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litlover12 ([personal profile] litlover12) wrote2011-05-15 11:35 pm
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Poor Mr. Beethoven

Attended a lovely little show at the Kennedy Center, Beethoven Lives Upstairs, based on one of my favorite children's books. I was quite startled to find myself in tears several times. It's not like any of the facts were new to me -- the deafness, the loneliness, the wretched childhood, any of it. I knew all of that backwards. And yet . . . there was something about seeing it all through a child's eyes that made me weep.

His sad story is perhaps one of the reasons I've always felt so drawn to Beethoven, even though I might have found his personality unbearable in real life. (I find that several of my favorite historic figures are like that.) I love many classical composers, but Beethoven reaches me in a way that none of the others do. To write music like that in spite of fear and misery and the worst physical handicap that could afflict a composer . . . I'm about to get choked up all over again just thinking about it.

[identity profile] goldvermilion87.livejournal.com 2011-05-16 03:43 am (UTC)(link)
I've seen the film and heard the tape.

My favorite in that series is Vivaldi's Ring of Mystery, though. :-)

[identity profile] velle.livejournal.com 2011-05-18 03:10 am (UTC)(link)
Oh my gosh I have that book!
I wish I could see the show.