The Changing Image of Beethoven: A Study in Mythmaking November 13, 2008

To celebrate the reissuing this year of her "magisterial" study of Beethoven's imagery across two centuries, Dr. Alessandra Comini examines the contradictory portrayal of the composer in contemporary verbal accounts and in dozens of paintings, prints, sculptures and monuments across the decades. She constructs a collective image of Beethoven from peevish recluse to Promethean hero as reflected by mythmakers from Wagner, Berlioz, Nietzsche and Brahms to Rolland, D'Annunzio, Mahler and Klimt.