It is not a hasty statement to point out that Beethoven was in love with Josephine von Brunswick for at least 14 years, from the time she was his pupil, around 1798, until 1812, the year in which the letter to the Immortal Beloved is supposed to be dated, according to scholars. This does not mean he didn't try to deploy his skills as a lover elsewhere and certainly one can't ignore his attempted flirtations with Bettina Brentano, Therese Malfatti and other girls of the time.
Joséphine, though a widow with four children, remarried in 1808. An offense against poor Ludwig? A permanent abandonment? No, not necessarily. Josephine was obligated to seek security for their children, and she believed she had found it with a certain Count von Stackelberg; she was most likely motivated solely by this goal, since, if we consider it in terms of happiness, this marriage (which added three more children to Josephine's offspring) turned out worse than her previous one.
And perhaps this was why Beethoven kept hope alive for so many years, although Therese and her other sister took care to contain his enthusiasm in a judicious, cold and realistic framework, because of his social class and origin.
Letter to the Immortal Beloved
The second and third fragments of the letter show a very complex loving relationship, fraught with enormous difficulties for its concrete realization. Perhaps this is sufficient to infer that indeed the Immortal Beloved Letter, surprisingly never sent, is addressed to Josephine von Brunswick, a widow of von Deym, a divorcee from von Stackelberg, and a mother of seven children to boot.
Extracts:
"Monday evening, 6 July
"You suffer, you, my dearest creature. Just now I perceive that letters must be posted first thing early. Mondays — Thursdays — the only days, when the post goes from here to K. You suffer — oh! Where I am, you are with me, with me and you, I shall arrange that I may live with you. What a life!
"So! Without you — pursued by the kindness of the people here and there, whom I mean — to desire to earn just as little as they earn — humility of man towards men — it pains me — and when I regard myself in connection with the Universe, what I am, and what he is — whom one calls the greatest — and yet — there lies herein again the godlike of man. I weep when I think you will probably only receive on Saturday the first news from me — as you too love — yet I love you stronger — but never hide yourself from me. Good night — as I am taking the waters, I must go to bed. Oh God — so near! so far! Is it not a real building of heaven, our Love — but as firm, too, as the citadel of heaven.
"Good morning, on 7 July
"Even in bed my ideas yearn towards you, my Immortal Beloved, here and there joyfully, then again sadly, awaiting from Fate, whether it will listen to us. I can only live, either altogether with you or not at all. Yes, I have determined to wander about for so long far away, until I can fly into your arms and call myself quite at home with you, can send my soul enveloped by yours into the realm of spirits — yes, I regret, it must be. You will get over it all the more as you know my faithfulness to you; never another one can own my heart, never — never! O God, why must one go away from what one loves so, and yet my life in W. as it is now is a miserable life. Your love made me the happiest and unhappiest at the same time. At my actual age I should need some continuity, sameness of life — can that exist under our circumstances? Angel, I just hear that the post goes out every day — and must close therefore, so that you get the L. at once. Be calm — love me — today — yesterday.
"What longing in tears for you — You — my Life — my All — farewell. Oh, go on loving me — never doubt the faithfullest heart
"Of your beloved
L
Ever thine.
Ever mine.
Ever ours."
It almost makes us want to cry. And we can not help but wonder, like Thérese, in her diary:
"Why did not my sister Josephine, as widow Deym, take him as her husband? Josephine’s soul-mate! They were born for each other..."
Sonata Appassionata - Third Movement - Claudio Arrau
It's in the middle of the battle for this elusive love, in 1804, when Beethoven composed the Sonata Appassionata, which he dedicated to Josephine's brother, and whose third and final movement we are now listening to. Hectic in nature, the movement reflects a kind of restlessness that seems to never end and, according to some, it can 'take your breath away.' For this very reason, I love Master Arrau's expression while receiving the applause after his performance. He looks like a child who'd just recited a couple of verses in grammar school.
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