Composer of the Week: Beethoven: Drawing Room Demon

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Composer of the Week

Music: Classical

Composer of the Week - Brand

An informative guide to composers' lives and their music.

An informative and accessible guide to composers' lives and their music.

Composer of the Week: Beethoven Unleashed: The Drawing Room Demon: Finding Friends

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Finding Friends

Beethoven Unleashed: The Drawing Room Demon

BBC Radio 3 - Composer of the Week, Beethoven Unleashed: The Drawing Room Demon, Finding Friends

Beethoven's social life takes an upward turn. Presented by Donald Macleod.

Beethoven had left most of his friends and family behind in Bonn. He didn't want for company in Vienna but lacked a soulmate he could confide in. Presented by Donald Macleod.

Beethoven was determinedly pursuing his professional ambitions, which left little time for a proper social life.  In any case, he had little in common with the royal princes, barons and countesses who attended Vienna’s regular musical gatherings. Enter, Karl Amenda, a commoner like Beethoven, who would become a true soulmate. 

This week, Donald Macleod follows Beethoven through the years 1796-99, as the young composer learns to negotiate the privileged and moneyed circles of Vienna’s culture loving aristocracy. Few can resist his extraordinary charisma as a virtuoso pianist, but will he also be able to persuade them of his talents as a composer?

Composer of the Week will be returning to the story of Beethoven’s life and music throughout 2020. Part of Radio 3’s Beethoven Unleashed season marking the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth.

Piano Trio op 1 no 1, IV. Presto
Amatis Piano Trio

Piano Sonata no 7, op 10 no 3, movts. II & III
Emil Gilels, piano

Romance in F, op 50
Aleksey Semenenko, violin
Inna Firsova, piano

Duet for two obligato eye-glasses, Woo 32
Maria Kliegel, cello
Tabea Zimmermann, viola

String Quartet Op.18 No.1, I. Allegro con brio
Danish String Quartet

Composer of the Week: Beethoven Unleashed: The Drawing Room Demon

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

Beethoven seeks out wealthy patrons to support his music. Presented by Donald Macleod.

Donald Macleod follows Beethoven through the years 1796-99 as the young composer learns to negotiate the privileged and moneyed circles of Vienna's culture-loving aristocracy.

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