This comprehensive A-to-Z reference is comprised of detailed and authoritative entries on every aspect of the great composer’s life. Ludwig van Beethoven is one of the most famous and revered composers in classical music. His instantly recognizable concertos and symphonies continue to be among the most performed by symphonies across the globe. In this definitive reference volume, eminent musicologist Paul Nettl provides students and researchers with an in-depth biographical resource organized in alphabetical entries. The Beethoven Encyclopedia covers the German composer’s music, personal life, and patrons, among other topics, such as the forces that inspired his genius.

Written for the general reader, this book reveals how Beethoven's great works reflect both his artistic individuality and the deepest philosophical and political currents of his age.

Written by four leading Beethoven scholars, this is an invaluable guide to his character, his social life, his religious beliefs, his politics, and above all his music.

'My compositions bring me in a good deal ... I state my price and they pay.' Beethoven was an inspired composer but he was also a working musician with sound commercial sense. David Wyn Jones's account of Beethoven the man and composer reveals the life of a creative musician in Bonn and Vienna in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. While paying due regard to the image of Beethoven as one of the most single-minded composers in the history of music, this biography places his work in the context of the musical life of the period. Through an understanding of the changing nature of musical patronage, the private and public concert, the impact of the Napoleonic Wars on culture and society, and the increasing ambition of musical life in the period after the end of the wars, a varied and dynamic picture of Beethoven's musical career emerges.

Presents facts on more than 1300 subjects from Aardvark to Zoo.

Could he really be a direct descendant of Beethoven's cat? Wiggie, short for Ludwig, is as astonished as the rest of the Carter family when he discovers a picture of the famous composer together with his cat Ludwig. The resemblance between the cat and Wiggie himself is amazing. Is Ludwig his ancestor? Or could it be that he is the reincarnation of Ludwig? Since Beethoven was very close to his cat he begins to haunt Wiggie in his dreams. But what is it he wants him to do? Does he want Wiggie to record an unfinished composition? Does he want him to rid the house of rock music? And is Wiggies sudden longing for fish somehow related to the fact that Beethoven always fed his cat fish? Poor Wiggie not only loses sleep, he also loses weight since he refuses to eat the cat food he normally loves. Josh, the Carters' other cat and Winston, their bulldog, are no help during these haunted times. Wiggie's increasingly irrational behavior result in the Carters taking him to the Vet Clinic. And if that isn't bad enough, the veterinarian tells them there is nothing he can do. What Wiggie needs is an animal psychiatrist! A very funny story about an eccentric cat and the warm, true-to-life family whose home he disrupts.

Using one of the most famous works in classical music—Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony—here is the perfect way to introduce a young child to the world of classical music. This charming and interactive picture book with its panel of 19 sound buttons is like a ticket to a concert hall, taking readers on a journey from the exciting first moment when the musicians begin tuning up to the end of the first movement (attention newcomers: don’t clap yet!). At each step of the way, readers learn the basics of classical music and the orchestra: What is a conductor? What is a symphony? Who was Beethoven? The different aspects of music: melody, harmony, tempo, theme. And the families of instruments—strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion. But the best part is that every critical idea is illustrated in gorgeous sound. The sound panel allows readers to hear the different parts of the symphony and voices of the music—the famous beginning of the Fifth, what a clarinet sounds like, the difference between a violin and a viola, what a melody is, and what harmony is. Kids will want to match their voices to the A note that tunes the orchestra, dance to the rhythmic passages—and, of course, sing along to da-da-da-daah!