A vivid (and startling) example of the 'new musicology', Beethoven's Kiss is an interdisciplinary study of romantic pianism in relation to gender and sexuality. Confronting problems posed by keyboard players - erotic anxieties of musical amateurs, sexual myths concerning child prodigies, prurient interests in leading virtuosos, castrating figurations of 'maiden' piano teachers - the author underscores the extent to which the piano resonates with intimations of both homosexuality and mortality. The book concludes with a far-ranging analysis of the performance art of Liberace.
