The year of composition of the Appassionata Sonata, 1804, is also the year of death of Count von Deym, leaving Josephine a widow with four children and little money. The marriage had been clearly unhappy, so Beethoven's offering regarding sympathize with her in her grief and, as far as possible, to take their relationship to a new level, must have been enthusiastically received by the young widow. While her suitor did not come from the nobility, he was, however, the most prestigious composer in the capital of the mighty Habsburg Empire, the city of Vienna.
Had Josephine remained a childless widow, Beethoven could have had a certain hope, although modest. The real problem had to do with the four children, who, according to the norms in effect at the time, should necessarily be fed, cared for and educated by a personage of nobility.
Sonata No 23 in F minor, opus 57 (Appassionata)
2nd movement: Andante con motto [First movement, here]
A set of variations. At the end, a sudden reprise of the calm original theme leads without pause to the third movement, a savage and impassioned finale.
At the piano, Valentina Lisitsa, during a rehearsal in Vienna.
The Immortal Beloved
Still, the relationship with Josephine would last until at least the year 1812 the date generally accepted as the date the famous Letter to the Immortal Beloved, addressed to an unnamed recipient, was written. Some letters exchanged by Ludwig and Josephine before 1812 are known, at least those written between 1804 and 1807. They have been discovered almost recently and as they reveal an atmosphere quite similar to the letter "To the Immortal Beloved " it is today estimated with a certain degree of realism that the addressee of the latter is indeed Josephine.
6 July morning
"My angel, my all, my own self — only a few words today, and that too with pencil (with yours) — only till tomorrow is my lodging definitely fixed. What abominable waste of time in such things — why this deep grief, where necessity speaks?
"Can our love persist otherwise than through sacrifices, than by not demanding everything? Canst thou change it, that thou are not entirely mine, I not entirely thine? Oh, God, look into beautiful Nature and compose your mind to the inevitable. Love demands everything and is quite right, so it is for me with you, for you with me — only you forget so easily, that I must live for you and for me — were we quite united, you would notice this painful feeling as little as I should . . .
". . . We shall probably soon meet, even today I cannot communicate my remarks to you, which during these days I made about my life — were our hearts close together, I should probably not make any such remarks. My bosom is full, to tell you much — there are moments when I find that speech is nothing at all. Brighten up — remain my true and only treasure, my all, as I to you. The rest the gods must send, what must be for us and shall.
Your faithful
Ludwig"
... to be continued...
(the 3rd movement, and the remaining letters)
