BEETHOVEN By Alan Pryce-Jones
Mr. Alan Pryce-Jones is apparently one of those incor- rigible doctrinaires of biography who, because the truth about a man is sometimes ugly, seem to imagine that all the worst that is said about him must be the truth. To assess with approximate accuracy the- character -of a man of Beethoven's calibre requires more than the courage to "face the facts" of which Mr. Pryce-Jones is so innocently proud. It requires penetration, sensibility, a keen critical intelligence and a shrewd scepticism—scepticism means the questioning of all facts, not merely of the pleasant ones—and perhaps even a little humility. If Mr. Pryce-Jones possesses any one of these attributes he has, throughout this little book (Bed. hoven : Duckworth, 2s.) been at great pains to hide them. Quite apart from its clumsiness and its absurdly inadequate attempt to estimate ,Beethoven's character, it is full of irri. tating irrelevancies. This sort of thing : "We cannot doubt that Beethoven, were he to, play to-day on a modern grand piano, would have, at the best, the weak touch of an amateur." We can and do ! The. extent ,of Mr. Pryce-Jones's psycho. logical penetration is lirdited to the- original discovery that people are often arrogant to hide excessive shyness. To start explaining Beethoven with no more elaborate equipment than this is beyond a joke. And to call the Heiligenstailt testament and the Letter to the" Immortal Beloved " childish argues hi the critic a lack of intuitive subtlety which would have done 'credit t6 Beethoven' himself.
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