Beethoven’s Conversation Books, Vol. 4
Theodore Albrecht
Boydell 376pp (hb) £45
With four volumes done and eight to go, this grand endeavour rolls on, opening up the minutiae of Beethoven’s everyday life to general scrutiny. This time the visitors include Friedrich Wieck (father of Clara Schumann) but the stage is dominated by Beethoven’s nephew Karl. We hardly hear Beethoven’s voice at all, but he’s always present as an irascible and commanding silence.
Karl is now 17, and we get to peer into his troubled
