BEETHOVEN'S LOVE STORY.

Cromwell Argus, Volume XLI, Issue 2206, 1 August 1910, Page 7

BEETHOVEN'S LOVE STORY.

THE COUNTESS GIUX.IBTTA. Beethoven was of a passionate temperament, with a strong tendency towards idealising womanhood. He used to pray that he might "at last find her who was destined to. be mine and who shall strengthen me in virtue." Yet it was fated that Beetbhoven should go through life without marrying. When the beautiful Countess • Giulietta flashed across the composer's life he was just over thirty years old. His external appearance was unprepossessing. He had a rugged, forbidding countenance ; his black hair stood upright on his head ; his

chin often bore a beard of several days' growth ; Jiis hands were covered with hair» and the deafness that in

after years was to utterly destroy his powers of hearing already had him in thrall. What a contrast to Giulietta ! She was like a sunbeam : full of the enthusiasms of a girl of seventeen. This was her age when she first met Beethoven, who was engaged by her father, the Viennese Imperial Councillor, to give her instruction in music. The impressionable Beethoven was soon violently in love with his charming pupil, and, to a considerable extent, the girl returned his affection. The position was complicated, how,ever. The young countess was practically affianced to Count Gallenberg, an impresario and a composer of ballet music. But the financial position of this nobleman was so precarious that Count Guicciardi withheld his consent to the match. Beethoven proved a generous rival, for at least on one occasion he came forward to help the impecunious Count with a loan of money. He seems at times to have realised that it was only a lover's dream, for he wrote pathetically to his friend Wegeler : "Just now my life is somewhat pleasanter, and I mix more with other people. . . This transformation has been wrought by a beautiful, fascinating girl who loves me and is loved by me. ... I begin to realise for the first time the happiness that marriage can bestow. But, alas ! she moves in a circle far above me. At present, therefore, marriage for me is out of the question." Beethoven has been credited with dedicating the well-known "'Moonlight" Sonata to his adored countess as a token of his love. The pretty legend, however, has been rather disposed of by Countess Giulietta herself, who some years after the composer's death told Otto Jahn, his

biographer, that "Beethoven first gave me the Rondo in G, but wishing to dedicate something to Princess Lichnowsky he gave me the Sonata instead."

Even more mystery surrounds Beethoven's solitary love-letter. This document was found in a secret drawer after the composer's death. It bore no name, and whether it was destined or not for Countess Giulietta has given rise to much controversy. The epistle began : "My Angel, My All, Myself ,-—A few words only to-day in pencil—thy pencil. My lodging will not be definitely fixed before to-morrow. What miserable waste of time ! Why this deep grief when necessity speaks ? Can our love exist except by sacrifice, by not demanding all ; can you help not being quit* mine, I not quite thine ? "Ah, God ! Look into beautiful nature, and calm your mind over what must be. Love demands all, and justly ; so it is from me to you and from you to me ; only you forget that I must live for myself and for you. Were we quite united you would feel this grief no more than I. "We shall probably see one another soon, and to-day I cannot tell you the thoughts I had regarding my life during these few days. Were our hearts but always close together I should have none such. My heart is full ; I have much to say to you. Oh ! there are moments when I find that language is nothing. Be cheerful : remain my faithful sole treasure my all, as I am thine ; the rest the gods must send, what shall be and what must be."

Then follow more passionate appeals and endearing epithets, the last sheet having as a postscript the words—Ever mine ! Ever thine ! Ever each other's !"

Which makes the ensuing tragedy all the more complete. For suddenly the composer's divinity was married to Count Gallenberg, and departed with her husband for Italy. What had happened to bring about this dramatic climax has never been

unfolded. Beethoven was not a man to speak much about his private affairs even to his friends. All they knew was that the composer for some reason or other exhibited a revulsion of feeling towards the girl he had formerly loved so lyMany years later, when time had healed the wound in Beethoven's heart, he alluded to the subject to his friend Schindler. The conversation was carried on in writing in a public place, and Beethoven wrote down in curious French—"l was friendly with her and with her husband. She was his wife before her travels in Italy. When she returned to Vienna, she came to me weeping, but I scorned her."—London "Mail."