THE TENTH SYMPHONY

by Mark Aldanov ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 27, 1948

Introduced by the author in a foreword as a ""philosophical"" or ""symbolic"" novelette, this is more correctly a period pastiche, presenting intermittently, through minor incident, some of the near great and great who attended the Congress of Vienna, and again at later intervals. Largely, these are seen through the aging eyes of M. Isabey, the French miniaturist:- the Empress Eugenie, a great beauty; Andrey Raumovsky, the Russian representative and patron of Beethoven who had fallen from grace. With the performance of the Ninth Symphony, one sees the torment of the composer in his last years, and the dream- incomplete- of the Tenth Symphony, and the philosophical allusion- and conclusion that ""everyone has his Tenth Symphony"". A fragmentary, nostalgic recreation of a period and personalities with all the courtly elegances of the time. Of questionable interest.

Pub Date: Sept. 27, 1948

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Scribner

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1948

Categories: FICTION