The mother (Maria) and the father (Johann) had seven children, both girls and boys, but only three of them survived infancy. All of them boys. Ludwig (the composer) was the second child and two younger brothers. One is Kaspar Anton Karl (1774-1815) and Nikolaus Johann (1776-1848).
Their mother Maria had died in 1787, which pushed the father into even deeper alcoholism and depression. This way the responsibility to take care of the brothers fell upon the shoulders of Ludwig, who was 16 years old at that time.
Kaspar Anton Karl van Beethoven
Soon, after Ludwig moving to Vienna, Kaspar followed him to the capital city in 1794. In the beginning the older brother supported him financially, but Kaspar soon became independent. From 1800 he began to work for the government at the Department of Finance. As a part time job he was helping his brother Ludwig as a secretary and taking care of the financial matters with the publishers.
In this regard he was not successful at all! Many publishers found him arrogant and too pushy, something we know from written evidences (letters) sent to Ludwig, complaining. This cooperation was a turbulent one and existed only till 1806. The once Beethoven pupil Ferdinand Ries remembered an occasion, when the quarrel even became physical between the brothers. From 1809 Kaspar received a promotion and became Deputy Liquidator – with a nice salary.
Kaspar tried himself also at musical composition, but never reached any significant results. Although, some believe that parts from the Bagatelle collection were written by Kaspar and not all by Ludwig.
He got married in 1806 with Johanna Reiss, who was already pregnant at that time with their son, Karl. Karl was the only descendant of the Beethoven brothers. The relationship between Johanna and Ludwig was terrible from the start, the older brother did not approve the marriage and regarded Johanna a lowlife, immoral person, calling her the Queen of the night. This was not without any grounding as Johanna had issues with the law more than once.
In 1812 Kaspar got ill and was diagnosed with tuberculosis. It was a death sentence in this age and a terrible road of blood and choking. Just as their mother had died from the same illness some 25 years before. Ludwig knew his duty and supported the family financially.
In 1813, when the illness became worse Ludwig pushed his brother to make a last will in which he was to be named as sole guardian of Karl, who was 6 at the time. Kaspar died in 1815, but one day before his death – pushed by his wife – he changed his will and named both the mother and Ludwig as co-guardians. Kaspar said, Ludwig was too much of a composer to be the sole guardian. He was hoping that the two will find common understanding concerning the boy.
This was a huge mistake and the beginning of a bitter legal and emotional fight for the boy! The battle was ongoing for five years, permanently damaging all three participants. As the story was very much a public one, feelings in the city – not knowing all the details – turned against Beethoven. Years later, the adult Karl saw no other way out from this situation than a suicide attempt – that luckily failed.
A telling story about the relationship between Johanna and Ludwig is the following. When Kaspar passed away Ludwig was stunned as he was convinced the end was not that close. He told his friends that most probably Johanna poisoned his brother and even asked a doctor friend to examine the body looking for poison.
Nikolaus Johann van Beethoven
Nikolaus Johann was the youngest surviving son of the family. He also moved to Vienna in 1795, where his two other brothers already had settled down. He had learned pharmacy in Bonn and at first he worked in Vienna as a pharmacist assistant. He was good at it. In 1808 he opened his own pharmacy in Linz – a small city in Austria.
The fact that he wished to be called Johann, the name of their father whom Beethoven detested, made Ludwig angry, refusing to write down in their correspondence this name in full, only J instead.
Opposite to his brothers, who financially and partly physically suffered from the Napoleonic wars, it made Johann a rich person. Napoleon based his military hospital near Linz and Johann supplied the French army with medicine. Helping the enemy made him a hated citizen in his hometown.
In 1812 Johann proposed to Therese Obermeyer, his housekeeper. Ludwig, upon receiving the news visited him in Linz and forcefully opposed the marriage. Typical behavior from Ludwig being overprotective of his family. He simply regarded Therese, who had a daughter from a previous relationship, a live-in-lover. He did his best to stop them, went to the local authorities, he even visited the Bishop, but was turned down.
|Related: Beethoven anecdotes: how not to stop a marriage?
Johann enjoying financial success for many years in 1819 purchased an estate in Gneixendorf. He proudly announced this fact in his famous letter to his brother, signing as Johann, land owner. Ludwig replied with his even more famous closing line: Ludwig, brain owner.
Gneixendorf is sadly the place, where Beethoven finished his last full composition, the String quartet op. 130. This was in 1826, a stay with Karl after his suicide attempt.
After the death of his brother he pretended to be an admirer of his music, often sitting at concerts in front seats as honored guest. He liked to dress and behave like a dandy.
All 8 siblings of Beethoven
From the first marriage of his mother
Johann Peter Anton Leym
Male
1764-1764
The Beethoven siblings
Ludwig Maria van Beethoven
Male
1769–1769
Ludwig Van Beethoven
Male
1770–1827
Kaspar Anton Karl van Beethoven
Male
1774–1815
Nikolaus Johann van Beethoven
Male
1776–1848
Anna Maria Franziska van Beethoven
Female
1779–1779
Franz Georg van Beethoven
Male
1781–1783
Maria Margaretha Josepha van Beethoven
Female
1786–1787
