Burton Raffel, Beethoven in Denver and Other Poems. Crested Butte, Colorado: Conundrum Press, 1999. - Review - book review

Literary Review, Wntr, 2000

At the heart of this collection, Raffel's seventh, are forty-eight poems based on the premise that Ludwig von Beethoven, 150 years after his death, returns to the planet as a guest in the poet's home. This time-travel fantasy works. As the sequence develops, its premise becomes more and more believable and the great composer a growing presence as a character, not the frowning, moody genius we might expect, but a rather bemused visitor attracted to the Beatles and young women's anatomy. At times, Beethoven sulks, but does not rage. His most violent outburst comes in "Concert," after Raffel takes him to hear Jean Pierre Rampal at Denver's new performance hall. Driving home in the car, he is outraged that the program did not include any of his works:

   His fist hit out at the padded inside of the [car] door; it
   was so loud, so vicious, so sudden
   and unexpected
   That I nearly drove us off the road.

But deciding to write and tell off that "nose-snuffing Frenchman," Beethoven returns to his normal "expansive" state, and sits up till three swapping jokes with Raffel.

Most of the poems involve light-hearted conversations between composer and poet in which Beethoven, often bemused by the modern world, offers insightful commentary that illuminate Raffel's--and the reader's--sense of his own time, along with the ironic difficulty of getting the point. On a drive into the Rockies with the poet and his wife, awed by the beauty of "every great rock face, every sweeping panorama," Beethoven finally speaks after an hour of silence:

   "He is still in the world," he finally said, just barely loud
   enough so we could hear him.
   "I had thought perhaps He was gone, but He is not,
   He is still here."
   I was driving a difficult stretch of road and not
   Concentrating.
   "Who?" I asked, not turning around.