# What Music!: The Fifty-Year Friendship Between Beethoven and Nannette Streicher, Who Built His Pianos - Hardcover

by **Laurie Lawlor** (Author), **Becca Stadtlander** (Illustrator)

**Strings quivered. Notes shimmered. Meet best friends acclaimed composer Ludwig van Beethoven and bold female entrepreneur Nannette Streicher in this lively and lyrical nonfiction picture book.**

_In a tall, narrow building on a wide avenue_  
_pianos plinked and plunked day and night._  
_Everyone in quiet Augsburg knew the Stein home._  
_What music!_

In 1787, aspiring yet unknown composer Ludwig van Beethoven arrives at young Nannette Stein's home. What follows is a decades-long friendship that persists whether life hits a low or high note. Acclaimed nonfiction writer Laurie Lawlor deftly depicts how these two fascinating friends--a composer with hearing loss and a woman who became an innovative piano maker in a time that discouraged female entrepreneurship--fought the odds and worked together in perfect harmony.

The author of picture book biography _Fearless World Traveler_, Lawlor masterfully uses forgotten historical letters, a glossary, and rich back matter on both friends' lives and art to introduce readers to the man behind the music, from his loud laughter to his crushing handshake.

Complete with _Fearless World Traveler_ collaborator Becca Stadtlander's intricate mixed-media artwork, _What Music_ deftly dives into musical history-and herstory-in an intimate yet expansive picture book biography that hits just the right note.

### Author Biography

**Laurie Lawlor** is a prolific and celebrated author of children's books. Her picture book biography Rachel Carson and her Book That Changed the World was named a Bank Street Best Children's Book of the Year and a National Science Teachers Association Outstanding Science Trade Book and received the John Burroughs Riverby Award. Her Super Women: Six Scientists Who Changed the World was named a NSTA-CBC Outstanding Science Trade Book. She lives and teaches in the Chicago metropolitan area.

**Becca Stadtlander** is an award-winning illustrator and fine artist. She won the Golden Kite Award for Picture Book Illustration for _Made By Hand: A Craft Sampler_. She also illustrated _On the Wing_by David Elliott, which received two starred reviews as well as a Golden Kite Award. She attended the Maryland Institute College of Art and currently lives and works in her hometown of Covington, Kentucky.

**Number of Pages:** 40

**Dimensions:** 0.3 x 10.2 x 8.1 IN

**Illustrated:** Yes

**Publication Date:** October 24, 2023

## Details

- **Price:** 18.99 USD
- **Vendor:** Books by splitShops
- **Type:** Books
- **Tags:** Books by splitShops, Shopify Collective

## Variants

| Variant | Price | Available |
|---------|-------|-----------|
| Default Title | 18.99 USD | In stock |

## Images

- What Music!: The Fifty-Year Friendship Between Beethoven and Nannette Streicher, Who Built His Pianos - Hardcover

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