The Mozart Compendium, edited by H.C. Robbins Landon The Beethoven Compendium, edited by Barry Cooper (Thames & Hudson, each £16.95 in UK)

Mozart and Beethoven were both recognisably "modern" men, well documented and famous in their lifetimes, who left many written records as well as living on in the memories of eye witnesses and those who knew them (they were, after all, born, only 14 years apart, even if their music seems to belong to different generations). These two large paperbacks are genuinely compendious", giving chronological tables of the composers lives, studies by various hands of their historical backgrounds, their musical ancestry, their personalities and opinions, lists of their compositions under various headings, bibliographies and biographical sources, etc. Even if you do not take each or either volume in a single gulp, they should prove highly valuable for consulting and/or dipping into. Both are illustrated, and it is fascinating to see how Beethoven, in particular, seems such a different personality in each of his various portraits. It is apposite to be, reminded, to9, that he was virtually an invalid from his thirties to his death a tact or which goes far to explain his famous tantrums, sudden psychological swings, and almost paranoid tendency to, take offence even from old friends.