Beethoven's Immortal Beloved, Part 2

Beethoven wrote an effusive, romantic letter, to a woman identified only as his "Immortal Beloved." Her (or his!) identity remains a matter of debate, but it turns out Beethoven had some other "beloveds" as well...

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Noble Blood, A production of iHeartRadio and Grim
and Mild from Aaron Manky. Listener discretion advised. I weep
when I think that you will probably not receive the
first news of me until Saturday. As much as you
love me, I love you even more deeply, But but

(00:22):
never hide yourself from me. Good Night, As one bathing,
I must go to sleep. Oh God, so near, so far?
Is not our love a true heavenly edifice, but also
firm like the firmament. This is a widely accepted translation
of a piece of the second part of Beethoven's famous

(00:46):
Immortal Beloved Letter. This portion, in particular, weaves together passionate
language and specific references in a way that provides context clues, and,
almost two centuries later, still Bill Spark's debates between musicologists, historians,
and ardent Beethoven aficionados. In the spirit of classic sonata form,

(01:10):
Let's do a quick recap of what we covered in
part one. The Immortal Beloved Letter was found in Beethoven's
Vienna estate after he died in eighteen twenty seven, and
published in eighteen forty by his secretary, who likely misdated
the letter and misidentified its romantic mark. Further research showed

(01:34):
that Beethoven almost certainly wrote the letter in eighteen twelve,
when he was in the Austrian resort town of Taplets.
Before arriving there, he was in Prague and probably saw
his immortal beloved for one possibly steamy night. He also
must have had an inkling she was headed to Carlsbad,

(01:57):
another Spa town. This all led several scholars, especially in
the US, to believe that the immortal beloved was Antony Brentano.
Her whereabouts lined up, But this claim raised questions about
Beethoven's morals and patterns of both falling for unattainable women

(02:19):
and ingratiating himself with prominent families. Those behavioral patterns all
factor into the case for the other most widely believed
immortal beloved candidate, Countess Josephine von Brunswick. Just about all
biographers seem to agree that Beethoven's love for Josephine surpassed

(02:42):
all others, But does that mean beyond a doubt she
was the muse of his soulful but perplexing letter. Yet again,
the potential links between Beethoven's personal life and his work
are too compelling to ignore, for example, what we're listening

(03:02):
to now. A composition for solo piano titled Andante Favori
was originally a movement for a full sonata before Beethoven
pulled it out to be a standalone piece on its own.
It was purportedly intended to be a declaration of love
to Josephine, and one that some musicologists claim directly connects

(03:27):
to other works in Beethoven's repertoire, as well as to
that all important letter that stirred up the eternally beguiling
story of his immortal beloved. I'm Danas Schwartz and this
is noble blood. In seventeen ninety nine, the Brunswick sisters

(03:52):
went on an exciting trip to Vienna, where Teres and
Josephine both took music lessons from Bethos. The twenty eight
year old composer already had an illustrious reputation by then, and,
according to Therese's memoirs, became so fond of her and
her sister that he came every day to teach them

(04:14):
for the rest of their stay. Later, he jointly dedicated
the work six variations on his iicdank Dine for four
hands to both of them. A highly motivating factor in
Beethoven's wanting to teach the two Brunswick sisters for free,
no less was that he supposedly became infatuated with the

(04:36):
twenty year old Josephine right away. It's largely accepted that
Beethoven wrote and unofficially dedicated multiple works to Josephine. He
likely would have officially dedicated many pieces in published form
to her if not for the sizeable obstacles standing in

(04:56):
the way of their possible romance. A monument mental issue
was social class. The Brunsvicks, who by European nobility standards
were far from the most prominent or powerful, were still
reportedly firmly against Josephine marrying a commoner, even if that

(05:17):
commoner was the Beethoven, an already renowned composer and sought
after teacher. So tragically for Beethoven, although Josephine was reportedly
his type to a tea incredibly beautiful, engaging, musically talented,
her mother set her up with someone in Vienna whom

(05:38):
she saw as more suitably high class, a man named
Joseph Count Dame. Despite Josephine being much younger than the Count,
and perhaps being initially ordered into the marriage. By many accounts,
the relationship turned into a relatively happy one. According to

(05:58):
some sources, Betooven was disheartened, but his relationship with Josephine
did not end. He remained close with the Brunswicks and
kept giving Josephine music lessons for years. Beethoven even established
a close friendship with Count Dame, which makes some of
Beethoven's true intentions and romantic feelings a little tricky to

(06:23):
infer during this period. Then, in eighteen o four, Beethoven
began making his affections very clear. While Josephine was pregnant
with her fourth child, Count Dame died. In an apparent
attempt to comfort the grief stricken Josephine, Beethoven wrote her

(06:46):
the song and die hoffnuon or to Hope, set to
text by C. A. Tch. In doing so, he allegedly
caused a small kerfuffle when a visiting prince saw the
un published version with Josephine's name on it. Beethoven then
basically had to do damage control as word that he

(07:08):
was planning to officially dedicate a piece to a recently
widowed countess might have caused a public scandal. Still, in private,
Beethoven's love steadily crescendoed. Once the possibility of Josephine remarrying
was on the table, a series of fourteen love letters

(07:29):
he wrote to her were found in the Brunswick family's
possession and published in nineteen fifty seven. According to many
modern historians and musicologists, these passionate messages were likely sent
from eighteen oh four up until eighteen o nine or
eighteen ten, and Beethoven's phrasing in them is notable. In

(07:54):
relation to his Immortal Beloved letter. He addresses Josephine as
my angel in both, and in his love letter series
he makes many references to remaining faithful to her, calling
her his beloved, his only Jay, and his beloved Jay.
Of course, a crucial factor in all of this, and

(08:16):
one that has spawned immense debate, is the level to
which Josephine reciprocated Beethoven's feelings. Relatively little of her own
writing seems to have survived, so it's tricky to gauge
her emotional mindset at various points. Still, a few of

(08:36):
Josephine's letters were ultimately unearthed. Here is a translated portion
of one of her written replies to Beethoven's love letters.
My soul was already enthusiastic for you, even before I
knew you personally. This was increased through your affection. A
deep feeling in my soul incapable of Russian made me

(09:01):
love you. However, later in the same letter, she went
on to say, this preference that you granted me the
pleasure of your acquaintance, would have been the finest jewel
of my life if you could have loved me less sensually. Similarly,
in another letter, she stated, you have long had my heart,

(09:23):
dear Beethoven. If this assurance can give you joy, then
receive it, but later clarified, I love you inexpressibly as
one gentle soul to another. Are you not capable of
this covenant? I am not receptive to other forms of
love for the present. Some biographers have argued that while

(09:45):
Josephine cherished Beethoven's friendship and musical genius, she very kindly
yet firmly tried to shut down his amorous overtures. Others
have claimed that Josephine's true romantic inclinations are hard to ascertain,
since she so often had to weigh them against her

(10:08):
financial troubles, maternal responsibilities, and family's wishes. Researchers then dialed
up even more of this analytical dissonance when they eventually
compiled the letters, notes, and diary fragments of Josephine's sister
Theres and published them in nineteen thirty eight, long after

(10:31):
her death. Some of these documents show that after the
Immortal Beloved Letter was published and Julietta Jucciardi was proposed
as the intended recipient, Theres doubted the mysterious letter was
to Julieta. She assumed it must have been to her
sister Josephine, although it's possible Theres's understanding of the letter's

(10:55):
date may have still been off. In any case, Here
is a translation of one of Theresa's entries Beethoven. It
is like a dream that he was the friend, the
confident of our house, a beautiful mind. Why did not
my sister Josephine, as widow dame take him as her husband,

(11:18):
Josephine's soulmate. They were born for each other. The timing
of the release of documents relating to the Immortal Beloved Letter,
along with the absence of some of Josephine's personal writings
does beg some questions about the Brunswick family. Did some
information take a while in getting out simply because descendants

(11:41):
and researchers needed time to comb through a large or
disorganized state, or were members of the Brunswick family at
times motivated to keep some materials out of public view.
If so, was there a general fear of dirty laundry
being aired, or was there a more specific scandal to

(12:06):
be carefully covered up, because according to some scholars, there's
a chance Josephine could have been in Prague on July third,
eighteen twelve, and, as the more sealicious version of the
theory goes, a one night tryst with Beethoven produced a

(12:27):
Love Letter and a Love Child as a prelude to
our celebrated composer's pivotal spa filled summer. Here's a bit
more backstory, accompanied by Beethoven's piano trio in D major,
Opis seventy number one, nicknamed the Ghost Trio. He composed

(12:52):
it in eighteen o eight and dedicated it to Countess
Marie Erduri, who, fun fact, was an another person briefly
floated as the immortal Beloved while Beethoven was off courting
other countesses. After seemingly being rebuffed for years by Josephine,

(13:12):
Josephine met Estonian baron Christoph van Stockelberg in eighteen o eight.
She got pregnant, and though her family was reportedly not
thrilled about the match, she married Stockelberg in eighteen ten
in a wedding with no guests. Sadly for Josephine, according
to virtually all accounts, her second marriage was miserable. Stockelberg

(13:38):
turned out to have extensive money troubles. Additionally, at that
time in the Austrian Empire, aristocratic mothers were beholden to
their husbands when it came to retaining custody and guardianship
of their children, and Stockelberg allegedly often manipulated Josephine by

(13:59):
threatening to take her children away from her, and often
followed through. Given those familial problems, Josephine's apparent whereabouts in
eighteen twelve and her seemingly ended relationship with Beethoven at
the time, many scholars ruled her out as the addressee
of the Immortal Beloved Letter for the record, though several

(14:23):
did contend that Josephine was the intended recipient at different
points in the twentieth century. To them, the fraught but
enduring romantic connection was undeniable, even if some of the
logistics were difficult to explain and over time for their.
Examinations of Beethoven's other love letters and Terrez's diary, as

(14:48):
well as additional Brunswick family documents that have surfaced in
the last twenty years, appear to have bolstered the case
for Josephine, or at least weakn and some arguments against
her as the immortal beloved. For instance, in two thousand
and seven, a Canadian musicologist found and published more documents

(15:13):
from the Brunswick estate. Excerpts from Josephine's diary and notes
left behind by her second husband, including a table of
moral rules he left her to follow, make their relationship
seem very rocky during the summer of eighteen twelve. They
also show that Stockelberg likely left Josephine on her own

(15:38):
that June and July. Furthermore, in a diary entry in
June of eighteen twelve, Josephine expressed an intention to visit Prague.
This makes it highly possible that she was in the
city on July third, when Beethoven potentially had a fateful

(15:58):
romantic rendez prior to writing his Immortal Beloved letter. Deeper
analysis also revealed that Josephine possibly had plans to go
to Carlsbad. Currently, there's no proof she went, but her
intention to go could have been enough for Beethoven to
consider sending his letter to Kay, and her then not

(16:23):
going to Carlsbad after all, might have been a reason
he never sent it. Here things become more speculative in
several historians' claims. Some argue that Beethoven and Josephine met
in Prague, and due to her unhappy and unfulfilling marriage,

(16:43):
and perhaps even as the culmination of years of secretive longing,
the two shared a night of passionate intimacy. Backers of
this theory often point out the suspicious timing of the
birth of Josephine's daughter, Minona, nine months after her apparent

(17:04):
separation from Stockelberg, as well as remarks people made about
how Minona looked very different from her siblings. A child
born out of wedlock would also help to explain some
of the Brunswick's later interfamily conflicts and Beethoven's cryptic messages.

(17:27):
All that said, critics of this idea tend to dismiss
it as pure sensationalism and similar to there being skepticism
about the other main candidate we covered, Antony Brentano, There
are vastly differing opinions on Josephine as the Immortal Beloved.
Some scholars assert that Josephine clearly dashed Beethoven's romantic hopes

(17:53):
and cut him off several years before eighteen twelve, while
others maintain that Beta Beethoven kept up his relationship or
some form of communication with Josephine and her siblings. Some
say Josephine couldn't have been the Immortal Beloved because of
the conversation referenced in Fanny Gientasio's eighteen sixteen diary entry,

(18:20):
in which Beethoven said he'd gotten to know a woman
five years before and that it was the greatest happiness
of his life. Other question that diaries possible bias, since
Fanny herself was supposedly enamored with Beethoven and her father
was sessing out whether the composer might want to marry her.

(18:43):
Of the many researchers who do accept the entry's account,
some still interpret the five years comment Fanny made in
different ways. Maybe it was a rough estimate by Fanny.
Was it when Beethoven met a certain woman for the
first time, or could it have been when he got

(19:04):
to know someone more intimately? This brings us back to
the subjectivity of such personal documents and leads us to
the case for one last immortal beloved candidate, Bettina von
Arnim formerly Brentano. Bettina has not gained quite the same

(19:27):
level of scholarly support as Antony or Josephine, but she's
recently garnered increased interest. She was the half sister of
Franz Brentano, who married Antony, and many of the same
parameters that contributed to the argument for Antony seemingly also

(19:49):
applied to her. Bettina also met Beethoven in eighteen ten,
thus fulfilling the rough window of Fanny's diary entry. By
eighteen twelve, she was married, hence the hypothetical need for secrecy.
Betina also intended to go to Carlsbad in the summer

(20:10):
of eighteen twelve, then supposedly changed her plans and went
to Teplete where Beethoven wrote his letter, which would readily
explain why he didn't need to send it. Bettina was
also an exceedingly accomplished singer, pianist, and composer, which possibly

(20:30):
made her especially attractive to Beethoven. Again, his romantic feelings
allegedly hinged on many traits. It is interesting, though, that
some of his strongest infatuations did seem to involve many
women who were themselves terrific musicians. One further link is

(20:52):
that among Beethoven's surviving letters, there appeared to be only
two in which he used the the informal German do
form of you when writing to a woman. One was
his Immortal Beloved letter, the other was a letter he
sent to Betina a year earlier. Still, like any other

(21:15):
immortal beloved candidacy, Bettina has detractors and possible holes. Some
musicologists and German speaking biographers claim the way Beethoven used
the second person due form in his letter to Bettina
seems more friendly than romantic, and that his love letters

(21:36):
to Josephine utilized phrases that also implied an informal and
coy tone. Bettina's case also took hits Over the years since,
she allegedly had a habit of embellishing stories, including ones
involving Beethoven interacting with another famous friend, writer Johann Wolfgang.

(22:01):
Bettina also published letters that she initially claimed to have
been written by Beethoven that many historians subsequently discounted as forgeries,
which diminished her overall credibility in certain scholarly circles. The
reality is probably no piece of evidence will appear that

(22:21):
irrevocably proves the identity of Beethoven's immortal beloved, and maybe
that's part of the enduring fascination. The letter is a
romantic riddle that keeps everyone from professional musicologists to casual
fans of classical music guessing and debating, and in many ways,

(22:44):
the sheer divisiveness of various theories and staunch loyalty of
certain camps speaks to the letter's incredible lasting impact. In
addition to what it conveys to a possible recipient and
what it says about Beethoven, the letter also reveals a
great deal about us those who dig into its mystery.

(23:09):
Perhaps it's easy to emotionally invest in certain speculations and
candidates because it's easy to project personal feelings and experiences
onto Beethoven, his fraught personal life and the individual who
earned his undying love, whoever they were. For those who
have suffered through heartfelt longing and heartbreak, the way in

(23:33):
which Beethoven closes his Immortal Beloved Letter is often as
relatable as it is raw. Be calm. Only through quiet
contemplation of our existence can we reach our goal to
live together. Be patient, love me today, yesterday, what longing

(23:55):
with tears for you? You, you my love, my all. Farewell, Oh,
continue to love me. Never misjudge the most faithful heart
of your beloved l Forever yours, forever mine, forever us.

(24:17):
The original pages of the Immortal Beloved Letter now reside
in the Berlin State Library, and its contents continue to
fuel research articles and ample scholarly squabbling. The letter even
inspired the nineteen ninety four movie Immortal Beloved that erroneously

(24:38):
depicted Beethoven's sister in La johannav On Beethoven as the
addressy speaking of more improbable candidates. We are now listening
to Beethoven's piano Sonata Number twenty eight in a Major
Opus one hundred and one, which he composed in eighteen
fifteen and eighteen sixteen, and dedicated to Countess Dorothea Rtmann,

(25:04):
another pianist. Around the time, he was reportedly looking back
on his time spent with his immortal beloved Fascinatingly, in
addition to leaving behind its own complex legacy, the Immortal
Beloved letter might have inspired other similar love letters. Composer
Richard Wagner, known to be very familiar and very enamored

(25:28):
with Beethoven's life and work, became infatuated with a married
woman and wrote her an impassioned final letter that, according
to some biographers, has a striking resemblance to Beethoven's famous
enigmatic message. Wagner apparently wrote his letter on the same

(25:48):
date that Beethoven began drafting his July sixth. It contained
similar phrases, and it even seems to clearly reference specific
passages Beethoven's secretary wrote about Beethoven's love life. Then get this.
Wagner's tragic love letter seemingly inspired Austrian composer Albin Berg,

(26:12):
a big Wagner fan, to write a similar sounding letter
to the unattainable love of his life. It's worth noting
that it can be difficult to delineate between composers personal feelings,
their public personas, and some of the creative trappings and
tropes of the burgeoning romantic movement in Western Europe. Specifically,

(26:37):
the notion of pining away for an unattainable love became
a fashionable theme and an undercurrent of many artists' work
across multiple mediums. Relatedly, there has been substantial debate over
historians and critics' shifting views on the relationship between a

(26:58):
composer's music and their biography. Scholarly opinions very massively on
how readily we should accept musical works as outpourings of
a composer's inner self. That said, this is a podcast,
it would seem a missed opportunity to feature some of
classical music's most timeless pieces without highlighting at least a

(27:23):
few more possible romantic connections using Beethoven's own auditory love language.
Searching for secret musically encoded messages can certainly go too far,
but there is also a humorous irony in the most
narrow quests to parse every last phrase of Beethoven's letter,

(27:47):
when he often called out his own limitations with language,
claiming quote music is more at my command than words,
So let's close by letting Beethoven's compositions do most of
the talking. Many musicologists have pointed out links between specific

(28:08):
Beethoven pieces and the Immortal Beloved Letter. The music theory
can get granular and in some cases even obsessive, but
three related works that frequently come up as having demonstrably
similar themes are Andante favori, written for Josephine in eighteen

(28:31):
oh three and eighteen oh four, which we heard in
part one song number six of the To the Distant
Beloved song cycle Opus ninety eight, composed eighteen sixteen and

(28:53):
said to poetry by Alois Jechle. According to some musicologists,
this was Beethoven calling out to the same beloved whom
he told in his Immortal Beloved Letter quote, I have
resolved to stray about in the distance, and it contains
a very similar specific musical phrase to Andante favorie. And finally,

(29:21):
the third movement Andante molto contibile ed espressivo of piano
sonata at number thirty Opus one hundred and nine. If

(29:43):
you remember, this was the sonata we previously heard that
was dedicated to Antony's daughter Maximilian, but was Beethoven also
using a theme originally and maybe still meant for Josephine.
Let's hear each excerpt one more time and then you

(30:04):
can judge. Were these merely cases of a master leaning
on a favorite motif, an emotional composer leaning into the
artistic ideals of his era, a cheeky interloper hoping his
beloved would hear his musical messaging, a heartbroken romantic lamenting

(30:25):
a love that could never be? And or are these
just some pieces of immortally moving music. That's part two

(30:54):
of the perpetually gripping story of Beethoven's Immortal Beloved. But
stick around after a brief sponsor break to learn a
little bit more about Beethoven's other famous unsent letter. When

(31:17):
the Immortal Beloved letter was found at Beethoven's estate, so
was one other crucial unsent document. The Heiligenstadt Testament, was
a message Beethoven drafted to his brothers in eighteen o
two about his struggles with his hearing loss, depression, and

(31:38):
related grappling over whether to commit suicide or to continue
to live on for the sake of producing more music.
It is tough to fully fathom the pain and isolation.
Beethoven endured during vast periods of his life, and his
plight brings up many complicated questions regarding how his suffering

(32:02):
inhibited or fueled his genius. One thing is for sure, though,
considering his transcendent creative output for the last twenty five
years of his life, the music loving world can be
endlessly thankful that Beethoven continually chose his beloved art of composing.

(32:28):
This episode was written by Paul Jeffy. One final note
for this episode, our producers for the show found most
of the Beethoven music we got to listen to for
this special musical two parter from museopen dot org, a
free website and nonprofit that provides access to classical music

(32:49):
recordings and sheet music and other educational material. If you're
interested in hearing more Beethoven, absolutely go check the site out.
Noble Blood is a production of iHeart Radio and Grim
and Mild from Aaron Mankey. Noble Blood is hosted by

(33:10):
me Dana Schwartz, with additional writing and research by Hannah Johnston, Hannahswick,
Courtney Sender, Amy Hit and Julia Melaney. The show is
edited and produced by Jesse Funk with supervising producer rima
il KLi and executive producers Aaron Manke, Trevor Young, and
Matt Frederick. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app,

(33:35):
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.