Giulietta Guicciardi

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Julie Guicciardi, photogravure of an anonymous drawing; Beethoven House Bonn

Countess Julie ("Giulietta") Guicciardi , married Countess Gallenberg (born November 23, 1784 in Przemyśl , Galicia , † March 22, 1856 in Vienna ) was an Austrian noblewoman and 1801/02 piano student of Ludwig van Beethoven , who gave her the Sonata in 1802 quasi una Fantasia in C sharp minor op. 27 No. 2, the so-called " Moonlight Sonata ".

Life

Her parents were

  • Count Franz Joseph Guicciardi (* approx. 1752 in Essek / Slavonia , † October 10, 1830 in Reggio nell'Emilia ), from 1778 police director in Lemberg , and
  • Susanna born Countess Brunsvik von Krompach (born October 20, 1757 in Korompa / Hungary , † October 19, 1813 in Vienna).

Both married on March 9, 1782 in St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna . Later the father worked in Przemyśl, where "Julie", as she was called in the family, was born.

In June 1800 she came to Vienna with her parents from Trieste and soon became the center of society there because of her beauty. She became engaged to the young Count Wenzel Robert von Gallenberg , whom she married on November 14, 1803 in St. Stephen's Cathedral. She then traveled with him to Naples , where the family stayed for many years. She only returned to Vienna in 1822.

In later years, Prince Hermann von Pückler-Muskau was one of her admirers, as was the writer Ludwig Mielichhofer (1814-1892), who says: “She was of a beautiful figure, had brown curls and beautiful dark blue eyes,” but “always did a veil of melancholy lay over her soulful countenance. ”Accordingly, she cannot be the woman with brown eyes who is portrayed on the famous ivory miniature from Beethoven's estate. The Beethoven researcher Klaus Martin Kopitz has collected several pieces of evidence, according to which it is rather the music journalist Therese von Zandt , with whom Beethoven was probably involved in the years 1803/04.

Countess Julie von Gallenberg last lived "at court no. 322", where she died on March 22, 1856 "of old age". It is the house "Zum Hahnenbeiß", today Am Hof ​​5.

Relationship with Beethoven

Julie Guicciardi, oil painting (lost), formerly Zschepplin Palace (Saxony)
Miniature from Beethoven's estate, allegedly Julie Guicciardi, who, however, had “dark blue eyes”, not brown ones like the one portrayed here

Beethoven got to know Julie through the Brunsvik family . He was particularly close friends with the sisters Therese and Josephine Brunsvik . In the autumn of 1801 he became Julie's piano teacher and apparently fell in love with her. She is probably that “magical girl” about whom he wrote to his childhood friend Franz Gerhard Wegeler on November 16, 1801 : “I now live a little more pleasantly again, because I am more socializing, you can hardly believe how dreary, how sad I had spent my life for 2 years, like a ghost my weak hearing appeared to me everywhere, and I fled - the people, must seem misanthropic, and it's so little, this change has produced a lovely, magical girl who loves me , and that I love, there have been some blissful moments for the last 2 years, and it is the first time that I feel that - marriage could make you happy, unfortunately it is not my style ”. In 1802 he dedicated the moonlight sonata to her as "Giulietta Guicciardi" .

On November 14, 1852, Otto Jahn noted after a conversation with Julie von Gallenberg that Beethoven had originally composed the Rondo in G major op. 51 No. 2 for her, but requested it back “when he d [e] r Gr. Lichnowsky had to dedicate something, and dedicated her d. Sonata". What is meant is the sister of Prince Karl Lichnowsky , Countess Henriette von Lichnowsky.

Beethoven confessed to his adlatus and biographer Anton Schindler in February 1823 that he was actually in love with her at the time. In his Beethoven biography, published in 1840, Schindler claimed that “Giulietta” was also the addressee of the letter to the “ Immortal Beloved ”, which was immediately (although not yet published) by her cousin Therese Brunsvik: “Three letters from Beethoven, allegedly to Giulietta. Should it be works? ”Therese's doubts were only justified, since - in contrast to Schindler and almost all other contemporaries - she knew quite well about Beethoven's intense and long-lasting love affair with her sister Josephine Brunsvik :“ 3 letters from Beethoven .. they will probably be to Josephine , whom he loved passionately. ”The main point against this is that Beethoven did not write the said letter until June 6th / 7th. July 1812 wrote when Julie was already living in Italy.

After Beethoven's death, miniature portraits of two unknown women who came into the possession of Gerhard von Breuning were found in his estate . He presented it to a son of Giulietta Guicciardi - probably Alexander von Gallenberg (1816-1893) - and announced in 1874 that "one of them was recognized by the still living Count Gallenberg as that of his mother (nee Giulietta Guicciardi)." Although Breuning is not mentioned Which of the two portraits is meant, Beethoven research later agreed that it must be the one shown above.

The reason for Breuning's attempt at identification was probably the assertion of his friend Anton Schindler that Giulietta Guicciardi was Beethoven's " Immortal Beloved ". In the portrait, however, there is a woman with brown eyes, whereas Giulietta Guicciardi had “beautiful dark blue eyes”. In addition, Schindler's identification is a pure invention and is no longer discussed today. The attribution of the portrait is therefore doubtful.

family

The Gallenbergs had several children, including their sons

  • Count Hugo von Gallenberg (born August 22, 1805 in Naples), pastor in Groß Tajax in Moravia , wrote a book about Leonardo da Vinci (Leipzig 1834),
  • Count Friedrich von Gallenberg (born December 29, 1809 - † October 16, 1862),
  • Count Joseph von Gallenberg (born August 1, 1811, † March 7, 1858), Imperial Colonel,
  • Count Hector von Gallenberg (born January 7, 1813, † December 27, 1864), Imperial Chamberlain,
  • Count Alexander von Gallenberg (born August 22, 1816, † October 7, 1893 in Vienna).

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Description on the Beethoven-Haus website
  2. ↑ Steblin (2009), p. 96 claims that Julie Guiccardi was born two years earlier. The sources unknown to Steblin contradict this: Guicciardi's baptismal certificate and the date of birth on her tombstone in Währing .
  3. ↑ The usual name "Giulietta" goes back to the Italian title of the moonlight sonata dedicated to her , on which Beethoven himself calls himself "Luigi van Beethoven". (Steblin, 2009, p. 90)
  4. ↑ Steblin (2009), p. 145. Another date that is handed down incorrectly: It was not November 3 or 4, 1803.
  5. ↑ Ludwig Nohl , Beethovens Leben , Volume 2, Leipzig 1867, pp. 129f. ( Digitized version )
  6. ↑ Klaus Martin Kopitz , The Düsseldorf composer Norbert Burgmüller , Kleve 1998, pp. 65–88 and pp. 195f. (Illustrations and font comparisons)
  7. ^ Wiener Zeitung , No. 71 of March 27, 1856, p. 883 ( digitized version )
  8. ↑ To the cockbite in the Vienna History Wiki of the City of Vienna
  9. ↑ Brandenburg (1996), No. 70.
  10. ↑ Beethoven from the point of view of his contemporaries, ed. by Klaus Martin Kopitz and Rainer Cadenbach with the assistance of Oliver Korte and Nancy Tanneberger, Munich 2009, Volume 1, p. 412
  11. ↑ Ludwig van Beethoven's conversation books , ed. by Karl-Heinz Köhler and Dagmar Beck, Volume 2, Leipzig 1976, p. 366f.
  12. ↑ Therese's diary, November 12, 1840, in Tellenbach (1983), p. 15. The letter to the “ Immortal Beloved ” consists of three parts.
  13. ↑ Therese's diary, November 15, 1840, in Goldschmidt (1977), p. 295. This "Giulietta hypothesis" is no longer discussed today.
  14. ^ Gerhard von Breuning, From the Black Spaniard House. Memories of L. van Beethoven from my youth , Vienna 1874, p. 124 ( digitized version )
  15. ↑ Gothaisches Genealogisches Taschenbuch der Graefliche Häuser , vol. 47 (1874), p. 288 ( digitized version )

literature

  • Anton Schindler, biography of Ludwig van Beethoven , Münster 1840
  • La Mara , Beethoven and the Brunsviks , Leipzig 1920
  • Robert Bory, Ludwig van Beethoven. His Life and his Work in Pictures , Zurich - New York: Atlantis 1960, p. 86f. ( Digitized version )
  • Harry Goldschmidt , To the Immortal Beloved. A Beethoven book . Leipzig: German publishing house for music 1977
  • Harry Goldschmidt, Beethoven in new Brunsvik letters. In: Beethoven-Jahrbuch , vol. 1973/77 (1977), pp. 97–146
  • Marie-Elisabeth Tellenbach , Beethoven and his “Immortal Beloved” Josephine Brunswick. Your fate and the influence on Beethoven's work , Zurich: Atlantis 1983
  • Sieghard Brandenburg (ed.), Ludwig van Beethoven, correspondence. Complete edition , 7 volumes, Munich: Henle 1996
  • Silke Bettermann, The two miniature portraits of women from Beethoven's estate in the Beethoven House in Bonn. Art historical notes. In: Bonner Beethoven Studies , Volume 3 (2003), pp. 23–41
  • Klaus Martin Kopitz , Rainer Cadenbach (Eds.) A. a .: Beethoven from the point of view of his contemporaries in diaries, letters, poems and memories. Volume 1: Adamberger - Kuffner. Edited by the Beethoven Research Center at the Berlin University of the Arts. Henle, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-87328-120-2 , pp. 411-414.
  • Rita Steblin , "A dear, enchanting girl who loves me and whom I love": New Facts about Beethoven's Beloved Piano Pupil Julie Guicciardi. In: Bonner Beethoven Studies , Volume 8 (2009), pp. 89–152
  • Kurt Dorfmüller, Norbert Gertsch, Julia Ronge (eds.), Ludwig van Beethoven. Thematic-bibliographical catalog raisonné , Munich 2014, Volume 1, pp. 160–165
personal data
SURNAME Guicciardi, Giulietta
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Guicciardi, Countess Giulietta (full name); Gallenberg, Julia von (married name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian nobleman and Beethoven's piano student
DATE OF BIRTH November 23, 1784
PLACE OF BIRTH Przemyśl , Galicia
DATE OF DEATH March 22, 1856
Place of death Vienna