This book is a product of a three-day international Beethoven conference held at the University of Manchester in 2012, and of an ongoing series of International Manchester Beethoven Research Symposia organised by Barry Cooper. The book consists of ten chapters on various aspects of Beethoven’s music and its context. The first two chapters examine two works composed in Bonn – the Dittersdorf Variations (WoO 66) and the concert aria Erste Liebe (WoO 92), often wrongly known by its Italian title Primo amore. Some of the next five chapters also cover aspects of the Bonn period, while others deal exclusively with later music. Two provide overviews of Beethoven’s chamber music with wind instruments and his use of variation form throughout his life. The next three examine the expression marks in the Fourth Piano Concerto; the question of the authorship of the String Quintet Op. 104 (arranged from the Piano Trio Op. 1 No. 3), with evidence suggesting the arrangement is entirely Beethoven’s work; and the speeds of the very slow movements in Beethoven’s late period, which are arguably often played far too slowly. The last three chapters explore wider cultural issues. Susan Cooper concludes that Beethoven’s attitude to religion was more orthodox than often assumed. Barry Cooper investigates what Beethoven knew about Scotland. Finally Siân Derry examines the important role of Charles Hallé, a prominent figure in Manchester in the second half of the nineteenth century, in the promotion and dissemination of Beethoven’s music.