Alexander Wheelock Thayer
Encyclopedia
Natick, Massachusetts
Natick is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. Natick is located near the center of the MetroWest region of Massachusetts, with a population of 33,006 at the 2010 census. Only west from Boston, Natick is considered part of the Greater Boston area...
, U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, 22 October 1817, d. Trieste
Trieste
Trieste is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is situated towards the end of a narrow strip of land lying between the Adriatic Sea and Italy's border with Slovenia, which lies almost immediately south and east of the city...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, 15 July 1897), was a librarian and journalist who became the author of the first scholarly biography
Biography
A biography is a detailed description or account of someone's life. More than a list of basic facts , biography also portrays the subject's experience of those events...
of Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
, still after many updatings regarded as a standard work of reference on the composer.
Life
Originally a librarian at Harvard law school, Thayer became aware of many discrepancies in the biography of Beethoven by Anton Schindler, Beethoven's sometime amanuensisAmanuensis
Amanuensis is a Latin word adopted in various languages, including English, for certain persons performing a function by hand, either writing down the words of another or performing manual labour...
, which had first appeared in 1840. (The unreliability and invention of Schindler have since been extensively exposed by later scholars). In 1849 Thayer sailed for Europe to undertake his own researches, learning German and collecting information. Supporting himself by journalism and after many privations, he was eventually appointed US Consul
Consul (representative)
The political title Consul is used for the official representatives of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, and to facilitate trade and friendship between the peoples of the two countries...
in Trieste, where he was able to pursue his labours. The first edition of the biography, (in German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
), in three volumes, covering Beethoven's life to 1816, appeared between 1866 and 1879. The work was completed by Thayer's German colleague Hermann Deiters and, after Deiters's death, by Hugo Riemann
Hugo Riemann
Karl Wilhelm Julius Hugo Riemann was a German music theorist.-Biography:Riemann was born at Grossmehlra, Schwarzburg-Sondershausen. He was educated in theory by Frankenberger, studied the piano with Barthel and Ratzenberger, studied law, and finally philosophy and history at Berlin and Tübingen...
, who created the posthumuosly published volumes #4 (1907) and #5 (1908) from Thayer's notes, covering the years 1817 to Beethoven's death in 1827.
Thayer's work on Beethoven set a benchmark for modern standards of accuracy, research and analysis in biography.
In 1865 Thayer wrote:
I fight for no theories and cherish no prejudices; my sole point of view is the truth.
Henry Krehbiel
Henry Edward Krehbiel
Henry Edward Krehbiel was an American music critic and musicologist.-Biography:Krehbiel was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He received a general education from his father, a German clergyman of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and began in 1872 the study of law in Cincinnati, Ohio...
, who created the first English edition of the biography in 1921, wrote of Thayer in 1917:
His industry, zeal, keen power of analysis, candor and fair-mindedness won the confidence of all with whom he came into contact except the literary charlatans whose romances he was bent on destroying in the interest of the verities of history.
The most recent version of the biography is revised and edited by Elliot Forbes
Elliot Forbes
Elliot Forbes , known as "El", was an American conductor and musicologist noted for his Beethoven scholarship.-Life and career:...
.
Sources
- Thayer's Life of Beethoven, rev. and ed. Elliot Forbes.
- Thayer, Alexander Wheelock in Grove Dictionary of Music and MusiciansGrove Dictionary of Music and MusiciansThe New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart, it is the largest single reference work on Western music. The dictionary has gone through several editions since the 19th century...