Your Immortal Beloved

Beethoven’s Mysterious Life of Love and Sorrow 

           By: Daisy Hoff

We all have our secrets. There are parts of our lives that we want to keep a secret, often relating to love and loss, that no one knows about and might not ever discover. 

‘Ever thine. Ever mine. Ever ours’. Is one of the most famous compositions Ludwig van Beethoven ever penned. The last line of a mysterious letter to a mystery girl. 

Ludwig van Beethoven was a musical genius and prolific German composer from the 1770s to the 1790s. His father hoped that one day he would be as recognised as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and was very set on making that so.

As a child, Beethoven’s father began teaching music using a rigorous practice schedule. In an article published about Beethoven’s life and childhood, Biography.com writes that “Neighbors provided accounts of the small boy weeping while he played the clavier, standing atop a footstool to reach the keys, his father beating him for each hesitation or mistake”.

Because of his father’s pressure to become a great musician, Beethoven dropped out of school at the age of 10 to study music full time. By the age of 12 he released his first composition to the world. He was now in the spotlight of the world. All eyes were on him. 

This new pressure from the world in combination with the pressure from his father lead him down a dark path. 

By the age of just 14 years old, his alcoholism was very apparent and destructive. His voice began decaying, and he found himself with no support from his family and no money. 

This despair led him to apply for a patron. Even though he was so young, his application was approved. This patron paid him to compose music for the courts and specialty events. 

Over the years, he won over many patrons and studied with a few different prolific composers, such as Hadyn. Along with patrons, he won over many of his supporters.

After he lost his hearing and could no longer compose the way he used to, he began teaching piano lessons. People would come from far and wide to learn piano from the amazing Beethoven. 

Many of his students were girls who valued the ability to learn something new and something as refined as piano. 

One of these students was Josephine Brunsvik. Josephine and her sister were long time admirers of Beethoven and came from Hungary to Vienna to study music with him. 

  Photo Credit: Biography.com

Josephine and her family were members of a well known Hungarian nobility. Josephine was said to have denied any affection from Beethoven, for she was not supposed to marry a commoner. 

Josephine’s dream to marry a high class man was cut down because she had a child out of wedlock. She turned to a commoner and they were married, but Beethoven still kept tabs on her. This marriage was rocky. Josephine’s own sister even penned in her diary that she would have been better off with Beethoven as a husband. 

Within the next couple years, Josephine traveled to keep away from her husband. She visited many places, but ended up in Prague in 1812. 

Beethoven was also known to travel to learn more about music and to compose many of his great works. 

` Josephine documented her travels in a diary, but her diary became silent in 1812, when it is said she met up with Beethoven once again. 

The letter to Beethoven’s ‘Immortal Beloved’ was written, and nine months later, Josephine gave birth to her second child, rumored to be Beethoven’s. 

The letter was penned to express deep sorrow that the two lovers weren’t accepted by the public and that they could never be together. It also speaks of tragedy because Beethoven’s love is betrothed to another. 

Over time, there were other names thrown into the ring, but Josephine is the most adored and suspected ‘Immortal Beloved’. 

Although his secret lover may never be disclosed, Beethoven’s life of love and loss will forever be a token of his character. 

To live a life of secret love and whimsical mystery is right out of a fairy tale. We all desire to live in a fairy tale. 

Love, loss, and secrets. Is sorrow the only end? What a way to live life.