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Mr. Beethoven

Tekijä: Paul Griffiths

JäseniäKirja-arvostelujaSuosituimmuussijaKeskimääräinen arvioMaininnat
493518,511 (3.57)2
"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 Griffith'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, 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, Griffith's novel not only shows Beethoven learning a form of sign language pioneered on Martha's Vineyard, struggling to reign 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 protrait 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 the others and the past, and an improvisation, as virtuosic as it is delicate, on an historical theme"--… (lisätietoja)
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näyttää 3/3
This is what I would call couterfactual hiatorical fiction. The author takes some real events and interpolates what the life of Beethoven would have looked like if he had responded to these events. A somewhat delightful romp into the fantastic realm of unrealized musical history - and a must for true Beethoven fans. ( )
  jwhenderson | Jan 11, 2023 |
I was always going to love this book. I was in love with Beethoven when I was a teenager: I was completely obsessed. I listened to his music over and over again, I played as many of his piano works as I could manage, and I read everything about him that I could get my hands on. (I have not entirely grown out of this obsession, as The Spouse can attest as I repeatedly work my way through my collection of Beethoven recordings.)

So Mr Beethoven, a novel in which he lives a little longer and writes another magnificent late work, kept me utterly absorbed.

Shortlisted for the 2020 Goldsmith's Prize and the 2021 Republic of Consciousness Prize, and longlisted for the 2021 Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction, Mr Beethoven is playful fiction, which subverts the genre. Its central—preposterous—premise is that Beethoven did not die in 1827, but lived long enough to travel to Boston in 1833 to produce a Biblical oratorio commissioned by the (amateur) Handel and Haydn Society. This graphic via a review by Paul Fulcher at Goodreads reproduces a newspaper clipping that confirms the existence of the commission.



Beethoven's hearing loss was severe by then, (and he was suffering from excruciating tinnitus too though this is not mentioned in the novel) but his task in the novel is eased by the presence of a young woman called Thankful, fluent in the sign language used extensively in Martha's Vineyard. (This was apparently because there was a high incidence of congenital deafness in Martha'a Vineyard at that time, because of intermarriage amongst people with a recessive genetic mutation. Like other aspects of this playful story, this is derived from historical fact.) In no time Beethoven masters this sign language and communication is established. (Well, it is fiction.) This enables him to tell the indignant librettist Ballou that his work is unusable, to fob off enquiries about how he's getting on, and to indulge in mild intrigues with Thankful who doesn't always translate exactly what is said to her. 'It's more of the same', she says, presumably keeping a straight face as she does so.

There are constant playful reminders that this is not your usual historical novel.

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2021/06/02/mr-beethoven-by-paul-griffiths/ ( )
  anzlitlovers | Jun 2, 2021 |
Beethoven Lives Again!
Review of the Henningham Family Press paperback edition (May 2020)
O Freunde, nicht diese Töne! Sondern laßt uns angenehmere anstimmen, und freudenvollere. (Oh friends, not these sounds! Let us instead strike up more pleasing and more joyful ones!) - Opening lyrics to the 4th movement Choral Finale in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) died at the age of 56 after being bed-ridden in his last days while suffering hearing loss and the combined pains of organ failure through possible lead poisoning and the poor medical treatments of the time. In apocryphal stories, he was reported to have died saying “Plaudite, amici, comedia finita est!" (Applaud, my friends, the comedy is over!) and/or after shaking his fist towards the heavens in a final gesture of defiance. But... no more of these sounds.

Paul Griffiths’ Mr. Beethoven performs a wonderful act of speculative fiction by restoring Beethoven to life and giving him several more years of intensive composing activity that extends well into the 1830s. One of these projects is to realize a Biblical Oratorio commission for the Handel & Haydn Society in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. For this purpose, Beethoven actually travels to America to finish his composition on site and to participate in the selection of vocal soloists.

All does not necessarily proceed smoothly, as Beethoven is reluctant to share his progress to date with the officers of the Society, who are understandably concerned whether their commission will be realized. Author Griffiths keeps both them and the reader in suspense as to whether the spark of genius is still there or whether perhaps there is some writer’s block or poor health that is troubling the composer.

Gradually though, things begin to turn around as Beethoven (who is still deaf in this extended life) is partnered with a determined young woman who teaches him a local sign language to facilitate his communication with others. A secret ally comes to his aid when the libretto that he is provided seems to be lacking the right words of inspiration. It would be a spoiler to reveal very much more than that, as there are several unexpected cameo appearances that provide further delight along the way to the uplifting conclusion.

Paul Griffiths’ meticulous research combines all of the realistic possibilities based on existing documented evidence (detailed in the book’s Notes) to provide the basis for this fiction. Even Beethoven’s own words are not invented but are rather based on excerpting the appropriate texts from his own existing correspondence. The people he meets and places he goes were in fact there at the time and it all could have happened in real life. Most of all, Mr. Beethoven is so well constructed that it will make you wish that not only could it have happened, it will make you believe that it actually did.

I read Mr. Beethoven as the May 2020 book perk from my support of The Republic of Consciousness Prize for small independent publishers.

Trivia and Links
Mr. Beethoven was published through a successful crowdfunding campaign on the website Unbound. It is the first book in the Historiographic Fictions series by the Henningham Family Press; novels set in the past that treat history with originality and flair.
The second book in the Historiographic Fictions series is The Blackbird (expected late June 2020) by Claire Allen, which is currently crowdfunding on Unbound here. ( )
1 ääni alanteder | Jun 16, 2020 |
näyttää 3/3
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Englanninkielinen Wikipedia

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"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 Griffith'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, 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, Griffith's novel not only shows Beethoven learning a form of sign language pioneered on Martha's Vineyard, struggling to reign 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 protrait 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 the others and the past, and an improvisation, as virtuosic as it is delicate, on an historical theme"--

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