Mr. Beethoven: A Novel
Written by Paul Griffiths
Narrated by Paul Griffiths
4/5
()
About this audiobook
Based on the German composer's own correspondence, this inventive, counterfactual work of historical fiction imagines Beethoven traveling to America to write an oratorio based on the Book of Job.
It is a matter of historical record that in 1823 the Handel and Haydn Society of Boston (active to this day) sought to commission Beethoven to write an oratorio.
The premise of Paul Griffiths's ingenious and delightful novel is that Beethoven accepted the commission and traveled to the United States to oversee the first performance of the work.
Griffiths grants the composer an additional lease on life of several years, and starting with his voyage across the Atlantic and entry into Boston harbor, chronicles his adventures and misadventures, his happy surprises and frustration, in a new world in which, great man though he is, he finds himself a new man.
Relying, apart from the initial conceit of the novel, entirely on historically attested possibilities to develop his plot, Griffiths's novel not only shows Beethoven learning a form of sign language pioneered on Martha's Vineyard, struggling to rein in the uncertain inspiration of Reverend Ballou, his designated librettist, and finding a kindred spirit in the widowed Mrs. Hill, all the time keeping his hosts guessing as to whether he will in the end come through with his promised composition.
(And just what, the reader also wonders, will this new piece by Beethoven turn out to be?)
The book that emerges is not only an affectionate portrait of an unusual man, but a fascinating picture of the United States in its early years, a meditation on what we can and can't know about others and the past, and an improvisation, as virtuosic as it is delicate, on an historical theme.
Related to Mr. Beethoven
Related audiobooks
Beethoven: A Life in Nine Pieces Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJohann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Singing Forest Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Mission House Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Electric Hotel: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Tunnel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Chill in the Air Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Western Wind Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Last Englishmen: Love, War, and the End of Empire Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Pop: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Sea and the Jungle Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPlunder: Napoleon's Theft of Veronese's Feast Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCross Channel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Picasso the Foreigner: An Artist in France, 1900-1973 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThalia Book Club: Edward St. Aubyn Lost for Words Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Day for Night: A Novel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRoughing It in the Bush: Or, Life in Canada Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5South Pole Station: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher: Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nora: A Love Story of Nora and James Joyce Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Testament of Mary Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Music & Silence Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5May Day Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHammer Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The Last Kings of Sark: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Street of the Four Winds Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFalling Hour Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Missing Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Visible World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Historical Fiction For You
Outlander Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Tom Lake: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All the Light We Cannot See: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lost Apothecary: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Song of Achilles: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5That Bonesetter Woman: the new feelgood novel from the author of The Smallest Man Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Tattooist of Auschwitz: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5And Then There Were None Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cloud Cuckoo Land: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Weyward: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beneath a Scarlet Sky: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Lady Tan's Circle of Women Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Rose Code: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Reformatory: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Perfume: The Story of a Murderer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Schindler's List Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Huntress: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Alice Network: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dragon Teeth: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The House of Eve Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5All Quiet on the Western Front Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5West with Giraffes: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Let Us Descend: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nineteen Steps: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Yellow Wife: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Book of Lost Names Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Neon Gods Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Golem and the Jinni: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The River We Remember: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5News of the World: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for Mr. Beethoven
1 rating0 reviews