Showing results by author "Marion Watson"

Beethoven's father began teaching him music with a sternness and brutality that marked him throughout his life. Neighbours would gossip about the small boy who wept while he played the clavier, with his father beating him for each mistake. He studied the violin and clavier with his father, but almost every day he was flogged, locked in the cellar, and deprived of sleep.

Viewing Hans Christian Andersen's boots and travelling bags at his museum in Denmark in 1986, triggered an idea for a script about his life to be done for Audioscape. His shyness and rather off-putting appearance did not win him many friends, yet eventually, the crown-heads of Europe solicited his presence. Millions since then, have claimed him for their friend, thanks to the pleasure, delight, and comfort his tales have brought them.