Welcome to the 100th work in the Slipped Disc/Idagio Beethoven Edition

Andante favori for Piano in F major WoO 57 (1805)

 

Between his arrival in Vienna in his early 20s and his near-total deafness twenty years later, Beethoven was almost perpetually in love. What all the women he fell for had in common was their unattainability. They were either upper class, or married, or uninterested in him, none of which diminished the ferocity of his passion or his persistence. There is something quixotic in Beethoven’s pursuit of love. He needs the chase far more than he ever expects a positive outcome.

The women in Beethoven’s life begin with his mother, Maria Magdalena, whom he idealised as a saintly counterpart to his alcoholic father.  On receiving word that she was suffering from tuberculosis, he ended his first trip to Vienna to be at her side when she died aged 40, on July 17, 1787. In his earliest extant letter he reports: ‘I found my mother still alive, but in the most wretched condition. She was suffering from consumption and in the end she died about seven weeks ago after enduring great pain and agony. She was such a good, kind mother to me, and indeed my best friend. Oh! Who was happier than I, when I could still utter the sweet name of mother and it was heard and answered; and to whom can I say it now?’

His first love in Bonn was Nanette Streicher, who went on to marry a piano-maker in Vienna, where she offered motherly advice to Beethoven as his personal affairs became chaotic. Another teenage love was Eleonore von Breuning (1771-1841), whom he may have offended with a crude lunge while out on a date.

Beethoven contemplated making a marriage proposal in 1810 to Baroness Therese Malfatti (1792-1851); we don’t know if he actually popped the question and was turned down. The following year he wooed the mezzo-soprano Amalie Sebald (1787-1846) in the spa resort of Teplitz; she may have been the person he had in mind when composing songs to the ‘Ferne Geliebte’ the Distant Beloved. Amelie married in 1815, moved to Berlin and vanished from his life.

Josephine Brunsvik (1779-1821) and her sister Therese (1775-1861) were countesses, way out of his class. Josephine was married to a count who died young and in debt. Beethoven gave her piano lessons for several years and wrote amorous letters to which she responded in kind: ‘I would have to violate sacred bonds if I yielded to your request – believe me – that I, by doing what is my duty, suffer the most’. In the summer of 1811 and again the following year Beethoven met Josephine at Teplitz, by which time she was remarried. She might have been the one he had in mind when writing his 1812 ‘immortal beloved’ love-letter. He had already given Josephine the short Andante favori, with its repeated motif of Jo-se-fin-e, signifying either a pedagogic device or a memento of love. All options are open, as we shall see.

Josephine’s sister Therese Brunsvik is probably the woman Beethoven had in mind when composing Für Elise. She was definitely the dedicatee of his 24th piano sonata, opus 78, although that might just mean that she paid for it. Was it an act of love? Therese never married.

The Brunsviks had a cousin, countess Giulietta Giucciardi (1784-1856). Beethoven gave her piano lessons and the dedication of the Moonlight Sonata. Long after, he told his assistant Schindler that he had been in love with Julie ‘but she was of a different class’. Schindler erroneously concluded that she must have been the ‘immortal beloved’. Julie married a passing count in 1803.

Antonie Brentano (1780-1869), dedicatee of the Diabelli Variations, was nominated by the biographer Maynard Solomon as Beethoven’s immortal beloved. Her father was a Habsburg courtier and art curator and she married into the literary Brentano family in 1798. Not only was she married when Beethoven fell for her, she was pregnant as well, and her husband was a good friend of Beethoven’s who lent him money when in need and never demanded repayment.

All of these women were safe to love because they were impossible to marry. What we cannot know is whether Beethoven ever made love to a woman. It would be entirely in keeping with a musician’s life that he had a fling with an opera singer or chorister, or that he visited brothels, but there is no evidence to support any sexual activity on his part, not even a dirty joke or a proposition to a prostitute. Beethoven had been physically desirable in his 20s but by 35 he stopped caring for his appearance and personal hygiene. Not to labour the point, he stank.

So did Beethoven ever have sex? There is a rumour – nothing more – of an illegitimate daughter. Josephine Brunsvik had four children with her first husband and three more during a short-lived second marriage which ended in a vicious custody battle. At least three of her children were said to be conceived while her husbands were out of town. The seventh, Minona, was born in April 1813 — nine months after the ‘Immortal Beloved’ letter. Josephine died indigent in March 1821 as Beethoven was composing his penultimate piano sonata, opus 110, which contains a trace of the Andante favori, Josephine’s theme.

Minona (whose name is an anagram of Anonim) lived out her life as a lady’s companion in Vienna, a kind of superior servant, dying there in 1897. In old age, she bore some resemblance to Beethoven.

Tongues wagged. Was she his daughter? Here’s Minona when young.

An Estonian composer, Jüri Reinvere, wrote an opera about her that premiered in Regensburg in January 2020. The evidence against his paternity is that Beethoven, who railed against sexual immorality in his sister-in-law, would have gone against all his principles had he slept with Josephine who may have been no less promiscuous. On the other hand, he may have not known of her other affairs. If he was ever intimate with a woman, Josephine is the likeliest partner.

As for the Andante favori, it remains one of the most popular encores in the Beethoven piano book. Listen to it being played by a composer, someone who could empathise with Beethoven’s situation. The German romantic Eugen d’Albert, for instance, a man who married six times; or the rather ponderous Hungarian Ernö Dohnányi. Wilhelm Kempff, more of a part-time composer, has a rather instructive manner. Alice Sara Ott takes a more contemporary and lighthearted approach to Beethoven’s dating ditty.

But there’s more to say about his farewell to love.

The conductor addresses the future of the orchestra in a new talk for the Hanns Eisler Institute.

Ivan is incapable of uttering a dull sentence: ‘It’s an endangered art form and it must reform itself if it does not want to be wiped out.’

‘Our children and grandchildren will feel further and further removed from the generation for which this was the norm.’

‘I want to address the lack of creativity in a symphony orchestra.’

‘In coronavirus, people easily live without it.’

‘How long will politicians finance a non-playing orchestra?’

UPDATE: A different take

I only saw Milva once on stage, towards the end of her career, but the memory is indelible.

She was an Italian Lotte Lenya, with added edge. Milva was 81 last week.

The Finnish violinist and conductor Jaakko Kuusisto is facing a medical crisis.

 

Dear friends, here comes something I didn’t wish to tell you.

During the summer I’ve experienced mild, fragmented symptoms such as tiredness and irritation, mild headaches, and occasional messing around in my words. Last week I went to a doctor in Savonlinna and luckily i got a serious doctor in front of me. The order was an MRI on the head, which was done the other day in Lappeenranta. Results came yesterday on Wednesday morning, resulting in a quick visit to South Karelia Central Hospital and a sudden departure home to Oulu. Meeting with a neurosurgeon at NTV this Thursday morning and diagnosis is brain tumor, probably malignant.

The only good news is that it’s in a place you can access by cutting in the right frontal lobe and possibly mostly on the surface. Surgery is in over 2 weeks.

Writing this post for two reasons: I don’t want the inaccurate rumors to go around, because this will result in at least in the short term, maybe even in the long term, cancellation of gigs and other jobs that are visible on different sides. And another reason is this: the only thing I can be satisfied with at the moment is that I realized (with Maija’s help) to go to the doctor even with slight symptoms. People visit the doctor whenever something comes up.

My endless gratitude to my dear Maija for everything possible . Now all I can do is wait for surgery and the conclusions after that. My big thanks and appreciation to Finnish healthcare as well. So far I can’t think of anything they could have handled better or faster. 

The Los Angeles Master Chorale, resident at Walt Disney Hall, has called off the rest of its 20/21 season but extended conductor Grant Gershon to 2025.

Here‘s why.

 

Grant says: I’m overwhelmed by the incredible positivity and support coming at the Los Angeles Master Chorale since this announcement yesterday. While this is a difficult and painful time for our artists, it’s more clear to us than ever before that we can use our voices to open eyes, ears and hearts—in order to build a more just, equitable and beauty-filled future.

I’m so proud to be a part of this new leadership team with Jenny Wong, our Associate Artistic Director, Reena Esmail, our Swan Family Artist in Residence and Jean Davidson, our President and CEO. Our vision and sense of mission is stronger and more urgent now than ever before. Thank you to all who have offered encouragement to us, and thank you especially to the entire Master Chorale family! We will come through this strong…and changed!!!

I am terribly sorry to report the sudden passing of Dr Mike Schachter who made frequent interventions in our debates.

Mike, who died in London on his 70th birthday, was a Handel obsessive who chased baroque operas all over Europe. Professionally, he was a perceptive physician whose knowledge ranged across many fields and whose grateful students stayed in touch all over the world. Here’s the official statement from Imperial College London:

Dr Michael Schachter

Dear students and colleagues

It is with great sadness that I write to inform you of the death of Dr Michael Schachter. This was entirely unexpected and has come as a great shock to all of us in the School of Medicine, to his National Heart and Lung Institute colleagues, and to staff and students across the College. Mike was a hugely respected clinician, scholar, teacher and Tutor, and will be sorely missed by us all.

 

According to the press release, just landed, ‘contingent on entry into phase four of the District of Columbia’s ReOpen D.C. guidelines’, the National Symphony Orchestra will resume its season on January 16, 2021 with BBC conductor Dalia Staseva. Details here.

The opera will not reopen until May.

No details have been given on distancing protocols, which may well change as the year wears on.

 

Scherzo reports that the excellent Victor Pablo Perez has decided to step down next summer at the Orchestra and Choir of the Community of Madrid (Orcam). More here.

 

This is the cast for Aida in Naples.

The picture is from his fan club’s Instagram feed.

If opera singers defy Covid rules, they cannot expect the authorities to be overly sympathetic to the arts form.

Munich had promised Mariss Jansons a new hall. Now all cultural building projects are being cut back just as Mariss’s orchestra prepares to name his successor.

Simon Rattle was in town this week, complaining about the present hall.

The Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder went on television last night to reaffirm his government’s commitment to a new hall. He said: Art and culture are an integral part of society. The new concert hall is therefore not negotiable.’

 

The town of Ammerbuch, near Tübingen, has emptied an outdoor swimming pool and reconditioned it as a distanced concert venue.

Cellist Jürgen Gerlinger gave the first recital. There are plans for more. Full report here.

photo (c)Christoph Schmidt / dpa

A tweet by Matthew Anderson, European culture editor of the New York Times, has been troubling me.

Anderson had interviewed the Polish director Warlikowski who is staging Elektra at Salzburg. Warlikowski lives with a wife and a lover.

Why are his domestic arrangements relevant to the story? What is the ethical basis for asking such a question? Was it Anderson’s own curiosity or was he put up to it by an editor in New York?

I have interviewed dozens of artists and have never shrunk from asking about their personal lives when those relationships were connected to the story – when, for example, a conductor cast his/her lover in a production, or similar abuses of authority.

But I can’t see how an artist’s private threesome has anything to do with a forthoming production, can you?

It looks like another dose of NY Times sensationalism.

Your thoughts?