The Anthony Burgess Lecture 2021: Beethoven - A Life in Nine Pieces by Laura Tunbridge

Laura Tunbridge gave the tenth annual Anthony Burgess Lecture at the Engine House on 14 October, exploring Beethoven's life and work and discussing Anthony Burgess's lifelong engagement with both.Laura is Professor of Music at the University of Oxford and author of the award-winning biography, Beethoven: A Life in Nine Pieces. Beethoven's life is shrouded in myths, and her hugely readable and compelling study questions the usual image of him as an eccentric genius shaking his fist at heaven. Her overview of Beethoven’s life reveals his oddly modern talent for self-promotion, how he was influenced by factors from European wars to instrument building, and how he was heard by his contemporaries.Anthony Burgess himself admired the ‘storm and stress’ of Beethoven’s work. He famously has ‘the old Ludwig van’ as Alex’s favourite music in A Clockwork Orange, and his fictionalised biography Napoleon Symphony was written in four movements, taking its structure from Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony. Laura explores Burgess's Beethoven and much more in her lecture.The paperback of Laura Tunbridge's book, Beethoven: A Life in Nine Pieces, is published by Penguin and is out now. For more information visit: https://bit.ly/TunbridgeOnBeethovenFor more information about Anthony Burgess, visit www.anthonyburgess.orgIf you have enjoyed this episode, why not leave us a review and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

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