Goethe and Beethoven

Romain Rolland (29 January 1866 – 30 December 1944) was a French dramatist, novelist, essayist, art historian and mystic who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1915 "as a tribute to the lofty idealism of his literary production and to the sympathy and love of truth with which he has described different types of human beings". “OF THE two giants, Goethe and Beethoven, who are the subject of this book, Beethoven is probably far better known to the English-speaking public than Goethe. There are two reasons for this. Beethoven addresses the world in the language of music, a universal language, which can be understood by many who have not made even an elementary study of it. There is hardly a concertgoer in the world who has not heard Beethoven’s symphonies or sonatas, or who has had no opportunity of feeling the influence of that mighty composer. The second reason is that there are many more people who, as amateur or professional musicians, have formed a closer acquaintance with Beethoven than that of mere hearing. They have played his works, analyzed them, interpreted them, and often enough, attracted by his work, have enquired into his life and his psychology. They have found at their disposal a comprehensive mass of literature, easily accessible; they have read of him in critical essays published in the press. And Ernest Newman’s excellent translation of Romain Rolland’s Beethoven: the Creator has given those who read it, a deep insight into the composer’s greatness. Not so with Goethe. To understand and appreciate him is reserved to the comparatively small community which has a perfect knowledge of German, for no translation can do him justice. And those who do not know any of his works lack the interest which would prompt them to enquire into the great poet’s life, thought, work, and influence.”-Foreword

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