Books

Some tomes about Beethoven exceed 1,000 pages. Yet Laura Tunbridge, professor of music at Oxford University, has boiled down some of the key biographical issues into chapters revolving around nine pieces of music. These provide focal points for specific angles and their discussion: for instance, heroism in the Eroica Symphony, spirit in the Missa solemnis, family in the Hammerklavier Sonata.

The structure is partSonata encompasses, among other things, Vienna’s social hierarchy, the significance of coffee and the chequered relationships Beethoven enjoyed with violinists such as Schuppanzigh and, crucially, George Bridgetower, plus the radical musical evolutions the work represents.