![]() ![]() ![]() It was only in the 1950s that watermarks and other visual clues allowed a more definitive dating of 1812. Early scholars trying to solve the riddle were stymied because while the letter is dated July 6 and 7, no year was included, making it hard to piece together when in his life it was written. Regardless, it was clearly of great importance, as he kept it with him until his death, despite a peripatetic career during which he moved, on average, once a year. Many historians believe the letter was never actually sent, while others believe Beethoven may have sent a copy of the letter, while holding on to the original. Ever ours.” The doomed affair coincided with the start of one of the darkest periods in Beethoven’s life, during which he failed to compose a major work for several years. The last section conveys his resignation that their great love was never to be - as he signs off with the lines, “Ever thine. Beethoven’s hopes for the relationship seem to darken as he writes. He longs for them to be together, proposing an assignation at a nearby location known only as “K,” which historians believe was likely Karlsbad, now the Czech town of Karlovy Vary. Composed in three bursts, it reveals his emotional torment and desire for an unnamed woman. The other was a letter, written in pencil in Beethoven’s uneven scrawl over 10 small pages. One was a letter, written to his brothers in 1802 and later known as the Heiligenstadt Testament, in which Beethoven lamented his increasing deafness and wrote of his despair and depression over the impact the infirmity would have on his musical abilities. The letter may never have been sentįollowing Beethoven’s death in March 1827, his assistant, Anton Schindler, discovered a hidden drawer, which contained some pictures, money and two documents. But the truth may never be known for certain. ![]() Who was the woman who so besotted Ludwig van Beethoven that he was compelled to pen an infamously passionate and fervid love letter that has stood the test of time? The identity of Beethoven’s “Immortal Beloved” (more accurately translated as “Eternally Beloved”) has confounded historians for two centuries and even inspired a movie. It’s one of the greatest unsolved mysteries in musical history. ![]()
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