beethoven's "Immortal Beloved" in a digest of succinct and easily accessible sections. Each chapter is a cornucopia of information on every aspect of this topic. "Rigorously meticulous and objective, this book is indispensable to scholars as well as fascinating to amateurs and will be of greatest interest and value to all music lovers." (The Classical Musicologist)