If one wishes to know Beethoven better, reference should be made to the principal biographies and other works on Beethoven, of which we give a brief list:—

I.—FOR BEETHOVEN'S LETTERS.

Ludwig Nohl.—Briefe Beethovens, 1865, Stuttgart.

Ludwig Nohl.—Neue Briefe Beethovens, 1867, Stuttgart.

Ludwig Ritter von Koechel.—83 Original Briefe L.V.B. an den Erzherzog Rudolph, 1865, Vienna.

Alfred Schoene.—Briefe von Beethoven an Marie Graefin ErdÖdy geb. Graefin Niszky und Mag. Brauchte, 1866, Leipzig.

Theodor von Frimmel.—Neue Beethoveniana, 1886.

Katalog der mit der Beethoven—Feier zu Bonn, an II.—15 Mai, 1890, verbundenen Ausstellung von Handschriften, Briefen, Bildnissen, Reliquien Ludwig van Beethovens. Bonn, 1890.

La Mara.—Musikerbriefe aus fÜnf Jahrhunderten. Leipzig, 1892.

Dr. A. Christian Kalischer.—Neue Beethoven, Briefe. Berlin and Leipzig, 1902.

Dr. A. Christian Kalischer.—Beethovens SÄmmtliche Briefe. Kritische Ausgabe mit ErlÄuterungen, 5 vol. Leipzig and Berlin, 1906-1908.

Dr. Fritz Prelinger.—Beethovens SÄmmtliche Briefe und Aufzeichnungen, 3 vols. Vienna and Leipzig, 1907.

By far the most useful books for the English reader, and, indeed, for any reader, are the two splendid volumes of Beethoven's Letters. A critical edition with explanatory notes translated from Kalischer by J. S. Shedlock. (London: J. M. Dent & Co., 1909).

The translation of the letters contained in this present volume have been taken from that work by kind permission of the author and the publishers.

A good selection from these letters, issued in one volume at a moderate price, would be a great boon to English readers.

II.—FOR BEETHOVEN'S LIFE.

Gottfried Fischer.—Manuscrit (especially interesting for the childhood of Beethoven). Fischer, who died in 1864, was the owner of the house where the Beethoven family lived for two generations. He and his sister Cecilia knew Beethoven as a boy intimately, and have recorded their remembrances of him, which are very valuable, on condition that they are used with some criticism. The manuscript is in the Beethovenhaus at Bonn. Deiters (see below) has published some extracts from them.

F. G. Wegeler and Ferdinand Reis.—Biographie Notizen Über Ludwig van Beethoven (especially valuable for the first part of his life), Coblentz. 1838. Re-issued by Dr. Kalischer in 1905.

Ludwig Nohl.—Eine stille Liebe zu Beethoven. Berlin, 1857. (A publication of the Journal of Mlle. Fanny Giannatasio del Rio, who knew and loved Beethoven about 1816).

Anton Schindler.—Beethovens Biographie. 1840. (For the second part of his life).

Anton Schindler.—Beethoven in Paris, MÜnster, 1842.

Gerhard von Breuning.—Aus dem Schwarzspanierhause, 1874. (The Schwarzspanierhaus was the house in Vienna in which Beethoven died. It was pulled down during the winter of 1903).

Moscheles.—The Life of Beethoven, London, 2 vols. 1841.

Alexander Wheelock Thayer, and continued by Hermann Deiters, and later by Hugo Reimann.—Ludwig von Beethovens Leben (Translated into English), 5 vols., 1908. This biography was commenced in 1866, but was interrupted by the death of the author in 1897 at Trieste where he was the American Consul. The work stood still till 1816, when Deiters undertook to finish it; but he died in 1907 before he had published the second volume. Riemann finished the work from the materials left by Deiters. It is by far the most important work on Beethoven.

Ludwig Nohl.—Beethovens Leben, 4 vols., 1864-1877.

Ludwig Nohl.—Beethoven nach den Schilderungen seiner Zeitgenossen, Stuttgart.

A. B. Marz.—L. van Beethovens Leben und Schaffen, 2 vols. 5th Edition revised by G. Behncke. Berlin, 1902.

Victor Wilder.—Beethoven, sa vie et son oeuvre, 1883.

III.—FOR BEETHOVEN'S WORKS.

Beethoven.—Complete works, critical edition, Breitkopf and Haertel, Leipzig, 38 vols.

G. Nottebohm.—Thematisches Verzeichniss der im Druck erschienen Werke von Ludwig van Beethoven, Leipzig, 1868.

A. W. Thayer.—Chronologisches Verzeichniss der Werke von Beethoven. 1865.

G. Nottebohm.—Ein Skizzenbuch von Beethoven. 1865.

G. Nottebohm.—Ein Skizzenbuch von Beethoven aus dem Jahre, 1803. 1880.

G. Nottebohm.—Beethovens Studien. 1873.

G. Nottebohm.—Beethoveniana. Zweite Beethoveniana. 1872-87.

George Grove.—Beethoven and his Nine Symphonies. London, Novello, 1896.

J. G. Prodhomme.—Les Symphonies de Beethoven, 1906.

Alfredo Colombani.—Le Nove Sinfonie di Beethoven. Turin, 1897.

Ernst von Elterlein.—Beethovens Claviersonaten. Fifth edition, 1895.

Willibald Nagel.—Beethoven und seine Klavier-sonaten. Two volumes, 1903-1905.

J. S. Shedlock.—The Pianoforte Sonata. London, Methuen, 1900.

Charles Czerny.—Pianoforte School (part 4, chapters 2 and 3).

Theodor Helm.—Beethoven's Streichquartette. 1885.

H. de Curzon.—Les lieder et airs detaches de Beethoven, 1906.

Otto Jahn.—Leonore. Klavierauszug mit Text, nach der zweiten Bearbeitung, 1852.

Dr. Erich Prieger.—Fidelio. Klavierauszug mit Text, nach der ersten Bearbeitung, 1906.

Wilhelm Weber.—Beethoven's Missa Solemnis, 1897.

Mariam Tenger.—Beethoven's Unsterbliche Geliebte, 1890. The historical value of this book has been frequently contested. Mariam Tenger was the confidential friend of Theresa in her last years. It is very likely that Theresa, then aged, may involuntarily have idealised her remembrances; but the foundation of the story appears reliable.

A. Ehrhard.—Franz Grillparzer, 1900.

Theodor von Frimmel.—Ludwig van Beethoven (in the collection of BerÜhmte, Musiker), Berlin, 1901.

Jean Chantavoine.—Beethoven, Paris, 1907.

Dr. Alfred Christian Kalischer.—Beethoven und seiner Zeitgenossen Beitrage zur Geschichte des Kunstlers und Menschen. 4 vols., 1910. A collection of documents of the greatest interest on the whole circle of Beethoven's friends. This wealth of information renews in a great part the psychology of Beethoven.

Prof. Dr. Richard Sternfeld.—Zur Einfuhrung in Ludwig von Beethoven's Missa Solemnis.

Ignaz von Seyfried.—Ludwig von Beethoven im Generalbass, Kontrapunkt, und in der Kompositions Lehre, 1832.

W. de Lenz.—Beethoven et ses trois styles. (Analysis of his pianoforte sonatas), (out of print), 1854.

Oulibicheff.—Beethoven, ses critiques et ses glossateurs, 1857.

Wasielewski.—Beethoven, 2 volumes, Berlin, 1886.

R. Schumann.—Music and Musicians. Translated by Fanny Raymond Ritter, London, Reeves.

Richard Wagner.—Beethoven. Leipzig, 1870.

Vincent d'Indy.—Beethoven. Paris, 1911.