Jessica Duchen
AUTHOR

Jessica Duchen

Literature & Fiction
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Warmest greetings and thank you for visiting my page. I write about music for the Sunday Times, the i and BBC Music Magazine. I also write fiction, biography, librettos, narrated concerts and plays. My latest novel (2020), IMMORTAL, reveals the epic love story behind Beethoven's 'Immortal Beloved' letter. There are six more novels on musical topics, biographies of Korngold, Fauré and the London Chamber Orchestra, and a heap of words&music presentations including 'Beethoven's Immortal Beloved'. I'm now working on a biography of Dame Myra Hess. I've been librettist for two operas with Roxanna Panufnik: DALIA, premiered at Garsington in summer 2022 ("sharp, affecting and embracing" - The Observer) and the winner of a Music Education Excellence Award; and SILVER BIRCH, shortlisted for an International Opera Award in 2018. Also two Wilde-inspired youth operas, THE SELFISH GIANT with composer John Barber and THE HAPPY PRINCESS with Paul Fincham. I live in London and am fond of Paris, mountains and my cat. >>REVIEWS<< “IMMORTAL is a revelation, offering the ideal blend of historic exactitude and a book you simply won’t want to put down. -- Daniel Hope, violinist and president of the Beethoven-Haus, Bonn “The perfect companion for this landmark Beethoven anniversary year. Jessica’s writing is, as always, deeply knowledgable, emanating from a profound understanding of her material. This new book brings the human, vulnerable side of Beethoven into focus for our 21st Century audience.” -- Marin Alsop, conductor "From its first, dazzlingly-rendered pages IMMORTAL pulls you into a vanished world and an utterly compelling love story – at its centre, one of music’s greatest and most enduring mysteries. Few authors understand better than Jessica Duchen the way music can change the course of a life; and few writers make that music leap more vividly off the page. If you’ve ever wondered what Ludwig van Beethoven was like as a man, here he is, painted as if from life: inspiring, infuriating, and intensely, unapologetically real. Because for all her understanding of art and character, and her brilliantly-described evocations of early 19th century Vienna in all its splendour and squalor, Duchen never forgets that at the core of all great music – and all great stories – beats a human heart." -- Richard Bratby, music critic for Gramophone and The Spectator "A thrilling read" -- John Suchet, The Daily Mail Christmas Books Choice, on GHOST VARIATIONS "Schumann's wonderful violin concerto has a tragic history unlike any other piece of music. In this splendid new novel Jessica Duchen manages to find the fine balance between facts and fiction.Her book reads like a thriller yet it's also a tribute to great music and musicians." -- Sir András Schiff on GHOST VARIATIONS "Enthralling...Jessica writes with an unpredictable and original voice and a dazzling perceptiveness" -- Joanna Lumley "Jessica Duchen's libretto is powerful and poetic" -- Richard Morrison, The Times >>VIDEOS<< The story of the Schumann Violin Concerto: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MqId5hqql0
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