Essay Archive - Immortal Beloved
Immortal Beloved
"My angel, my all, my very self--Only a few words today and at that with pencil (with yours)…can our love endure except through sacrifices…"
These lines are from the "Immortal Beloved" letter, a document found among Beethoven's papers after his death. Throughout his life, Beethoven remained a bachelor. This letter is the only love letter he is known to have written. Its recipient is never named: Beethoven only calls her his "Immortal Beloved." Scholars' attempts to identify this woman sparked decades of controversy, and the mystery surrounding the letter has never been definitively solved. In fact, the 19....
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