Sonata Mulattica.(Brief article)(Book review)

Dove's verse sequence re-creates the life of the biracial violinist George Bridgetower, best remembered for being the first performer, and the initial dedicatee, of Beethoven's "Kreutzer" Sonata. (Beethoven replaced his humorous dedication to the "lunatic and mulatto" after quarrelling with him, apparently over a woman.) A virtuosic treatment of a virtuoso's life, the poems use all registers--nursery rhymes, diary entries, drama--and are stuffed with historical and musical arcana. Yet the book ...