Beethoven was on the move. Always. He had dozens of residences during his lifetime, sometimes as a guest, sometimes his own rent. Among the many, probably the most famous is the one, where he passed away on March 26th, 1827. The house was called Schwarzspanierhaus, meaning black Spanish house. Today, the exact address is Schwarzspanierstraße 15, 1090 Vienna. Beethoven used …
Ludwig van Beethoven was the oldest surviving child in the family. Their mother, Maria Magdalena, gave birth to eight children, but only three of them lived through infancy. Ludwig, by his late teenage years, in the absence of a living mother and a dependable father, became the guardian of his siblings. This duty he carried on all his life and …
Oppersdorff, who commissioned two of Beethoven’s Symphonies, but ended up with only one dedication. A man, who probably saved Beethoven from jail. Who was this patron? Who was Franz von Oppersdorff? Count Franz von Oppersdorff (1778-1818) was a nobleman from Silesia, a historical region that lies mostly in Poland, partly in Czech Republic and Germany. The family estate was …
After much organization by Bettina von Arnim, who was a great admirer of both Goethe and Beethoven, the two finally met in Teplitz (or Töplitz), in the summer of 1812. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was the greatest, and probably also the most influential German-language writer. Not only that, but a significant scientist, theatre …
This is the biography of Maria Magdalena van Beethoven, mother of Ludwig van Beethoven. Maria Magdalena Keverich was born on 19 December 1746, and after a short and difficult life, died at the age of only 40, in 17 July 1787. She was born in Ehrenbreitstein, a small village overlooking Koblenz (today part of it). Her birth place is a …
One of the least documented tours of Beethoven is the one he made as a young boy to Rotterdam, Holland. This article will cover the story! It all started with the sudden and tragically early death of Franz Georg Rovantini. He was a court musician in Bonn, just as his father, Johann Conrad before him. Young Rovantini lived in the …