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Book/Printed Material Letter by Ludwig van Beethoven to his "Immortal Beloved".

About this Item

Title

  • Letter by Ludwig van Beethoven to his "Immortal Beloved".

Summary

  • This letter is one of the most famous documents in the legacy of the great German composer Ludwig van Beethoven (1770--1827). Written in pencil, it is addressed to an unknown woman with whom Beethoven was apparently in a love relationship and to whom he refers at one point as his "Immortal Beloved." The dating is incomplete; there are merely notes stating "on the 6th of July" and "on the 7th of July," while information about the place where the letter was written and its year is missing. Scholars now say with certainty that Beethoven wrote the letter in 1812 in Teplitz, Bohemia (present-day Teplice, Czech Republic), when he went to the spas there at the beginning of a long stay for treatment and rehabilitation. It was there that Beethoven also had a number of personal encounters with the great German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The identity of the addressee remains unknown. Ever since the initial publication of the letter in Anton Schindler's Beethoven biography of 1840, numerous candidates have been and continue to be suggested, so that the hunt for the "Immortal Beloved" has now in itself become a separate field of Beethoven biographical research. No definitive identification of the woman has ever been made, however. The letter came to light in the papers left by Beethoven. It is therefore possible that he never sent it and that it never reached its intended addressee.

Names

  • Beethoven, Ludwig van, 1770-1827 Author.

Created / Published

  • [place of publication not identified] : [publisher not identified], [1812-07-06 to 1812-07-07]

Headings

  • -  Czech Republic--Ústecký kraj--Teplice
  • -  1812-07-06 to 1812-07-07
  • -  Composers
  • -  Correspondence
  • -  Letters
  • -  Love letters

Notes

  • -  Title devised, in English, by Library staff.
  • -  Original resource extent: 5 sheets of paper.
  • -  Original resource at: Berlin State Library - Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation.
  • -  Content in German.
  • -  Description based on data extracted from World Digital Library, which may be extracted from partner institutions.

Medium

  • 1 online resource.

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • 2021668115

Online Format

  • compressed data
  • pdf
  • image

Additional Metadata Formats

IIIF Presentation Manifest

Rights & Access

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The Library asks that researchers approach the materials in this collection with respect for the culture and sensibilities of the people whose lives, ideas, and creativity are documented here.

Credit Line: [Original Source citation], World Digital Library

More about Copyright and other Restrictions

For additional information and contact information for many of the partner organizations, see this archived capture of the World Digital Library site from 2021.

For guidance about compiling full citations consult Citing Primary Sources.

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Beethoven, Ludwig Van, Author. Letter by Ludwig van Beethoven to his "Immortal Beloved". [Place of Publication Not Identified: Publisher Not Identified, -07-06 to -07-07, 1812] Pdf. https://www.loc.gov/item/2021668115/.

APA citation style:

Beethoven, L. V. (1812) Letter by Ludwig van Beethoven to his "Immortal Beloved". [Place of Publication Not Identified: Publisher Not Identified, -07-06 to -07-07] [Pdf] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2021668115/.

MLA citation style:

Beethoven, Ludwig Van, Author. Letter by Ludwig van Beethoven to his "Immortal Beloved". [Place of Publication Not Identified: Publisher Not Identified, -07-06 to -07-07, 1812] Pdf. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2021668115/>.