It occurs to me that for all of the musickal references scattered throughout the Aubrey/Maturin novels of Patrick O’Brian, there is not a single mention made (at least that I can recall¹) of the musick of Beethoven.
I wonder why this is.
Certainly Jack and Stephen show a general preference for earlier musick – works by Corelli, Locatelli, Handel, J.C. Bach and “Old” Bach, for instance. But then again, there are also references to their playing pieces by contemporary composers like Clementi and Hummel. I find it hard to believe that two such enthusiastic musicians would not be aware of Beethoven’s musick, much less that they wouldn’t at least give it a try.
But as I say, I don’t believe O’Brian ever mentions such a thing.
Curious, that.
¹It’s been a very long time since I read any of the books past The Wine Dark Sea, and I never actually dipped into the last, incomplete novel, so my information is incomplete and perhaps my memory is faulty.
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July 28, 2010 at 3:38 pm
Diane
Is it possible the author just didn’t care for his music? As many composers as are mentioned, leaving him out almost seems deliberate.
July 28, 2010 at 4:41 pm
Robbo
That’s actually a working theory of mine, although how somebody could dislike Beethoven while approving of Hummel is beyond me.
I haven’t yet got up the nerve to state it as my opinion that he did not, but I sometimes wonder whether O’Brian actually knew what he was talking about viz musick.