Beethoven Is More Intimate Than Ever in New Poems
Ruth Padel tells the great composer’s life story, more profoundly than most biographies, in “Beethoven Variations.”
Ruth Padel at home in London. Her Beethoven poems are informed by her lifelong immersion in music.Credit.Kalpesh Lathigra for The New York Times
May 21, 2021, 10:27 a.m. ET
Though much is known about Beethoven, whole swaths of his life remain elusive. His deafness, for one thing. He started experiencing hearing loss before he was 30. But how extensive was the initial problem? How quickly did it worsen? It’s not clear.
His most revealing words on the subject come in a letter he wrote (though never sent) to his brothers in 1802, while seeking isolation and resting his ears in Heiligenstadt, on the outskirts of Vienna. In the Heiligenstadt Testament, as it became known, his fear comes through poignantly. But what did it feel like to go deaf? What sensations did he experience? What did music sound like to him?
Artwork by Kuba Ryniewicz. Courtesy of Art for India.
India, the world’s second most populous nation, is in the throes of a deadly coronavirus surge that has claimed the lives of more than 4,000 people in just the past 24 hours. And according to reports from the health ministry, the number of daily infections has exceeded 300,000 every day for the past two weeks.
Now, the arts community is rallying to support overwhelmed hospitals facing dire oxygen shortages.
Art for India, which launched earlier this week and runs through May 9, is a grassroots project selling photographic prints for $140 each by 11 artists from India and its diaspora to raise money for the coronavirus relief group Mission Oxygen.
Art for IndiaPhotography by Prarthna Singh
As India’s Covid cases continue to soar, Art for India is raising money for Mission Oxygen through the sale of photographic prints by some of the country’s leading image-makers
May 04, 2021
It’s been over a year since the Covid-19 pandemic gripped the world, and as many countries seem to be edging towards some semblance of normality, others are facing the most devastating surges of the virus yet. India – the world’s second most populous nation – is one of the countries currently struggling the most, with the rampant spread of a deadly new variant of the virus bringing its healthcare system to its knees, and a terrifying milestone of 20 million Covid cases surpassed this week.
Indian actress Priyanka Chopra Jonas has tweeted an appeal to the President of the United States (POTUS) and the US government to urgently share Covid-19 vaccines with India. But her tweet has evoked mixed reactions.
“My heart breaks. India is suffering from COVID-19 & the US has ordered 550M more vaccines than needed @POTUS @WHCOS @SecBlinken @JakeSullivan46.Thx for sharing AstraZeneca worldwide, but the situation in my country is critical. Will you urgently share vaccines with India? #vaxlive,” she posted.
Her tweet received a mixed response, with many accusing her of being too late while others applauded her efforts.
“This tweet was required at least two weeks back. You shouldn’t have waited for #VaxLive campaign to tweet for your fellow countrymen,” wrote one user, while another posted, “So proud of you Queen for having the guts to talk about such important issue we are facing currently.”