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Marie-Elisabeth Teilenbach's study of the Immortal Beloved appeared in 1983 as Beethoven und seine "Unsterbliche Geliebte "Josephine Brunswick, Ihr Schicksal und der Einfluss auf Beethovens Werk (Beethoven and His "Immortal Beloved" Josephine Brunswick, Their Fate and The Influence on Beethoven 's Work). Since the book has not been translated into English, few English-speaking readers have had the opportunity to become familiar with her arguments in favor of Josephine Brunswick. The following essay summarizes these arguments, and also provides a fascinating account of the tragic circumstances of the Brunswicks in the second decade of the nineteenth century. - Editor.
Preface
"That Josephine Brunswick was the addressee of the letter to the 'Immortal Beloved' is probable on the basis of intrinsic reasons even if the external indications remain hypothetical. " (Carl Dahlhaus, Ludwig van Beethoven und seine Zeit, 1987, p. 314.)
"Solomon may prove with scrupulously scientific exactitude that all the external facts speak for his hypothesis: intrinsic reasons speak as clearly against them. " (Willy Hess, Beethoven, 1976, p. 167.)
These intrinsic reasons - above all the spiritual homogeneity of the letters from Beethoven to Josephine from 1805-09 and his letter of July 6 and 7, 1812 - are absolutely compelling. Attempts to reconstruct the external events and to understand the facts in critical conformance with them should only be considered as supplementary arguments. One can only speak of "typical circularity" if one ignores this point. Solomon's attempts to support his hypothesis cannot be individually discussed here; such a rebuttal is outside the scope of the present article. I do hope, however, to be able to go into detail on these in an essay which I am preparing.
I
1799-1812
The letter to the "Immortal Beloved" momentarily illuminates Beethoven's innermost being just as a flash of lightning at night briefly permits us to see the landscape before all is again robed in darkness. It bears witness to his passionate, long lasting love for a woman who was equally attached to him. This letter, whose year of origin was uncertain for a long time, has now been indisputably dated by Joseph Schmidt-Görg using water marks, the date being July 6 and 7, 1812, and the place of origin, Teplitz.
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