For most of the last ten years of Beethoven's life, Anton Schindler was closely associated with the composer as pupil, secretary, servant, and factotum. This relationship gave him an incomparable vantage point for writing a personalized, detailed biography of the great man. In 1840 Schindler published the first, hastily written version of the biography, which was translated into English the following year by Ignaz Moscheles, the eminent pianist and Beethoven disciple. It was not until 1860, however, that Schindler published a carefully written, thoroughly revised edition, containing a...
For most of the last ten years of Beethoven's life, Anton Schindler was closely associated with the composer as pupil, secretary, servant, and fact...
Violinist and conductor Anton Schindler (1795-1864) became Beethoven's unpaid private secretary for two periods in the 1820s, notably caring for the composer in his last months. Schindler published his biography of Beethoven in 1840, and in 1841 this English translation appeared, with a preface and additional letters provided by the pianist Ignaz Moscheles (1794-1870), who in 1814 had prepared the piano version of Fidelio for publication by Artaria. That the biography is unreliable has long been recognised, as it presents Schindler's idealised, romantic view of Beethoven, whom he revered, and...
Violinist and conductor Anton Schindler (1795-1864) became Beethoven's unpaid private secretary for two periods in the 1820s, notably caring for the c...
