| Beethoven's birthplace |
Beethoven often disregarded prescribed 18th-century protocol, in his personal life as well as in his music. It is said
that he once returned to a ballroom still buttoning up his trousers after urinating.
that he once returned to a ballroom still buttoning up his trousers after urinating.
| Beethoven |
1801
The day after his death, letters were found addressed to Beethoven's "immortal beloved" inside a
drawer in a secret compartment along with other documents, valuables and a picture of Tereza
Brunswick. Nobody knows exactly who his beloved was, even today. It may have been addressed to
Tereza, but there were at least four other possible candidates.
drawer in a secret compartment along with other documents, valuables and a picture of Tereza
Brunswick. Nobody knows exactly who his beloved was, even today. It may have been addressed to
Tereza, but there were at least four other possible candidates.
July 6, in the morning
My angel, my all, my very self - Only a few words
today and at that with pencil (with yours) - Not till
tomorrow will my lodgings be definitely
determined upon - what a useless waste of time -
Why this deep sorrow when necessity speaks - can
our love endure except through sacrifices, through
not demanding everything from one another; can
you change the fact that you are not wholly mine,
I not wholly thine - Oh God, look out into the
beauties of nature and comfort your heart with
that which must be - Love demands everything
and that very justly - thus it is to me with you, and
to your with me. But you forget so easily that I
must live for me and for you; if we were wholly
united you would feel the pain of it as little as I -
My journey was a fearful one; I did not reach here
until 4 o'clock yesterday morning. Lacking horses
the post-coach chose another route, but what an
awful one; at the stage before the last I was
warned not to travel at night; I was made fearful
of a forest, but that only made me the more eager
- and I was wrong. The coach must needs break
down on the wretched road, a bottomless mud
road. Without such postilions as I had with me I
should have remained stuck in the road.
Esterhazy, traveling the usual road here, had the
same fate with eight horses that I had with four -
Yet I got some pleasure out of it, as I always do
when I successfully overcome difficulties - Now a
quick change to things internal from things
external. We shall surely see each other soon;
moreover, today I cannot share with you the
thoughts I have had during these last few days
touching my own life - If our hearts were always
close together, I would have none of these. My
heart is full of so many things to say to you - ah -
there are moments when I feel that speech
amounts to nothing at all - Cheer up - remain my
true, my only treasure, my all as I am yours. The
gods must send us the rest, what for us must and
shall be -
Your faithful LUDWIG
My angel, my all, my very self - Only a few words
today and at that with pencil (with yours) - Not till
tomorrow will my lodgings be definitely
determined upon - what a useless waste of time -
Why this deep sorrow when necessity speaks - can
our love endure except through sacrifices, through
not demanding everything from one another; can
you change the fact that you are not wholly mine,
I not wholly thine - Oh God, look out into the
beauties of nature and comfort your heart with
that which must be - Love demands everything
and that very justly - thus it is to me with you, and
to your with me. But you forget so easily that I
must live for me and for you; if we were wholly
united you would feel the pain of it as little as I -
My journey was a fearful one; I did not reach here
until 4 o'clock yesterday morning. Lacking horses
the post-coach chose another route, but what an
awful one; at the stage before the last I was
warned not to travel at night; I was made fearful
of a forest, but that only made me the more eager
- and I was wrong. The coach must needs break
down on the wretched road, a bottomless mud
road. Without such postilions as I had with me I
should have remained stuck in the road.
Esterhazy, traveling the usual road here, had the
same fate with eight horses that I had with four -
Yet I got some pleasure out of it, as I always do
when I successfully overcome difficulties - Now a
quick change to things internal from things
external. We shall surely see each other soon;
moreover, today I cannot share with you the
thoughts I have had during these last few days
touching my own life - If our hearts were always
close together, I would have none of these. My
heart is full of so many things to say to you - ah -
there are moments when I feel that speech
amounts to nothing at all - Cheer up - remain my
true, my only treasure, my all as I am yours. The
gods must send us the rest, what for us must and
shall be -
Your faithful LUDWIG
Evening, Monday, July 6
You are suffering, my dearest creature - only now
have I learned that letters must be posted very
early in the morning on Mondays to Thursdays -
the only days on which the mail-coach goes from
here to K. - You are suffering - Ah, wherever I am,
there you are also - I will arrange it with you and
me that I can live with you. What a life!!! thus!!!
without you - pursued by the goodness of mankind
hither and thither - which I as little want to
deserve as I deserve it - Humility of man towards
man - it pains me - and when I consider myself in
relation to the universe, what am I and what is He
- whom we call the greatest - and yet - herein lies
the divine in man - I weep when I reflect that you
will probably not receive the first report from me
until Saturday - Much as you love me - I love you
more - But do not ever conceal yourself from me -
good night - As I am taking the baths I must go to
bed - Oh God - so near! so far! Is not our love
truly a heavenly structure, and also as firm as the
vault of heaven?
Good morning, on July 7
Though still in bed, my thoughts go out to you, my
Immortal Beloved, now and then joyfully, then
sadly, waiting to learn whether or not fate will
hear us - I can live only wholly with you or not at
all - Yes, I am resolved to wander so long away
from you until I can fly to your arms and say that I
am really at home with you, and can send my soul
enwrapped in you into the land of spirits - Yes,
unhappily it must be so - You will be the more
contained since you know my fidelity to you. No
one else can ever possess my heart - never - never
- Oh God, why must one be parted from one whom
one so loves. And yet my life in V is now a
wretched life - Your love makes me at once the
happiest and the unhappiest of men - At my age I
nedd a steady, quiet life - can that be so in our
connection? My angel, I have just been told that
the mailcoach goes every day - therefore I must
close at once so that you may receive the letter at
once - Be calm, only by a clam consideration of
our existence can we achieve our purpose to live
together - Be calm - love me - today - yesterday -
what tearful longings for you - you - you - my life -
my all - farewell. Oh continue to love me - never
misjudge the most faithful heart of your beloved.
ever thine
ever mine
ever ours
You are suffering, my dearest creature - only now
have I learned that letters must be posted very
early in the morning on Mondays to Thursdays -
the only days on which the mail-coach goes from
here to K. - You are suffering - Ah, wherever I am,
there you are also - I will arrange it with you and
me that I can live with you. What a life!!! thus!!!
without you - pursued by the goodness of mankind
hither and thither - which I as little want to
deserve as I deserve it - Humility of man towards
man - it pains me - and when I consider myself in
relation to the universe, what am I and what is He
- whom we call the greatest - and yet - herein lies
the divine in man - I weep when I reflect that you
will probably not receive the first report from me
until Saturday - Much as you love me - I love you
more - But do not ever conceal yourself from me -
good night - As I am taking the baths I must go to
bed - Oh God - so near! so far! Is not our love
truly a heavenly structure, and also as firm as the
vault of heaven?
Good morning, on July 7
Though still in bed, my thoughts go out to you, my
Immortal Beloved, now and then joyfully, then
sadly, waiting to learn whether or not fate will
hear us - I can live only wholly with you or not at
all - Yes, I am resolved to wander so long away
from you until I can fly to your arms and say that I
am really at home with you, and can send my soul
enwrapped in you into the land of spirits - Yes,
unhappily it must be so - You will be the more
contained since you know my fidelity to you. No
one else can ever possess my heart - never - never
- Oh God, why must one be parted from one whom
one so loves. And yet my life in V is now a
wretched life - Your love makes me at once the
happiest and the unhappiest of men - At my age I
nedd a steady, quiet life - can that be so in our
connection? My angel, I have just been told that
the mailcoach goes every day - therefore I must
close at once so that you may receive the letter at
once - Be calm, only by a clam consideration of
our existence can we achieve our purpose to live
together - Be calm - love me - today - yesterday -
what tearful longings for you - you - you - my life -
my all - farewell. Oh continue to love me - never
misjudge the most faithful heart of your beloved.
ever thine
ever mine
ever ours
1823
| His Immortal Beloveds |
Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn on December 16, 1770. His
mother was a maid and his reportedly ill-tempered and often intoxicated
father, Johann Beethoven, was a tenor in the choir of Maximilian Friedrich,
the Elector of Cologne. Ludwig was introduced to the piano at four years
old and by eight he was performing. His formal education ended at age
eleven, although he later attended classes at the University of Bonn where
he enjoyed the beer gardens. His father enjoyed beer as well, and by 1789
Ludwig had to take over as head of household and support his younger
brothers. He gave piano lessons and played the harpsichord, viola, and
organ in Elector Maximilian Friedrich's orchestra. When Haydn happened to
stop in Bonn and heard Beethoven play a cantata he had composed for him,
he encouraged the Elector to pay young Beethoven's expenses to Vienna.
Here, Ludwig flourished. He met and impressed Mozart, and by the
mid-1790s, he was the most popular pianist in Vienna and he was giving
successful performances in Prague and Berlin as well.
mother was a maid and his reportedly ill-tempered and often intoxicated
father, Johann Beethoven, was a tenor in the choir of Maximilian Friedrich,
the Elector of Cologne. Ludwig was introduced to the piano at four years
old and by eight he was performing. His formal education ended at age
eleven, although he later attended classes at the University of Bonn where
he enjoyed the beer gardens. His father enjoyed beer as well, and by 1789
Ludwig had to take over as head of household and support his younger
brothers. He gave piano lessons and played the harpsichord, viola, and
organ in Elector Maximilian Friedrich's orchestra. When Haydn happened to
stop in Bonn and heard Beethoven play a cantata he had composed for him,
he encouraged the Elector to pay young Beethoven's expenses to Vienna.
Here, Ludwig flourished. He met and impressed Mozart, and by the
mid-1790s, he was the most popular pianist in Vienna and he was giving
successful performances in Prague and Berlin as well.
Beethoven's personal life was a mess, and he was slovenly, nasty and miserable to deal with. He had
a notoriously violent temper and was said to act like a wild man on occasion. His piano playing was
so strong that he snapped the strings and splintered the hammers of his Viennese pianos. Beethoven
was an introspective man and an avid walker. He never married nor had children, and he suffered
from a variety of health problems. Between 1803 and 1812, he was steadily losing his hearing, yet
during this same time, he created one masterpiece after another. He was once described by a Dr. W.
Christian Muller in 1820: “Everything about his appearance is powerful, much of it coarse, like the
raw-boned structure of his face, with a high, broad forehead, a short, angular nose, with hair standing
up and divided into thick locks. But he is blessed with a delicate mouth and with beautiful, eloquent
eyes which reflect at every moment his quickly changing ideas and feelings.”
a notoriously violent temper and was said to act like a wild man on occasion. His piano playing was
so strong that he snapped the strings and splintered the hammers of his Viennese pianos. Beethoven
was an introspective man and an avid walker. He never married nor had children, and he suffered
from a variety of health problems. Between 1803 and 1812, he was steadily losing his hearing, yet
during this same time, he created one masterpiece after another. He was once described by a Dr. W.
Christian Muller in 1820: “Everything about his appearance is powerful, much of it coarse, like the
raw-boned structure of his face, with a high, broad forehead, a short, angular nose, with hair standing
up and divided into thick locks. But he is blessed with a delicate mouth and with beautiful, eloquent
eyes which reflect at every moment his quickly changing ideas and feelings.”
After his initial enthusiasm for Napoleon, Beethoven was later outraged when Napoleon crowned himself emperor and
unleashed his Grand Army across Europe. On November 13th, 1805, Vienna was invaded by 15,000 French soldiers
who plunged the city under military rule and plundered food and valuables, occupied private homes and committed
outrageous acts while demanding a huge tribute from the Viennese people to pay the cost! The resultant inflation, food
shortages and deprivation was enormous and impacted Beethoven along with everybody else.
unleashed his Grand Army across Europe. On November 13th, 1805, Vienna was invaded by 15,000 French soldiers
who plunged the city under military rule and plundered food and valuables, occupied private homes and committed
outrageous acts while demanding a huge tribute from the Viennese people to pay the cost! The resultant inflation, food
shortages and deprivation was enormous and impacted Beethoven along with everybody else.
Beethoven's most famous work is his D minor Ninth Symphony,
inspired by Schiller's poem “An die Freude” (“Ode to Joy”). He
dedicated it to Prussian king, König Friedrich Wilhelm III. von Preußen,
and it is now the European Union's Anthem. The first performance was
on May 7, 1824 at the Kaertnertor Theater, left. When Beethoven lifted
his baton, it is said that he stood in front of the conductor's stand and
rolled back and forth like a madman, stretching to his full height, then
crouching down to the floor where he flailed about with his hands and
feet. He was completely deaf at this point.
inspired by Schiller's poem “An die Freude” (“Ode to Joy”). He
dedicated it to Prussian king, König Friedrich Wilhelm III. von Preußen,
and it is now the European Union's Anthem. The first performance was
on May 7, 1824 at the Kaertnertor Theater, left. When Beethoven lifted
his baton, it is said that he stood in front of the conductor's stand and
rolled back and forth like a madman, stretching to his full height, then
crouching down to the floor where he flailed about with his hands and
feet. He was completely deaf at this point.
After the performance, which was interrupted several times by applause, the mezzo soprano had to
tug on the distracted master's sleeve so that he would turn around and acknowledge the cheering
audience. On March 26, 1827, a severely ill Beethoven went into a coma, and during a violent
thunderstorm he opened his eyes momentarily, raised up his right hand toward the sky with a
clenched fist, and died. Over 20,000 people lined the streets for his funeral three days later.
tug on the distracted master's sleeve so that he would turn around and acknowledge the cheering
audience. On March 26, 1827, a severely ill Beethoven went into a coma, and during a violent
thunderstorm he opened his eyes momentarily, raised up his right hand toward the sky with a
clenched fist, and died. Over 20,000 people lined the streets for his funeral three days later.
