Joyce Maier wrote:

>Walter Meyer wondered:
>
>>How out of date can a biography of Beethoven (who died in 1827 after
>>having lived a relatively open life), which was revised in 1967, be? ...
>
>Surprisingly quite a lot and not only about his life, but -actually much
>more important- also about the music. See, for instance, the fact that
>shortly it finally turned out that WoO.16, in Cooper's famous compendium
>of 1990 (BTW, nice and instructive book about Beethoven, though not a
>biography) still listed as a Beethoven composition, is not by Beethoven
>(as far as I know the composer is unknown).

I replied to Margaret's response to my question before I read Joyce's.
What was WoO 16?  A work for solo instrument?  Ensemble?  Voice?

>But also concerning the life there's still uncertainty about various
>important problems, like the riddle of the Immortal Beloved.

Some of us might not consider the answer to that riddle so important!

>To this day the identity of the woman is unknown.  Oh yes, many
>fascinating hypotheses and speculations, but nobody who is able to prove
>beyond any doubt one of those theories, not even Solomon.  Only a few
>months ago a completely new hypothesis for a completely new candidate
>popped up. It was published in The Beethoven Journal.

So, at least in that regard, Thayer-Forbes' biography need not be
considered dated.

Walter Meyer