The Black Violinist Who Inspired Beethoven

New York Times Six months after Beethoven contemplated suicide, confessing his despair over his increasing deafness in the 1802 document known as the Heiligenstadt Testament, he was carousing in taverns with a charismatic new comrade, George Polgreen Bridgetower. This...

Meeting Beethoven at an Italian Restaurant on the Upper West Side

Lit Hub I met Beethoven at an Italian restaurant on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. He was looking for patrons for his orchestra. I needed a muse. I was working on my first novel, The Woman in the Moonlight, about the deaf composer’s volatile love affair with...

The Woman at the Heart of Beethoven’s ‘Moonlight’ Sonata

New York Times Four years ago, I was having lunch with an editor who mentioned that Beethoven had fallen in love with one of his piano students. She was the woman to whom the great master had dedicated the “Moonlight” Sonata. The editor thought it would make a good...

Modern Love Podcast read by Catherine O’Hara

New York Times Have you ever been jealous … of a GPS? To celebrate their 22nd wedding anniversary, Patricia Morrisroe and her husband traveled to England. While driving through the idyllic English countryside, Ms. Morrisroe found herself in unwanted competition with...

Chateau Dior

Departures The French designer created the most commanding silhouette of 20th-century fashion. Now the house where he found inspiration and respite has been masterfully refreshed and restored. Handsome young men in straw hats and pristine aprons are tending Christian...

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