The Essay: Five Kinds of Beethoven

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The Essay: Five Kinds of Beethoven: Andrew Biswell

Andrew Biswell

Five Kinds of Beethoven

BBC Radio 3 - The Essay, Five Kinds of Beethoven, Andrew Biswell

Andrew Biswell explores the fascinating connection between Anthony Burgess and Beethoven.

Professor Andrew Biswell explores the fascinating connection between Anthony Burgess and Beethoven.

Beethoven is a towering figure in classical music, beloved by the musical profession. At the same time, it is important to engage with the full diversity and range of his admirers in the 21st century.  This series is not so much a classical examination of Beethoven, but rather an opening out and broader engagement with his work in a very modern context, demonstrating the extraordinary power  of his work and its enduring influence.   

253 years since Beethoven’s birth, an essay series that considers Beethoven now, in a thoroughly contemporary and highly personal context. Our eminent and unexpected thinkers respond to and share their personal interpretation of Beethoven, placing his influence in a modern framework. Each Essayist offers  a uniquely personal insight into the scope of Beethoven’s work. 

What does Beethoven mean to you?  We put that very simple question to a wide range of  Essayists. The answers are unexpected, entertaining and informative. 

Professor Andrew Biswell explores the fascinating connection between Anthony Burgess and Beethoven, Burgess wrote several pieces inspired by Beethoven, including using Eroica as the framework for his epic novel and drama about Napoleon Symphony. The drama, Napoleon Rising, had its world premiere on Radio 3 in 2012.  Burgess wrote an un produced screenplay about Beethoven’s early life and in1991, delivered a speech on the composer’s 9 symphonies on BBC Radio 3. His close artistic identification with the composer and fascination with his personality traits informed a great deal of his work. 

Andrew Biswell is the biographer of Anthony Burgess and director of the International Anthony Burgess Foundation, which he set up in 2003 at the behest of  the author’s late widow Liana. The IABF occupies the light-filled Engine House in Chorlton Mill, where it hosts a variety of events – readings, book launches, performances, discussions – as well as tours of the archive and usage of the reading room.

Andrew Biswell was made Professor of Modern Literature in the Department of English at Manchester Metropolitan University in June 2013 having previously held the positions of Lecturer, then Principal Lecturer, in English and Creative Writing, and Academic Director of the Manchester Writing School.  


Producer, Polly Thomas  
Executive producer, Eloise Whitmore

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Five different Beethovens - from a poet, an actor, an MP, a professor and a musician.

Five different Beethovens - writer Inua Ellams, actor Sophie Stone, MP Thangam Debbonaire, Professor Andrew Biswell and musician Nitin Sawhney share what Beethoven means to them.

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