Immortal Beloved - The Discovery of Josephine Brunsvik (1957 To 1999)

The Discovery of Josephine Brunsvik (1957 To 1999)

Schmidt-Görg (1957) published 13 heretofore unknown love letters by Beethoven to Josephine Brunsvik (plus one draft letter by him that survived as a copy by Josephine), that could be dated to the time period from 1804 to 1809/10 when she was a widow (after the early death of her first husband Count Deym), however, he dismissed Kaznelson’s discoveries as “sensational”. Goldschmidt (1977) explains why the German Beethoven scholarship was so reluctant to accept Kaznelson’s theory (already published before these “13 letters”): "The fact that, as a result of this meeting, they had ... to take a natural daughter into account, appeared so venturesome to the professional world that the resistance to the Josephine hypothesis stiffened noticeably." Schmidt-Görg (1957, p. 31) believed that with the last letter (which he still thought to have been written in 1807 – not 1809) and with Josephine’s marriage to Baron Stackelberg (in 1810) the love relationship was terminated.

Ley (1957, p. 78) saw it differently: "Only on the negative side has one been able to arrive at certain conclusions: neither Giulietta Guicciardi, nor Amalie Sebald, nor Bettina Brentano can be considered any longer, and not even Therese Brunsvik, who for a long time was seriously regarded as the recipient of the famous love letter. But curiously enough, it is precisely the same documents which shed a definitive light, in the negative sense, on Therese which bear witness to Beethoven's passionate love for her sister Josephine."

Riezler (1962, p. 46), still very much a "standard" German biography of Beethoven, followed Kaznelson regarding Josephine being his "only love", likewise Dahlhaus (1991, p. 247) who concluded that "internal evidence" points to Josephine.

The French authors Jean & Brigitte Massin (1970) identified Josephine as the "Immortal Beloved", mainly based on comparisons of the “Letter to the Immortal Beloved” with the earlier 14 (15) love letters: “The letter to the ‘Immortal Beloved’ … not only uses similar wording, but also emphasizes his long-time faithfulness to his one and only Beloved.” In addition, with regard to traces in Beethoven’s compositions, the "Massins argue that ... the presence of Josephine in Beethoven's life left traces in his music. ... From the standpoint of music theory, the connections make eminent sense.”

After Massin (1970) and Goldschmidt (1977), Tellenbach (1983, 1987, 1988, 1999) argued extensively the case for Josephine, based on many newly discovered documents, like Therese's later diary notes, e.g., on the discovery of the "Three letters by Beethoven … they must have been to Josephine whom he loved passionately.”

"Beethoven! It is like a dream, that he was the friend, the confidant of our house – a beautiful mind! Why did not my sister Josephine, as widow Deym, take him as her husband? Josephine’s soul-mate! They were born for each other. She would have been happier with him than with Stackelberg. Maternal affection made her forgo her own happiness."
Again Therese on Beethoven: "How unhappy, with such intellectual talent. At the same time Josephine was unhappy! Le mieux est l'ennemi du bien – both together they would have been happy (perhaps). What he needed was a wife, that’s for sure."
"I was so lucky to have been acquainted with Beethoven, intimately and intellectually, for so many years! Josephine’s intimate friend, her soul mate! They were born for each other, and if both were still alive, they would be united."
Goldschmidt's evaluation of the Josephine hypothesis: "Without conclusive proofs of the opposite one should no longer want to part prematurely with the increasingly justified assumption that the 'Immortal Beloved' could hardly be anyone else but the 'Only Beloved'."

Josephine's candidacy as the "Immortal Beloved" was contested by Solomon (1988), mainly in response to Massin (1955, 1970), Goldschmidt (1977) and Tellenbach (1983).