Ludwig van Beethoven's unrequited love: Women in the fate of a genius

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

They say that the feeling of true inspiration is known only to those who have comprehended the value of true suffering. And suffering in life Ludwig van Beethoven it was enough. Isn't that why his music is so divine and permeated with such an incinerating intensity of passion and power that, listening to it, something incredible happens inside. Alas, the composer in his entire life did not manage to experience mutual true love, but living with hope and dreams of such, he created amazing works, literally permeated with a deep feeling of a lonely heart.

Listening and enjoying the "Moonlight" sonata of the brilliant composer, few people think about what personal drama is behind each note, behind each bar of this famous work. All his life he dreamed of love, cherishing the idea of a woman who would become his Muse, his destiny and the mother of his children. But, alas, it didn't work out.

Despite the fact that Beethoven constantly lived in a state of love, unfortunately, he chose the wrong women with the same consistency. They were either a noble aristocrat whose status did not allow Beethoven to marry, or a married woman, or a fastidious, proud singer. But most often, Beethoven fell in love with his young students, who fleetingly were carried away by the maestro and flew away from him like butterflies to others.

Through suffering to recognition

In December 1770, Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn into the family of a drinking court singer-tenor. The childhood years of the future genius were the most difficult in his life. His father, an oppressive and rude man, having discovered unique musical talent in his 4-year-old son, decided to make him a musical prodigy. At that time in Europe, the name of the 17-year-old Mozart was already thundering, and this fueled his father's desire to also earn on the talent of his offspring.

From that moment, Ludwig's bitter science began. The parent forced the kid to exercise until exhaustion and beat him for the slightest disobedience. From day to day, from morning to night, he sat at the harpsichord, learning various exercises, rewriting scores, practicing violin, studying music theory. And when something didn't work out for the boy, his father locked him in a cold closet for educational purposes.

The fruits of his father's enlightenment were not long in coming. At the age of eight, the boy began to make a living by concerts. By the age of ten, he was already masterly playing the piano and was accepted as an organist in one of the central city cathedrals. Leaving school at the age of eleven, he independently learned Italian, French and Latin, and at night he read the ancient Greek philosophers and Sheksyprom. At thirteen, Ludwig played the violin, viola and cello in the chapel at the royal court.

At the same time, being deprived of warmth and parental affection, the teenager remained forever gloomy, unsociable and withdrawn. The organist of the court chapel, the wise and kind mentor Christian Gottlieb Nefe entered his life as a ray of light. It was he who taught the future composer the ancient languages, philosophy, literature, history, ethics, and also taught to understand human life.

By order of the archbishop, 17-year-old Beethoven Jr. was given the salary of his father, who finally drank himself to death, and his duties in the city orchestra. And the young man actually became the head of the family, or rather what was left of it. By that time, the mother and several of her older children had died of tuberculosis, and Ludwig was left in charge of younger brothers and a drunkard father. Therefore, when the young musician had the opportunity to go to study in Vienna, he would happily leave Bonn, the city of his childhood, whose painful memories will haunt his soul all his life.

Beethoven in his youth seemed very strange, however, he remained so until the end of his days: dressing in whatever he had to, sometimes even in rags, walked the streets, waving his arms as if conducting, and muttering music under his breath. A monstrous disorder always reigned in his house: in all corners there were scattered bundles of music paper, inkpots, chaotically arranged furniture. However, the most striking was the piano, from which burst strings protruded in all directions. It was difficult for the instrument to maintain the composer's manner of playing, full of fierce power and passion. And Beethoven did not care at all about the outer side of life, he was only interested in creativity.

Terrible affliction

Probably, there is nothing worse for a musician than losing his hearing. It was precisely this ailment that overtook the genius composer. At the age of 26, he began to rapidly lose his hearing. He began to develop tinnitus, an inflammation of the inner ear leading to ringing in the ears. On the advice of doctors, he retired to a suburb of Vienna. However, the peace and quiet did not improve his well-being in any way. Beethoven begins to realize that his deafness is incurable. Until the age of 40, he still caught high notes, and by the age of 48, he had complete hearing loss. The maestro was in terrible despair and close to suicide. But he pulled himself together:.

- he wrote.-

His music is becoming more melancholy and disturbing every year. He wrote his masterpieces, holding a pencil in his teeth, the other end of which rested against the body of the piano. Thanks to this touch, Beethoven felt the vibrations of the instrument. He could no longer perform with concerts - but continued to compose brilliant music. Art critics claim that he wrote his most beautiful works when he heard sounds only in his head …

The already harsh and hot-tempered character of the composer became even more unbearable. In his diaries, he wrote that he felt the world eluding him. He stopped meeting friends and appearing in the world, hiding from everyone the illness that was following him.

Juliet Guicciardi: the love of a genius and a coquette

However, everything suddenly changed in his life when she, 17-year-old aristocrat of Italian descent Juliet Guicciardi, who came to Vienna from the provinces, entered it. The girl, dreaming of becoming a pianist, was looking for a worthy teacher, and it was impossible to find better than Beethoven. And I must say that for all his severity, Beethoven was not indifferent to female beauty and, therefore, did not refuse to give several lessons to a young charming girl, and for free. As a symbolic payment, Juliet presented the teacher with several self-embroidered men's shirts. Beethoven was moved to the core. He already felt a spark of love for his student ignite in his heart.

However, this absolutely did not affect the assessment of her musical abilities. When the maestro was dissatisfied with her playing, he threw notes on the floor, shouted furiously, defiantly turning away from the girl, and she obediently kept silent, collecting music books from the floor. And then he sincerely repented, wrote love letters to Juliet, asked for forgiveness. He was almost happy, it seemed to him that she loved him too … At the height of his feelings, Beethoven set about creating a new sonata, which he decided to dedicate to Juliet Guicciardi. Subsequently, the world recognizes her under the name "Lunar". And what is interesting, he started it in a state of great love, delight and hope. But Beethoven was finishing his masterpiece in anger, rage and strong resentment.

The windy girl, who, apparently, rather quickly got tired of the difficult character of her teacher and lover, and also began to annoy his deafness and face disfigured by smallpox, started an affair with 18-year-old Count Robert von Gallenberg, who was also fond of music and composed very mediocre musical plays. In her last farewell letter to Beethoven, Juliet wrote:

Further history was very predictable: she married Gallenberg and left for Italy, and there she continued to live happily and carefreely until she met Prince Pückler-Muskau. A long and painful romance began between them. This cynical gigolo pulled money from Juliet, and when her husband's financial affairs began to decline, he left her … 20 years later, life threw Juliet back to Vienna, and she, accidentally meeting with the maestro, rushed to him with a request:

Beethoven, although he was not stingy and was ready to give the last coin to the needy, flatly refused her. Once Juliet had hurt him too much, and the resentment still burned his soul.

Who was the "immortally beloved" genius

However, the genius has more than once had a chance to be humiliated by women … He never married, although he wooed more than once - in particular, to the singer Elisabeth Röckel and the pianist Teresa Malfatti. It was very difficult for him even to have an affair. So once a young singer of a Viennese opera, when asked to meet with him, mockingly replied that “the composer is so ugly in appearance, and besides, she seems too strange to her,” that she does not intend to meet with him.

To be honest, Beethoven really was strikingly different in his appearance among the gentlemen of that time. He was almost always seen casually dressed, unkempt, and with a shock of unkempt hair on his head.

And when the composer died, in the farthest corner of his writing desk they found a ten-page long letter "to the immortal beloved" along with miniature portraits of Juliet Guicciardi and Countess Erdedi. About who the unknown heroine of the famous letter was, there is still controversy among art critics. Some are inclined to argue that this is Antonia Brentano, others - Teresa Brunswick, with whom the maestro was friends for many years. The list continues: Juliet Guicciardi, Bettina Brentano, Josephine Brunswick, Anna-Maria Erdödi and even Beethoven's daughter-in-law, wife of his brother Caspar-Karl, Johann.

However, the true identity of the woman to whom this letter is addressed remains unknown to this day. This remained the greatest mystery that the genius took with him to the grave.

In the fall of 1826, Beethoven fell ill. Long-term treatment and three complicated operations were ineffective. And six months later, the great genius of music, Ludwig van Beethoven, passed away. Before the burial, an autopsy of the genius's body and skull was performed, including in order to find out the true cause of the composer's deafness. To the surprise of specialists, no pathologies in the ear region were identified. Paradoxical, but true…. As for the illness that led Beethoven to death, the analysis showed an excess of lead in his body. The attending doctor, unknowingly, often prescribed lotions to his patient, which contained the ill-fated element.

Here is such a sad end for a brilliant musician.

Continuing the theme of the love affairs of famous composers of the past, read: A Portrait Cut in Half, or What Separated Chopin and Georges Sand.