The Life of Beethoven by Mr. A. W. Thayer is a curiosity of literature. Although written by an American in English, it has never been published in that language, and reasonable doubts may be entertained whether, at least in its present form, it ever will be. As regards research and treatment, it is, indeed, to all intents and purposes, a German book. In musical biography a school has sprung up recently in Germany, of which the late Professor Jahn was at once the founder and the most celebrated member, and which at present is represented by Herr Chrysander, the historian of Handel, and other writers. The great merit, and, indeed, the vital principle of this school, is minute and accurate research, accompanied, unfortunately, by the inability to sift and clearly group the details thus laboriously collected. In consequence, the books of these authors are extremely valuable sources of information, but they are anything but lively reading. Jahn's Mozart, more especially, is a marvellous accumulation of minute knowledge, of which Schindler, Beethoven's humble friend and biographer, used to say that it carefully recorded the name of every waiter who had helped Mozart to a cup of coffee. Thayer, who is in a certain sense a pupil of Jahn, and has inherited his materials for a biography of Beethoven, goes much further than his master.