„Menschenwelt und Götterfunken“ widmet sich Beethovens Begegnungen mit seinen Zeitgenossen, mit Lehrern, Schülern, Musikern und Mäzenen, Freunden, aber auch mit seiner Familie. Der streitbare Komponist wird anhand zahlreicher Originalbriefe aus dem Bestand der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek als selbstbewusster, sarkastischer, aber auch humorvoller und Frauen gegenüber zärtlicher Mensch erfahrbar. Zahlreiche Abbildungen zeigen Beethovens Originalhandschriften von Werken, die bis heute zum klassischen Kanon gehören, wie etwa das Violinkonzert op. 61 und die „Frühlingssonate“ op. 24 oder das Streichquartett op. 95, und geben so Einblick in sein musikalisches Schaffen.

Beethoven’s music has been part of Rudolf Buchbinder’s life since his childhood. He has played nearly fifty cyclical concerts of all thirty-two piano sonatas, and performed the piano concertos with all major orchestras and conductors, as well as conducting himself. This wealth of experience has found its way into his book, in which Beethoven’s piano works are used as stations on a journey through the composer’s life and oeuvre. Describing his own life in music, Buchbinder the performer brings Beethoven’s world to life, reflected in his personal experiences and revelations – Beethoven’s era, his emotions, passions, triumphs and defeats.

Nikolaus Harnoncourt devoted himself to the study of early music, the way it is played and the sound of period instruments from an early age. In 1953 he founded the famous Concentus Musicus with his wife Alice and other musicians. This was to provide a forum for his work on period instruments and the historic performance practice of renaissance and baroque music. It was not until four years later that the Concentus Musicus first performed in public. Alice Harnoncourt has brought together the unpublished diary entries and notes of her husband, which recount his explorations on the trail of early musical sounds. It is a fascinating and entertaining journey, during which Harnoncourt had to accomplish much to listen his way towards the original period sound.

Nikolaus Harnoncourt’s childhood and youth was shaped by hardship and the after-effects of World War II, the parenting codex of the aristocracy to which his family belonged and the love for music. The world was in upheaval, it was a time of great political and societal change. To give his children and grandchildren a greater understanding of this era Harnoncourt wrote down his memories and reflections in a “family book”. How did his family deal with the economic and political shifts? What was life like when everything was no longer what it had been? And what traditions shaped the Harnoncourt family? Nikolaus Harnoncourt’s personal account is a fascinating record of the past.

The unique rationale behind Nikolaus Harnoncourt's practice of music brought him fame across the entire musical world. With his ensemble Concentus Musicus he broke established traditions and opened up new approaches to interpreting old music. This was in part the result of his intensive research into the sound produced by original period instruments, but more significantly came about as a consequence of questioning conventional hearing habits. What exactly is music? What effect does it have? And what were the intentions of its creators? Harnoncourt's writing on performance practices, baroque music and instruments such as the harpsichord reads like eloquent music making. A wondrous journey through the history of music.