Man, Hero, Messenger of Music and Joy: Ludwig van Beethoven as Seen by Ury Benador
Man, Hero, Messenger of Music and Joy: Ludwig van Beethoven as Seen by Ury Benador

Summary/Abstract: In the case of influential persons in the evolution of mankind, their notoriety is built by popular publications meant to highlight a variety of aspects, including biographical ones, sometimes under the sign of an original view on the respective subject. Such a case is Ludwig van Beethoven’s. His altogether special place in the history of music brought about a large number of studies, extensive musicological researches. He was also a permanent source of inspiration for romanticized biographies in which elements of reality blend with authors’ personal views, whose conformity to facts was often questioned. Approaches of this kind are found in Romanian cultural space too. Throughout the 20th century, in addition to being presented as a “titan” in a number of music history studies and books – more or less obviously marked by the ideologies that dominated Romanian society –, Beethoven appears in an original position: protagonist of literary works by Ury Benador, Romanian writer of Jewish extraction. His view, materialized into two short stories and a novel, proposes an alternative to the musicology-type discourse: staying true to the historical, biographical and psychological truth, Benador wanted to evoke Beethoven as a model of dignity, ethic purity, faith in life.

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