RECOLLECTIONS OF COUNTESS 
 THERESA BRUNSWICK
 
 ft
 
 THE COUNTESS THERESA BRUNSWICK IN HER 28TH YEAR. 
 
 Prom a Painting by LAMPI.
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 COUNTESS THERESA 
 BRUNSWICK 
 
 (BEETHOVEN'S " UNSTERBLICHE GELIEBTE") 
 
 TRANSLATED BY GERTRUDE RUSSELL 
 
 WITH PORTRAITS. 
 
 T. FISHER UNWIN 
 
 PATERNOSTER SQUARE 
 
 MDCCCXCIII
 
 DEM KAISERL. OESTERREICHISCHEN OBERSTEN RITTER 
 
 LUDWIG VON SCHWARZMAN 
 
 UND 
 DEM KONIGL. PREUSSISCHEN GEHEIMEN LEGATIONSRATH 
 
 DR. ROBERT HEPKE 
 
 IN TREUER FREUNDSCHAFT 
 GEWIDMET 
 
 VON DER VERFASSERIN.
 
 PREFACE TO THE SECOND 
 GERMAN EDITION. 
 
 WHEN the Beethoven Festival at Bonn in the 
 spring of 1890 led me to write down my per- 
 sonal remembrances of the "Immortal Beloved," 
 I had not yet read Alexander Wheelock Thayer's 
 work, " The Life of Ludwig van Beethoven." I 
 am therefore only now able, after this has been 
 done, to pay the tribute of admiring recognition 
 to his able and far-reaching investigations, which 
 have led him to a conclusion which, if it has 
 been frequently attacked, is nevertheless just.
 
 6 PREFACE. 
 
 The Author has shown, with a probability 
 bordering on certainty, that of all the women 
 whom Beethoven knew, Countess Theresa 
 Brunswick alone could have been the " Im- 
 mortal Beloved " to whom the great master 
 had written the letter of the 7th of July, 
 which was found among his possessions. 
 
 Thayer has suggested that Beethoven was 
 engaged to the Countess, and that their mar- 
 riage was in prospect. It gives me special 
 pleasure and satisfaction to be able to clear 
 away all doubts on this point, through having 
 received certain communications from the lips 
 of the Countess Theresa Jierself, who was so 
 motherly a friend to me. 
 
 Deeply do I regret the loss of my diaries, 
 which would have been a valuable authority 
 and help for my present sketch of this admi-
 
 PREFACE. 7 
 
 rable woman, to whom I always looked up 
 with the greatest reverence. 
 
 However, I think that little of importance 
 has escaped me ; for I still have a lively re- 
 collection of her, both in middle life and 
 extreme old age, with her grace of form 
 and demeanour, and that engaging expression 
 in her face and all my meetings and 
 talks with her are so deeply graven in 
 my heart. Even now, when I am old, her 
 friendly conversations with me, from which I 
 learned so much about music and art, rise 
 vividly in my memory. Thus I am enabled 
 to enrich the present second edition of my 
 little work. 
 
 Furthermore, I should like to assure my 
 readers that everything here recorded has 
 been written down conscientiously, and only
 
 8 PREFACE. 
 
 so far as I was sure of my memory, and I 
 may lay claim to perfect confidence on this 
 point. 
 
 In the second volume of his work which 
 unfortunately he is still prevented from finish- 
 ing on account of illness Thayer describes 
 the picture of a lovely young woman, which 
 was originally found among Beethoven's pos- 
 sessions. 
 
 About the year 1863 this picture still be- 
 longed to Beethoven's heirs. Thayer says defi- 
 nitely that he believes the Countess Theresa 
 Brunswick to have been the original of this 
 portrait. This also proves to be founded on 
 fact. 
 
 A short chapter at the end of this little work 
 deals with the history of this picture. 
 
 I dedicate the story to two old friends, enthu-
 
 PREFACE. 9 
 
 siastic admirers of Beethoven, who have often 
 stood by me in word and deed, and to whom 
 I am sure this dedication will give pleasure. 
 
 MARIAM TENGER. 
 November t 1890.
 
 RECOLLECTIONS 
 
 OF 
 
 COUNTESS THERESA BRUNSWICK. 
 
 IN an old writing-table what, indeed, was not 
 old in the Schwarzspanier house in Vienna, 
 where Beethoven lived ! there was found, 
 among other important papers, a letter dated 
 the 6th of July, the letter to the " Immortal 
 Beloved." The year and address were not 
 given, as in so many of Beethoven's letters. 
 
 The portrait of a woman was found in the 
 same room, with the following dedication in 
 her own hand : " To the rare genius, to the
 
 12 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 great artist, to the good man, from T. B." It 
 was with this picture in his hand, talking to 
 himself and moved to tears, that Baron Spaun, 
 one of the great master's warmest admirers, 
 found him one day in the last year of his life. 
 It has been widely conjectured, but also much 
 disputed, that the Countess Theresa Brunswick 
 was the " Immortal Beloved " to whom Beetho- 
 ven's letter of the 6th of July was addressed. 
 I am able to bear witness to the fact from 
 personal knowledge. The letter was written to 
 the Countess Theresa Brunswick on the 6th of 
 July, 1806, from the little Hungarian watering- 
 place, Fiired, on the Plattensee, which in after 
 years after Beethoven's death she sought out 
 in order to see the room which he had then 
 occupied. The great master had gone there from 
 Martonvasar, the family estate of the Bruns- 
 wicks, where he often went on a visit, and 
 where before his journey to Fiired, in May, 
 1806, he became secretly engaged to Coun- 
 tess Theresa. This she told me herself.
 
 COUNTESS THERESA BRUNSWICK. 13 
 
 Only her brother, Count Franz, with whom 
 Beethoven stood on terms of the closest 
 friendship, was in the secret. It was he who 
 enabled the lovers to carry on a correspon- 
 dence during the many years of their engage- 
 ment. Beethoven's letter, then, of the 6th and 
 7th of July to the " Immortal Beloved " dates 
 from the early period of his engagement with 
 her. We here give the letter in its three parts, 
 word for word, from the original manuscript 
 in the Royal Library in Berlin, as the cen- 
 tral object of interest from which our story 
 springs. 
 
 Beethoven writes : 
 
 " 6th July, morning. 
 
 "My angel, my all, my soul. a few words 
 only to-day, and those with pencil (with thine) 
 after to-morrow it is uncertain where I shall 
 be, what a wretched waste of time this is 
 why this deep sorrow where necessity speaks 
 can our love live except by sacrifices, in not
 
 14 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 asking for all, is thine the power to change 
 it, that thou art not wholly mine, I not wholly 
 thine O God behold the beauty of nature, 
 and let that calm thy mind concerning the 
 inevitable love rightly demands all, so it 
 is with me and thee, with tJiee and me btft 
 thou forgettest so easily that I must live for 
 myself and for thee were we not wholly 
 united in heart the pain of this would affect 
 thee. as little as it would me. my journey was 
 fearful I only arrived here yesterday morning 
 at 4 o'clock, as the horses failed, the post- 
 master chose another route, but such a fearful 
 road, at the last station but one they warned 
 me against travelling by night, tried to frighten 
 me about a forest, but that only made me more 
 determined and I was wrong, the carriage 
 could not but break down on that miserable 
 road, a mere rough country track, without 
 such postillions, as I had, I should have been 
 left on the road 
 
 " Esterhazy with eight horses, had the same
 
 COUNTESS THERESA BRUNSWICK. 15 
 
 misfortune on the other, the usual road to 
 this place as I had with four but after all 
 I had a certain amount of pleasure, as I 
 always have when I get over anything success- 
 fully. now to pass quickly from outward to in- 
 ward things, we shall probably see each other 
 again soon, and to-day I cannot tell thee of all 
 the reflexions on my own life which I have 
 been making during the last few days could 
 but our hearts be always in close communion 
 I should not think of such things my heart 
 is full to tell thee much ah There are mo- 
 ments, when I find that language is nothing 
 be of good cheer be always my true and 
 only treasure, my all, as I am thine, all 
 else must be left to the gods, what must be 
 and will be our lot. 
 
 thy faithful 
 
 LUDWIG." 
 
 The letter was too late for the post ; it was
 
 r 6 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 returned to Beethoven, and he therefore con- 
 tinued on the same sheet : 
 
 " Monday evening, 6th July. 
 " Thou art troubled my dearest one I only 
 now notice that letters must be posted early. 
 Mondays Thursdays the only days on which 
 the post leaves for K. thou art troubled 
 oh, wherever I am, thou art with me, for 
 us both I shall so arrange things that I shall 
 be able to live with thee, what a life that will 
 be ! ! ! ! there ! ! ! ! without thee persecuted now 
 and again by the kindness of people, which I 
 mean as little to try to deserve as I do deserve 
 it Man's humility towards man it is painful 
 to me and when I look upon myself 
 in relation to the universe, what am I and 
 what is he who is called the greatest and 
 yet in this again lies what is divine in man 
 I could weep when I think that probably the 
 earliest day on which thou wilt hear from me 
 will be Saturday however much thou lovest
 
 COUNTESS THERESA BRUNSWICK. 17 
 
 me I love thee still more yet do not hide 
 thyself from me good-night as one taking 
 the baths for his health I must go to bed. 
 
 God so near ! so far ! is not our love 
 truly of Heaven's building and as sure too, 
 as the firmament of heaven. " 
 
 " Good morning ! July 7 
 even before rising my thoughts throng to 
 thee my Immortal Beloved, now with joy, 
 now with sorrow, waiting to see if Fate will 
 give ear to us I can only live entirely 
 with thee or not at all, yes I have deter- 
 mined so long to wander in loneliness, until 
 
 1 can fly to thine arms, and can deem myself 
 quite at home with thee, can send my soul 
 uplifted by thee into the region of spirits 
 yes alas it must be thou wilt be resolute 
 and calm, the more so that thou knowest my 
 faith to thee never can another possess my 
 heart, never never O God, why be com- 
 pelled to separate oneself, from one so deeply 
 
 2
 
 1 8 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 loved, and yet my life in V. as things now 
 are is a wretched life Thy love has made 
 me at once the happiest and unhappiest 
 of men in these years I should need a 
 monotonous evenness of life can this be 
 under our circumstances? Angel, I have just 
 found, that the post goes out every day and 
 I must therefore stop that thou mayest get 
 the letter directly be tranquil only through 
 quiet contemplation of our existence can we 
 attain our object of living together be tran- 
 quil love me to-day yesterday what tear- 
 ful longing for thee thee thee my life my 
 all farewell o cease not to love me never 
 misunderstand the most true heart 
 
 of thy lover 
 L. 
 
 " ever thine 
 " ever mine 
 " ever ours." 
 
 To whom was this letter of the 6th of July,
 
 COUNTESS THERESA BRUNSWICK. 19 
 
 which was returned to Beethoven, addressed ? 
 And when was it returned to him ? These 
 questions have often been started ; till to-day, 
 however, they have not been definitely an- 
 swered. The name of the " Immortal Beloved " 
 has not hitherto been indicated with certainty. 
 On the one hand, this proves how strictly 
 the secret was kept on both sides in its 
 time (even until quite lately the members of 
 the Brunswick family were unwilling to ac- 
 knowledge the fact of the engagement). On 
 the other hand, it is probable that not much 
 value was attached to inquiries on the subject, 
 and the circumstances in Vienna threw a veil 
 over it from the beginning. 
 
 Prince Nickerl (Nicholas) Esterhazy gave 
 utterance to a sentiment at that time widely 
 entertained in the gay capital, and which may 
 have had reference to Beethoven : " The 
 musicians and comedians rival us in the hearts 
 of the ladies, so that even we courtiers and 
 officers of the Hungarian Guards become en-
 
 20 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 vious. The musicians and comedians ! The 
 names of the beauties upon whom the eyes 
 of the great master gazed with delight are 
 carefully set down in Beethoven's biographies. 
 He was a passionate being, whose sensations 
 surged up and down like storms at sea. And 
 the admiration of this king in the realm of 
 music was flattering to the vanity of some 
 women. Probably many, like the charming 
 Guilietta Guicciardi, did not fail to encourage 
 it. But one thing is certain : he loved with 
 that love which transforms earth to heaven, in 
 which not only the eyes delight, but in which 
 spirit joys in spirit, with that love through 
 which the recognition of the highest nobility 
 of soul creates a feeling akin to adoration 
 in this way he loved only far to whom this 
 letter is addressed, whom he glorified personally 
 in one of his greatest works (" Fidelio "), and 
 who was his inspiration in many others. 
 
 After the secret engagement Beethoven saw 
 the Countess less frequently, especially in order
 
 COUNTESS THERESA BRUNSWICK. 21 
 
 to keep the secret the better. Countess Theresa, 
 in fact, feared the impression which a too early 
 discovery would certainly make upon her mother, 
 who was a very proud woman possessed by the 
 idea of the high rank of the Brunswick family. 
 Also after the breaking off of the engagement 
 the secret was carefully kept, and those con- 
 cerned in it, even Count Franz, destroyed all 
 letters which referred to it. This is the reason 
 why even the most careful searcher, such as 
 Alex. W. Thayer, has only been able to dis- 
 cover so few traces of it. The return of the 
 letters between them took place in the year 
 1810, when, after four years' duration, the 
 engagement abruptly came to an end. 
 
 Beethoven exerted himself without success 
 to obtain a post in Vienna which would be 
 permanent and worthy of his merit. Count 
 Franz Brunswick pointed out to him the 
 necessity of obtaining such a post, without 
 which a marriage with his sister, who had no 
 large fortune, was impossible. Beethoven there-
 
 22 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 fore also turned his thoughts towards Prussia and 
 England. The allusions in the last part of the 
 letter of the 6th and 7th of July, 1806, to the 
 separation from the beloved one, and the miser- 
 able life in Vienna, refer to these circumstances. 
 And 1810 brought no change in them when the 
 breach occurred. Beethoven seems to have 
 been so bowed down by it that his creative 
 power forsook him. His genius, in fact, re- 
 posed in 1810. 
 
 What was it which gave to the Countess 
 Theresa so mighty an influence over Beethoven's 
 soul ? . . . Undoubtedly in beauty and mind she 
 was far beyond other women. She could shine 
 in society which she did not care for but out 
 of it, also, hers was a most distinguished 
 presence, a noble, thoughtful nature, deeply 
 earnest, like her beauty. Her whole being en- 
 chanted Beethoven's soul, and enchained it for 
 ever. 
 
 We cannot describe her more truly than by 
 recording the impression which she made on
 
 COUNTESS THERESA BRUNSWICK. 23 
 
 another great artist, who even in old age spoke 
 of her with enthusiasm. They are his words 
 which we give below. 
 
 Peter von Cornelius was standing at his 
 easel working at one of his cartoons for the 
 Campo Santo in Berlin. It was a year before 
 his death. He already lived in such retirement 
 from the world that he would often work for 
 days absorbed in thought and speaking to 
 nobody. We hit upon one such day, when my 
 friends, old acquaintances of the master, intro- 
 duced me to him. He greeted us with a hardly 
 perceptible nod, taking no further notice even 
 of me the stranger. 
 
 Against my wish for I had immediately 
 withdrawn timidly, and stood apart before 
 another cartoon they said to him : " Our friend 
 knows Countess Theresa Brunswick." 
 
 The name had an electrifying effect on the 
 old man. With the alacrity of youth he laid 
 down his pencil and hastened towards me. 
 
 " Theresa Brunswick ! " he repeated, with a
 
 24 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 tone in which fervour and reverence mingled. 
 Then he gave me his arm, and invited my 
 friends to follow him into the sitting-room. 
 
 We found his wife and his brother-in-law 
 there. He named me with reference to the 
 Countess, but beyond that would scarcely allow 
 the ordinary interchange of greetings. 
 
 " Honoured friends ! " he cried, " Countess 
 Theresa Brunswick is the most remarkable 
 woman I have ever known. Let us now talk 
 of her. Listen to me, for I tell you though 
 I have known many celebrated women, admired 
 by all the world, praised in all the newspapers, 
 not one of them could I compare with this 
 Countess Theresa Brunswick, who has remained 
 almost unknown, even in her own country.- 
 She is, to my mind, the type of noble woman- 
 hood. . . . Her family also was extremely re- 
 markable ! Yes I believe that such a woman 
 could only spring from a family governed by 
 the highest aspirations. Martonvasar, the an- 
 cestral castle of the Brunswicks, in Hungary,
 
 COUNTESS THERESA BRUNSWICK. 25 
 
 has been transformed into a temple of the muses 
 by Count Franz, the brother of Countess Theresa. 
 He lived there with his family as his father had, 
 only for the arts and sciences, and in these he 
 taught his children to find their highest enjoy- 
 ment. Countess Theresa had studied the 
 ancient languages with him, which did not, 
 however, hinder her from knowing the modern 
 ones. 
 
 " In music Mozart and Beethoven had been 
 her teachers. I cannot describe to you how 
 this pupil of the greatest masters played the 
 piano. . . . That it was not granted me to meet 
 her in her youth, although I early visited the 
 family home, I have often regretted extremely. 
 I had made acquaintance with her brother 
 during my first Italian journey, and soon after 
 availed myself of his invitation to Martonvasar. 
 
 " That was truly an enchanted castle ! It lay 
 surrounded by a lovely park, different portions 
 of which were named after some of the countries 
 of Europe. Count Franz, the inheritor, had
 
 26 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 acquired many costly works of art in Italy, 
 and had decorated the rooms of the paternal 
 mansion with them. I found many things 
 among them which fascinated me for a long 
 time. Unfortunately, though, I did not meet 
 his favourite sister, Countess Theresa, there. I 
 was only to become personally acquainted with 
 her many years later. After her father's death 
 she had gone with her mother to Ofen, and 
 lived there with her in the family home of the 
 Brunswicks. An important episode in her life 
 was already over at that time. . . . 
 
 "It is long, long ago that I saw her for the 
 first time. I was still in the best years of my 
 life, an artist, and ideal women inspired me. 
 Countess Theresa accompanied her niece, who 
 wished to study painting with me, to Munich. 
 This niece was the same Countess- Blanka 
 Teleki who became well known later during 
 the revolutions of 1848-49; she was one of 
 those stern beauties who affect us like an in- 
 soluble riddle. I immediately discovered the
 
 COUNTESS THERESA BRUNSWICK. 27 
 
 likeness between the two. Countess Theresa 
 must have been like her in her youth. There 
 were the same noble lines of the classical oval, 
 and the forehead, little touched by age, bore 
 the same high dignity. But only a perfectly 
 pure spirit could give the gentle look in her 
 large dark eyes. When she smiled which was 
 seldom a heavenly radiance lit up every 
 feature. Such a face never really becomes old. 
 After conversation with her one felt oneself 
 raised and made better without the least in- 
 tention on her part. She spoke with inimitable 
 beauty and clearness, because she was inwardly 
 so transparent and beautiful, almost like a 
 beatified spirit." 
 
 Cornelius was silent ; his wife whispered to 
 me : " For weeks I have not heard him say so 
 much at a time. I hope it will not hurt him." 
 Without giving much heed to these remarks, 
 for my thoughts were completely engrossed 
 with the subject which was so dear and familiar 
 to me, I said to the noble-minded man :
 
 28 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 " How pleased she will be when I write and 
 tell her what memories you have of her ! " 
 
 " Yes yes tell her that," he replied, giving 
 a fugitive glance upwards. "When did you 
 last see her ? " 
 
 "In May, 1857, she came to Vienna and 
 spent a day with us a day never to be for- 
 gotten by me. My mother was still living. 
 The conversation which I had with Countess 
 Theresa is graven in my memory. In the 
 evening two quite young girls came to see us. 
 I feared that after the deep and earnest talk 
 we had been having together they would be 
 burdensome to her, and I said so. ' Children 
 are never a burden to me,' she answered. And 
 how the grand woman found the way to draw 
 out these shy creatures and lead them to 
 unreserved conversation! How beautifully, how 
 inimitably she recited, without once hesitating, 
 the ' Abt von St. Gallen,' which she had learnt 
 by heart in her childhood ! " 
 
 " In her childhood " repeated Cornelius, half 
 aloud.
 
 COUNTESS THERESA BRUNSWICK. 29 
 
 I was under the impression that he was 
 tired and exhausted, and was going to stop, but 
 he prevented this, and raising his sunken head 
 again, asked me with re-awakened animation : 
 
 "Then do you also know stories of her 
 childhood?" 
 
 " Oh, many ! I have them partly from her- 
 self, and partly from her sister, Countess Emme- 
 rich Teleki, Blanka's mother." 
 
 " Do you know the story about Beethoven 
 and the music - lesson?" asked Cornelius, 
 quickly. 
 
 " Oh, how should I not know that one ! " 
 
 " Well, then tell it ! One so likes to hear 
 stories of childhood, and this one was so I 
 believe the prelude to a life's drama." 
 
 I assented to the master's wish, and told the 
 story. "Countess Theresa had passed her 
 fifteenth year. She sat at the piano. The 
 door of the little room in which her mother 
 was stood ajar. It was a bitterly cold winter's 
 day in the year 1794. Vienna was embedded
 
 30 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 in snow, which still fell in large flakes on the 
 shovellers, who could not quite clear it away. 
 Horses and carts seemed fixed to the spot, and 
 pedestrians waded along with great difficulty. 
 Now, the teacher whom Countess Theresa ex- 
 pected was probably accustomed to brave any 
 weather. That which came from the skies 
 hardly played any part with him, but it was 
 far otherwise with that which raged within 
 him, and which would not be quieted until he 
 had fettered it in music. That was the storm 
 to be dreaded dreaded by himself and by 
 his friends, whom in those moods he not seldom 
 treated as enemies. 
 
 " Theresa Brunswick, still almost a child in 
 years but wonderfully earnest and advanced in 
 art and knowledge, looked up to her teacher 
 Beethoven with a mixture of fear and venera- 
 tion. With veneration because, in spite of her 
 youth, she recognised the genius which no other 
 on this earth approached. (Mozart was dead.) 
 With fear, because she found it so difficult to
 
 COUNTESS THERESA BRUNSWICK. 31 
 
 reconcile herself to the often more than harsh 
 rudeness of his nature. 
 
 " The greatest refinement in habit and bearing 
 governed the Brunswick family. Kindness and 
 courtesy, extending to every servant, were the 
 natural elements in their home life. No discord 
 was permitted to disturb the harmony. Countess 
 Theresa's mother was a proud aristocrat who 
 knew how to command obedience with unap- 
 proachable dignity. But neither her children 
 - nor even her servants had ever heard a 
 word of scolding from her. Neither from her, 
 nor from the exceedingly kind and learned 
 father. 
 
 " And Beethoven ? ... As a boy he might have 
 counted the days in the year on which he had 
 heard a kindly word from his surly father ! 
 In what an atmosphere he was brought up ! 
 How often, when the torment in the young heart 
 was too great, did he destined to immortality 
 long for death ; for before life had given to 
 the artist the overflowing cup of joy, the man
 
 32 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 had already tasted the bitter draught of daily 
 misery ! . . . We know that in moments when 
 the common needs of existence overwhelmed 
 his genius the great master gave way to the 
 wildest, most fearful outbursts of violence. 
 Passion dwelt in the depths of his soul. If it 
 is impossible to imagine his creations without it, 
 he certainly was .not sufficiently its master in 
 life, and his faulty education was only too 
 apparent in these outbursts. 
 
 " On the day on which Theresa Brunswick 
 expected her master a storm was brooding deep 
 in Beethoven's mind. She noticed this at once 
 as he entered, barely greeting her with a nod. 
 She also felt that it would be hard to please him. 
 
 " ' Practised the sonata ? ' he asked, without 
 looking at her. His hair was more tossed and 
 dishevelled than usual, the eyes the splendid 
 eyes were not fully open, and the mouth wore 
 an angry expression. Oh, so angry ! 
 
 " With hesitating voice she answered, ' Indeed 
 I have practised but '
 
 COUNTESS THERESA BRUNSWICK. 33 
 
 '"We'll see!' 
 
 " She sat down at the piano ; he stood behind 
 her. She thought, ' If only I could give him 
 the pleasure of playing really well ! ' But God 
 knows how it happened the notes swam before 
 her eyes, and her hands trembled. She began 
 too fast several times he said ' Tempo ! ' It 
 was in vain. She noticed that he was becoming 
 more and more impatient, and she was becoming 
 more and more confused. And now, alas! even 
 a wrong note ! To her own sensitive ear it was 
 so painful that she could have cried aloud. But 
 then the master himself played a false note, 
 which hurt her outwardly and inwardly. . . . 
 For he struck, not the keys, but her hand very 
 hard and angrily, rushed to the drawing-room 
 door, and, like a madman, in another moment 
 out at the front door, which he slammed behind 
 him. 
 
 " ' Without cloak ! without hat ! good 
 heavens ! ' she cried aloud unguardedly in her 
 excitement, and hurried after him, while her 
 3
 
 34 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 mother came out of her little room into the 
 drawing-room to see what was the cause of the 
 noise. The drawing-room was empty, the door 
 stood open, the door into the vestibule also stood 
 ajar ; and the servant where was he ? The 
 Countess was terrified, but her terror gave place 
 to a very different feeling when her daughter 
 appeared before her and told her what she had 
 done, where she had been. Her daughter, 
 Countess Theresa Brunswick had run after the 
 musician into the street with his cloak, hat, 
 and stick ! To be sure she had hardly gone ten 
 paces from the front door before the frightened 
 servant caught her up. And not far from 
 her stood Beethoven, irresolute as to what he 
 should do in order to get back the things he had 
 left behind. He received them from the servant, 
 while his pupil, unnoticed by him, slipped back 
 into the house. 
 
 " The mother sent her to her room with the 
 strict injunction for the rest of the day to think 
 over her unseemly behaviour. But no matter
 
 COUNTESS THERESA BRUNSWICK. 35 
 
 how much Theresa thought over it, she always 
 came to the same conclusion : ' He might catch 
 cold and die ! ' The kind father put the blame 
 on the servant who had gone away from the 
 entrance. He quieted his wife by telling her 
 that Theresa was still a child, and had acted 
 as a child. ' After ourselves and her brothers 
 and sisters, her teachers have the first place in 
 her grateful heart, and this excuses her precipi- 
 tation.' 
 
 " It certainly was not exactly as the old Count 
 imagined. In Theresa's diary, written in French 
 at that time (1794), there was on almost every 
 page something about ' mon maitre,' ' mon 
 maitre cheri ; ' and this never meant another than 
 Beethoven" 
 
 This was told me by her sister, Countess 
 Emmerich Teleki. 
 
 My account of this incident of her childhood 
 had become rather lengthy. I saw that it was 
 high time to end the visit to Peter Cornelius. 
 He made no objection, but made us promise to
 
 36 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 come again very soon. Turning to me, he 
 added, impressively : 
 
 " But then you must tell me everything that 
 you know about Theresa Brunswick, especially 
 all about her relations with Beethoven, and 
 whether it is as clear to you as it is to 
 me." 
 
 The last words were spoken at the hall-door 
 with special emphasis, and I nodded assentingly. 
 
 What I had to tell the master is contained in 
 the following recollections. 
 
 I was a child when I was brought to the 
 Countess Theresa through a relation, who was a 
 college friend of her brother, and therefore her 
 friend also. To her question, " Why I looked 
 at her with such large eyes so wonderingly ? " I 
 could answer nothing. I could not tell her that 
 she seemed to me like a good fairy out of my 
 story-books, or like a saintly woman out of the 
 sacred stories which had been told us in the 
 boarding-school of the Ursulines. I was now to
 
 COUNTESS THERESA BRUNSWICK. 37 
 
 be brought up in a girls' school. Until Countess 
 Theresa found a suitable one I was to stay with 
 her. Pages might be filled with that glorious 
 month of May which I spent with her. How 
 beneficent was the look of her beautiful earnest 
 eyes, the sound of her soft voice ! how full of 
 instruction all that she said ! 
 
 She was at this time occupied in establishing 
 an infants' school in the Rennweg, one of the 
 suburbs of Vienna. It was the first, not only 
 there, but in the whole kingdom. The interest 
 of the Court was gained through the Empress 
 Caroline, who had an open heart and clear 
 understanding for everything relating to the 
 public welfare. The offering made by the noble 
 founder, although it was beyond her means 
 for she lived on a very moderate income was 
 not large enough. Even the contributions of a 
 few friends, who stood by her in word and deed 
 as, for instance, the astronomer Littrow, in 
 Vienna were hardly sufficient to give the 
 undertaking a good start. In spite of this her
 
 38 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 efforts were crowned with success. At present 
 there are institutions in all parts of Austria like 
 the one founded by the Countess Theresa 
 Brunswick ; and a few years ago her bust was 
 placed in the National Museum at Pesth, in 
 recognition of her remarkable activity on behalf 
 of the rearing of children, and works of humanity 
 in general. 
 
 During the consultations about the Infants' 
 School I usually sat at her feet ; although the 
 subject was often beyond my understanding, I 
 was always fascinated by the way in which she 
 spoke. 
 
 Once I had placed my stool too near her. 
 " You are on my gown, child," she said, with a 
 kind smile. I moved off too hastily ; and, on 
 finding that I had torn the dress, I burst into 
 tears. She took my head between her motherly 
 hands, and kissing me on the forehead, said, 
 " My dear child, a torn gown is not worth tears ; 
 kind Schmidtbauer (this was her maid) will 
 mend it if you ask her very nicely ; keep your
 
 COUNTESS THERESA BRUNSWICK. 39 
 
 tears for the rents in your life ; Heaven will 
 hardly let you escape them." 
 
 We made excursions to the Kahlenberg, to 
 the Briihl, to the Helenenthal, and other places 
 in the neighbourhood of Vienna. It was 
 Countess Theresa who awoke in us the love of 
 Nature, and also an interest in historical remi- 
 niscences. She could tell us so much about 
 trees and flowers, about castles and monasteries, 
 that the time seemed to me to pass more quickly 
 when we were alone with her, than when rela- 
 tions were with us. 
 
 I had found a playmate with the Countess. 
 A poor orphaned child had been brought to her 
 some years before in heartrending circumstances. 
 Having just returned home from a long journey, 
 and tired of travelling, her life was somewhat 
 lonely in Pesth. The aristocratic society there 
 was quite as pleasure-seeking as society in 
 Vienna, and was avoided by her. He who 
 seeks solitude is soon left lonely. One of her 
 sisters was married in Transylvania and one in
 
 40 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 Russia. Her deeply-loved brother was away. 
 The thought, then, of bringing up a poor orphan 
 to give joy to herself and to others might well 
 seem to bring a beautiful prospect before her. 
 Louise D. became her adopted child. In that 
 May month which remains in undimmed beauty 
 before me, Louise was about fourteen years old. 
 She remained for long in my mind as a shadow 
 in those gloriously bright days, the shadow also 
 to her benefactress until she married. 
 
 A clever Frenchman, speaking of education, 
 said : "Ah si, l'e"ducation est une bonne chose et 
 peut beaucoup,mais rien absolument rien centre 
 le naturel. ' Chassez le naturel, il revient au 
 galop ! ' " 
 
 This saying, alas ! was verified by the fruitless 
 endeavours of the noble Countess to raise her 
 adopted daughter to her own high level. At 
 last she tried a boarding-school. The one which 
 she chose was the best in Vienna ; the principal 
 of this school was well known to the Countess, 
 a distinguished woman in every way, whose
 
 COUNTESS THERESA BRUNSWICK. 41 
 
 ideal was very high. I also was sent to this 
 school, and later became enthusiastically 
 attached to Frau von Draeger. But at the 
 moment of parting with Countess Theresa, I 
 clung to her hands, crying passionately, and 
 would not leave her. 
 
 " Child ! child ! Do you really love me so very 
 much ? " she asked, in her beautiful mild voice. 
 
 " Oh, so much so much that I could die for 
 you ! " 
 
 I merely mention this childish outburst, 
 because Countess Theresa's answer, which I 
 fully understood only many years later, may 
 help to solve the riddle of her life and Beet- 
 hoven's. 
 
 She stooped towards me and said slowly and 
 impressively, " My child ! when you are many 
 years older and more sensible, then only will 
 you understand what I mean when I say that, 
 to live for those one loves, is by far the greatest 
 love, for that often needs far, far more courage." 
 
 Then she stroked my head lovingly with both
 
 42 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 hands, saying in that motherly tone which won 
 her the hearts of all children 
 
 " But on the 2/th of March every year, while 
 you are here at school, you can do me a little 
 service, which in my heart I shall count a great 
 one." 
 
 When for the first time on the appointed day, 
 I went, accompanied by the lady principal, to 
 the little Wahringer churchyard to lay a wreath 
 of everlastings on Beethoven's grave, a middle- 
 aged gentleman was standing there who also 
 had just brought flowers. The schoolmistress 
 who knew him whispered to him, " The child 
 does it at the desire of Countess Theresa Bruns- 
 wick." 
 
 " I could have guessed that ! " he answered. 
 " Everlastings are fit only for her" 
 
 Baron Spaun was an old man when I met 
 him again in 1859 in Traunkirchen, on the 
 Traunsee, where he lived with his family in his 
 own villa. He kept himself apart from the 
 society of the summer visitors to the charming
 
 COUNTESS THERESA BRUNSWICK. 43 
 
 little place, and was considered a very strange 
 old fellow. But his name had remained in my 
 memory, and I made use of the occasion to 
 remind him of the little girl with the wreath of 
 everlastings at Beethoven's grave. 
 
 " I've never forgotten it ! " said he, very 
 eagerly. " It seemed to me so touching like 
 everything connected with that glorious man." 
 
 From that conversation, interrupted alas ! 
 too soon by strangers, I saw that Baron Spaun 
 knew more about Beethoven than many of those 
 who are mentioned in his biographies. As a 
 young man he had mixed with all those artists 
 who had formed a group round the master. 
 
 " Did you know his most distinguished pupil, 
 Countess Theresa Brunswick ? " I asked. 
 
 " His pupil . . ." repeated the old man, medita- 
 tively, and continued after a few moments : " I 
 once went to see Beethoven at an unusual hour. 
 He could not hear me, nor could he see me this 
 time, for he was seated with his back turned 
 towards me. The light from the window fell
 
 44 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 on the picture which he held in his hands and 
 was kissing tearfully. He was talking to him- 
 self, as he often did when he was alone. I did 
 not wish to be an unbidden listener, and drew 
 back at the words : ' Thou wast too great too 
 like an angel.' When after a time I returned, I 
 found him at the piano extemporising gloriously. 
 ' There is none of the demon in your face to-day, 
 old fellow ! ' said I ; to which he answered, ' My 
 good angel has appeared to me ! " 
 
 " That picture with a dedication from 
 Countess Theresa was found in a press with the 
 letter to the Immortal Beloved among Beet- 
 hoven's belongings. I recognised it at once, 
 and after all I have heard about the Countess I 
 have not the smallest doubt that only she could 
 have been the ' Immortal ' Beloved." So said 
 Baron Spaun. 
 
 In the year 1860, at Gmunden, on the 
 Traunsee, I met an elderly lady, Frau Hebens- 
 treit, who, on account of her masterly piano 
 playing, was invited to the houses of the most
 
 COUNTESS THERESA BRUNSWICK. 45 
 
 distinguished residents there. Schuppanzigh 
 had been her teacher ; at his house she had 
 often met Beethoven, and had even played to 
 him once. One evening at a large party, after 
 Frau Hebenstreit had played the overture in 
 " Fidelio " (Leonora), she said in her Austrian 
 dialect, " See here, ladies and gentlemen, just as 
 one sits to a painter for one's portrait, so the 
 Countess Theresa Brunswick sat to Beethoven 
 for his Leonora. The whole world ought to be 
 grateful to her for it. But Beethoven wasn't fit 
 to marry, and especially not a countess without 
 money, and so refined and so delicate one 
 might have blown her away ! And he good 
 heavens! an angel and a devil all in one ! It 
 would have been the ruin of them both and of 
 his genius too ! " 
 
 It is probable that some others besides Baron 
 Spaun, Frau Hebenstreit, and Peter von 
 Cornelius had an insight into the intimate 
 relations between Beethoven and Countess 
 Theresa. But the naive utterances of Frau
 
 46 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 Hebenstreit had a deeper meaning. They proved 
 that a correct judgment had been formed as to 
 the true relations between them, and on the 
 fatal contradictions presented by Beethoven's 
 passionate nature. 
 
 Those simple words hit the true cause of the 
 breaking off of the engagement Beethoven 
 himself was fully aware of the kind of temper 
 he had, and after much conflict arrived at the 
 conviction that the fear of bringing misery into 
 the life of those whom he loved and revered 
 beyond all was only too well founded. Delicate 
 hints which Countess Theresa gave me person- 
 ally leave no doubt about this. I shall return 
 to it later. Many others agreed with her in 
 these views. 
 
 During my school-life I often saw Countess 
 Theresa. Once in the year 1837 she asked me 
 to spend a day with her in Vienna. A glorious 
 day ! We drove into the country to the 
 Littrovvs. But the happy hours there passed 
 all too quickly ! When the maid fetched the
 
 COUNTESS THERESA BRUNSWICK. 47 
 
 carriage to take me back to school Countess 
 Theresa asked : " Do you still love me so much, 
 then?" 
 
 " Oh ! very, very much ! But, Mother Theresa, 
 our schoolmistress also very much ! and my 
 three friends and my teachers " 
 
 " And the whole world ! " she broke in, smiling, 
 " you happy child ! " 
 
 I used to write to her every year on St. 
 Theresa's day, and on New Year's day, and to 
 treasure up her answers as something precious. 
 When my mother fetched me from school in 
 the year 1838, Countess Theresa had again gone 
 on a long journey. I did not see her for many, 
 many years, and our regular correspondence 
 came to an end. Nevertheless our relations 
 remained unchanged, for in Transylvania I held 
 active intercourse with the family of her sister, 
 Countess Emmerich Teleki, where news was 
 frequently interchanged. With the Telekis as 
 with the Brunswicks, art and science were the 
 chief interests. Blanka Teleki, the eldest
 
 48 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 daughter, pupil of Peter von Cornelius, belonged 
 altogether to this atmosphere. It was a strange 
 family, and its destinies, in which Blanka was 
 to play a prominent part, were both strange and 
 tragic. Her likeness to her aunt, Countess 
 Theresa, attracted me strongly. Her mind, her 
 artistic talents, her literary knowledge filled me 
 with admiration. Numerous paintings which 
 were her work adorned the castle. She devoted 
 her time to art and study. She did not go 
 into society, and avoided fashion and finery, 
 just as, in her youth, Countess Theresa had 
 done. Yet every one turned to look at her as 
 she passed through the streets. Her glossy 
 black hair was twisted into a Grecian knot, her 
 large dark eyes, shaded by long lashes, had a 
 calm, almost a cold look ; one felt inclined to 
 say to the mouth : " Do smile, but not scorn- 
 fully ! " Then came the noble bearing of her 
 figure, which, though not tall, was beautifully 
 proportioned. So uncommon a woman neces- 
 sarily struck people and attracted them, while
 
 COUNTESS THERESA BRUNSWICK. 49 
 
 awakening curiosity ; the more so as she seldom 
 emerged from her retirement. In the midst of 
 the exciting social movements of the Magyar 
 nobility in Klausenburg, the house of the 
 Telekis remained a quiet one. The invalid 
 mother seldom saw any visitors. One day, 
 when by chance I was alone with her Blanka 
 had just left us I involuntarily made the 
 remark, " Blanka is so like her aunt that I keep 
 thinking I see Countess Theresa before me in 
 youthful form ! " " So like," answered the 
 Countess, " that I once really took her for my 
 sister when she bent over me on my sick bed ; " 
 . . . and after a moment's thought she added, 
 " So like, and yet so essentially different ! " 
 
 The quiet house soon became quieter still. The 
 parents died. The younger daughter had married 
 and gone to France, the son had a home of his 
 own on one of the family estates, and Blanka 
 had gone to Pesth to establish a school for the 
 daughters of the Magyar nobility. After years 
 of silence she had sent me an account of her 
 4
 
 50 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 plan, asking whether I would take part in 
 her patriotic endeavours. 
 
 In the spring of 1848 I saw her again in 
 Pesth. I went to see her before going to her 
 aunt because Countess Theresa had appointed a 
 day for me by letter on which she was to give 
 herself up to me entirely. Blanka might have 
 been about forty ; she was still beautiful and 
 most attactive. And what could have taken 
 from this face the nobility which had been im- 
 pressed upon it by nature? But the noble 
 earnestness, the dignity and grandeur were no 
 longer there : an excess of amiable politeness 
 had come instead. She who now stood before 
 me in a light morning dress, the neat little cap 
 tied with a sky-blue ribbon this was not the 
 proud Blanka of former days. It seemed as if 
 a second, another youth had come over her. 
 Her speech was louder and more animated ; 
 she even joked. She made me follow her into 
 the schoolrooms ; she introduced me to her 
 pupils and the teachers, and when I was going
 
 COUNTESS THERESA BRUNSWICK. 51 
 
 she said with animation : " The main work we 
 devote to Patriotism ! Our first thought on 
 waking, our last on going to rest, is the 
 Fatherland ! Is it not, children ? Is it not, 
 gentlemen ? Before all else we are Hungarians ! " 
 What a transformation had been wrought 
 here by time and circumstances ! On the 
 following day I made my way, not without fear, 
 to Countess Theresa. Hesitatingly I entered 
 her study, which the maid had quickly opened 
 for me. The first thing I noticed was a Niirn- 
 berger desk, on which the light fell from a 
 double window adorned with flowers. Two 
 portraits Mozart and Beethoven in carved 
 oak frames hung on the wall above it A 
 bookcase with splendid editions of classical 
 works, a table covered with portfolios and 
 pocket-books, and a few chairs all was simple 
 and unobtrusive which filled the little room. 
 She whose entrance I was expecting was already 
 there. Countess Theresa, who was now seventy 
 years old, was reclining on a sofa. When, to my
 
 52 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 surprise, I caught sight of her, I asked myself 
 in the first moment whether there would be any 
 feeling of estrangement between us ; but in 
 another minute I felt her motherly look, I under- 
 stood the beckoning gesture of her hand, which 
 was made to bless, and I longed to be a child 
 again that I might sit at her feet as in times 
 gone by. 
 
 Reading in my face what I could not express 
 in words, she looked at me long with an expres- 
 sion which warmed my heart, and smiled. I 
 kissed her hand and asked whether she still 
 loved me a little. 
 
 She answered, " There is nothing left for me 
 to do but to love all men a little, and my friends 
 very much." 
 
 " Dearest lady, it is more than ten years since 
 I have seen you ! " 
 
 " We will say ten years have passed since 
 you placed the last wreath of everlastings on 
 my dearest one's grave." 
 
 I looked at her in wonder, for I did not
 
 COUNTESS THERESA BRUNSWICK. 53 
 
 understand her at once. For the moment I 
 only thought of the grave of her parents and 
 of her dearly loved brother, and I repeated, 
 "Your dearest one's grave?" 
 
 " The grave of the man whom I loved more 
 and quite in a different way from any of my 
 relations. . . . Since that day when almost a 
 child I rushed after him in the snowstorm 
 with his hat and cloak, I felt as though I 
 belonged to him. And as I grew up this feeling 
 grew with me, increasing in intensity, but always 
 mingled with the unutterable pain of jealousy. 
 . . . When society was amusing itself over the 
 conquests of the ' great musician,' every nerve 
 of my being quivered. Two daughters of the 
 Brunswick family shone in the great world ; the 
 third played the piano, painted, read, and 
 dreamed. My mother said, ' My Resi seems 
 made for a Stiftsdamej* and marked me out for 
 
 1 Stiftsdame a lady usually of noble family residing in an 
 endowed institution formerly conventual, in which her parents 
 have the right of placing one of their daughters.
 
 54 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 it. What was going on in my passionate young 
 heart, what I suffered, none guessed ! not even 
 my beloved brother, my true comrade and 
 Beethoven's friend. . . . And I was often very, 
 very sorely tried. One day my cousin, the 
 charming Guilietta Guicciardi, dashes into my 
 room and throws herself theatrically at my feet, 
 exclaiming in a choking voice : ' Do advise me, 
 you cold philosopher ! I do so long to throw 
 over my Gallenberg, and to marry that beautiful, 
 horrible Beethoven, . . . if if only it were not 
 such a come down ! ' " 
 
 Countess Theresa paused. 
 
 " A come down ? " I said, indignantly. 
 " Dearest lady, . . . what did you say to that ? " 
 
 "What did I say to Guilietta? Nothing. 
 I was silent. For what I should have had to 
 tell her about her vain, conceited love and 
 about that great man, to whom she did not 
 wish to 'come down,' she would not have 
 understood. So I quietly offered her a glass 
 of water. God saved Beethoven from
 
 COUNTESS THERESA BRUNSWICK. 55 
 
 Guilietta. She became Countess Gallenberg, 
 and disappeared from the stage of his great 
 life." 
 
 Countess Theresa was silent for a while. Her 
 thoughts were so completely lost in times long 
 past that she seemed unconscious of my presence. 
 I did not dare to disturb her. At last she took 
 up the thread of her conversation again. 
 
 " I knew well what courage he needed to 
 overcome the poverty which threatened to stem 
 the flight of his genius. Therefore I also 
 wanted to be courageous, wanted to keep pace 
 with him mentally. The whole of Europe at 
 that time was shaken, and Austria trembled at 
 the name of Napoleon Buonaparte. Beethoven 
 was full of enthusiasm for him, and looked upon 
 him as Germany's God-sent liberator from the 
 rotten remains of the middle ages. His glorious 
 ' Eroica,' partly composed at Martonvasar, was 
 the expression of this feeling. How proud I 
 was of it, and of its deeply-loved creator ! Then 
 came the year 1804. My brother brought us
 
 56 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 the first news from Vienna of Napoleon's 
 approaching imperial coronation. 'What said 
 Beethoven to this ? ' I asked." 
 
 " Lichnowsky confided to me that he tore his 
 music," said Franz " threw it on the floor and 
 stamped upon it, with the exclamation, ' So he, 
 too, is an ambitious self-seeker and nothing 
 more!' My brother had not been present 
 during this outburst of violence, but others said 
 it was terrible ! " 
 
 At these words Countess Theresa looked 
 silently up at the picture of the beloved man, 
 folding her hands in her lap as though asking 
 his forgiveness. Later I heard her only too often 
 reproach herself for not having been able to 
 overcome the fear of his passionateness, and for 
 having been in constant dread of an outbreak of 
 his angry violence. 
 
 Then came a pause which seemed endless ; 
 when the door bell was rung. 
 
 " Don't be afraid ! I told you this was to be 
 your day. No visitors will be admitted."
 
 COUNTESS THERESA BRUNSWICK. 57 
 
 " But if it should be Blanka ? " 
 
 " Blanka knows that to-day even she will not 
 be admitted. You have been to see her. What 
 impression did she make upon you ? " 
 
 " As though another soul had entered into her." 
 
 " Her transformation would be a good one, if 
 she were not so sad ! " 
 
 " So sad ? " 
 
 "She has devoted herself with splendid zeal 
 to patriotic work, but she is in love with a 
 young fellow who is quite unworthy of her 
 merely because of his fine appearance. She 
 falsely attributes to him the noblest patriotism 
 and all possible fine qualities, and would like 
 to make him a patriot-hero of the revolution. 
 How I wish that she were still possessed by 
 the pride of former days ! It would have saved 
 her from this mistake. The revolution is already 
 in train ; fearful things will come to pass, but 
 this man will disappear in the sombre crowd of 
 those who have joined merely in thoughtlessness, 
 while my Blanka my highly gifted, but deeply
 
 58 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 erring Blanka God only knows what she will 
 undertake and live through ! . . . But, my child, 
 we must go for our drive now, and we shall 
 return to the subject in the evening. While I 
 am dressing you can look through the albums 
 and take a peep into this drawer, in which you 
 will find the jewels of the Countess Theresa 
 Brunswick." 
 
 She opened a small drawer, one of many, in 
 the writing-table, and then followed the maid 
 who stood waiting by the door which led to her 
 bedroom. I lifted some tissue-paper in the 
 drawer and came upon a small sheet of paper 
 turned yellow with age, on which was fastened, 
 with a faded pink thread, a little bunch of ever- 
 lastings. The paper bore these words : 
 
 " L'Immortelle a son Immortelle 
 
 LUIGI." 
 
 (" The Everlasting to his Immortal One, 
 
 LUDWIG.")
 
 COUNTESS THERESA BRUNSWICK. 59 
 
 In the drawer was a great collection of ever- 
 lastings, some loose and some in bunches, such 
 as Beethoven was wont to put in his letters. I 
 dared not touch them, and was still standing 
 buried in thought when the maid brought me 
 my hat and cloak and called me off for the 
 drive. The driver greeted her with particular 
 respect and helped to wrap her feet in a 
 rug. 
 
 The streets were full of commotion. Our 
 talk, which had to be in French because of the 
 driver, immediately turned upon the topic of 
 the day, with which all minds were occupied. 
 Kossuth, the Magyarised Sclav, already played 
 the chief part in it. His watchword was, "The 
 liberation of Hungary from the black and yellow 
 Austrian tyranny." I understood very little 
 about these things, but in Siebenbiirgen I had 
 so often been a witness of misdeeds partly 
 ludicrous, partly terrible, perpetrated by the 
 heroes of freedom, that, in spite of my Hun- 
 garian blood, I was only too much inclined to
 
 60 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 turn away from it all. Neither were Countess 
 Theresa's sympathies on that side. In after 
 years I often had occasion to remember her 
 conversation during this drive to the little wood 
 near Pesth. 
 
 We met very few people, as it was not the 
 fashionable hour for going out, and we could 
 thoroughly enjoy the fresh green of the country 
 in undisturbed quiet and intimate converse. 
 But one rider came into the road as we were 
 driving through the principal avenue in the 
 park. I merely mention him because he was 
 Count Ludwig Batthyanyi. A few days before 
 Kossuth had made his inflammatory speech 
 against the sending of troops to Italy " Hun- 
 gary must not send even one man to aid in 
 suppressing the freedom of Italy ! " this was 
 the closing sentence. The speech was stuck 
 up at every street corner, and even on the trees 
 of the public park. 
 
 " Do you agree with it, dear Count ? " asked 
 Countess Theresa.
 
 COUNTESS THERESA BRUNSWICK. 61 
 
 " Cum grano sails, most gracious lady ! " 
 answered the gallant officer, who still had the 
 distinguished bearing of his profession. " Kos- 
 suth's ready tongue is of great use to us at this 
 moment. He understands the ' Asiaten ' " (by 
 this term the Hungarian aristocracy at that time 
 designated the gentry) "just as Esikos knows 
 how to keep wild horses together. Let the 
 nigger once have done his duty, and we shall 
 send him about his business." He greeted and 
 went off at a trot. Countess Theresa gazed 
 after him sorrowfully. 
 
 " You him ? " she said to herself. " So they 
 have always been, and so they will remain, 
 governed by the self-conceited notion that they 
 the magnates constitute Hungary. This 
 time the dawn will be fearful. Kossuth will 
 compel them to go with him, and those who 
 do not will be sent about their business by him, 
 to their own peril. . . . Oh, we shall live to see 
 fearful things horrible things and my poor 
 Blanka ! Driver ! go home ! I'm shivering ! "
 
 62 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 Although Countess Theresa's sad foreboding 
 really referred to her most dear niece Blanka, I 
 could not help thinking of those words, " I'm 
 shivering," when Count Batthyanyi was con- 
 demned to the gallows and the sentence was 
 afterwards mitigated to powder and shot. 
 
 Her forebodings, alas ! were only too well 
 fulfilled ! Blanka Teleki was deeply involved 
 in the conspiracies of 1848 and 1849. She was 
 in correspondence with Mazzini. She aided the 
 revolution by forming a company of Honveds, 1 
 and made other great sacrifices. She was taken 
 prisoner and tried ; they would have been glad 
 to show her all possible indulgence, but her 
 behaviour defeated their intentions. Means of 
 escape were afforded her at the trial. She 
 refused them, and with unbending pride de- 
 clared to the judges that 'she would act in 
 the same way again on a similar occasion,' 
 thereby rendering any mitigation of her 
 
 1 Honveds was a term used by Kossuth at the time, signifying 
 Fatherland defenders.
 
 COUNTESS THERESA BRUNSWICK. 63 
 
 sentence impossible. She was condemned to 
 death, but the Emperor commuted her sentence 
 to lifelong imprisonment. After having spent 
 nine years in the Kuffstein prison, she was 
 released in 1858, and went to Pesth in the 
 strictest disguise to see her Aunt Theresa 
 once more. Thenceforward she lived in Dres- 
 den until her death in 1860. . . . 
 
 On our return from the drive the Countess 
 was silent and buried in thought, and I feared 
 very much that she would not return to the 
 story of her great love and of her great sorrow. 
 
 But, when she had rested, we went to sit again 
 in that cosy room which held her precious relics. 
 
 She understood my life, and knew of my 
 painful experiences, and in unveiling to me 
 the innermost shrine of her heart, it was her 
 kind intention to give me comfort and strength. 
 And it did her good to speak to one who was 
 young of her own young days. 
 
 " What a pity that you are not musical ! 
 that you cannot quite understand how it was
 
 64 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 that Beethoven could put nothing into music 
 which had not touched his inmost soul! Pain 
 amounting to desperation, the sense of happiness 
 even to ecstasy, a bold, proud spirit that would 
 take heaven itself by storm, and with this the 
 greatest humility, devout enthusiasm, and the 
 profoundest adoration, the whole of his many- 
 sided being was fully and truly expressed in his 
 works, and made itself felt in his marvellous 
 playing." 
 
 Oh, how I understood him ! how I felt with 
 him, how I followed the flight of his thoughts ! 
 
 But it was long, only too long before 
 Vienna, that most musical town, recognised 
 and admired him even as the greatest pianist. 
 The publishers gave miserable prices for his 
 immortal compositions. Nor was there any 
 prospect in view of bettering his unhappy posi- 
 tion, which weighed upon him most heavily, 
 for he had a vivid consciousness of his high 
 calling, and was imbued with a sense of his own 
 worth. The aristocracy of Austria was at that
 
 COUNTESS THERESA BRUNSWICK. 65 
 
 time perhaps the most musical in the world ; , 
 and Lichnowsky, Rasoumovvsky, my brother, 
 and others were on terms of the most inti- 
 mate friendship with Beethoven. But to pro- 
 cure for him what he needed was not in their 
 power. The war, too, had reduced people's 
 incomes ; and a large part of the art-loving 
 nobility and society in general still devoted 
 themselves, as did the Imperial Court, to 
 Italian music. Beethoven had as yet com- 
 posed neither opera nor mass. I urged my 
 brother to stir him up to it. Franz did so. 
 Altogether he took pains to give Beethoven 
 that inner support which he so much needed ; 
 for his unhappy circumstances were embittering 
 his mind and saddening his spirit. One day he 
 found him in one of those passionate moods 
 which, alas ! were only too frequent with him. 
 He called the world a swamp of lies, and all 
 men hypocrites. . . . 
 
 Franz tried to appease him : " My poor friend, 
 would that you could always have some one
 
 66 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 near you who would bring calmness to your 
 spirit, and who would try to reconcile you with 
 mankind when you are raging against them ! 
 Such a sister as God has given me, the embodi- 
 ment of truth and faithfulness, and of unselfish 
 love. In such a being one possesses an inex- 
 haustible spring of faith and trust, and one 
 learns to love and respect others, for one 
 certainly has not the right to assume that she 
 is the only one of her kind." 
 
 You will understand my brother's enthusiasm, 
 for he idolised me. In letting himself run on 
 thoughtlessly in this manner, Franz had 
 naturally no idea of the effect his words had 
 upon Beethoven, who was immediately all 
 attention. He was henceforth always wanting 
 to hear more about me, for hitherto during his 
 visits at Martonvasdr he had hardly observed me. 
 Franz had to tell him a number of stories 
 about our childhood. Two of these made a 
 particular impression upon him. 
 
 One of them has been perpetuated by my
 
 COUNTESS THERESA BRUNSWICK. 67 
 
 father, who painted a little picture for the 
 family. The adventure was more tragic than 
 cheerful, and happened on the large pond 
 which we called the " Mediterranean Sea," in 
 our park, the different parts of which were 
 named according to the European countries 
 on the borders of that sea. I was then only 
 eleven years old, and, being very much afraid 
 of water, declined to go for a row with 
 Franz, who therefore embarked alone with 
 my sister Caroline. I sat with my governess 
 in a summer - house overlooking the pond. 
 Suddenly she gave a cry, and rushed towards 
 the gardener's lodge, which was close by, 
 calling loudly for help. I looked up, and saw 
 that the boat was capsized, and that my brother 
 was clinging to it with one hand, while with the 
 other he held Caroline, who was under water, 
 by the frock. . . . What passed through my 
 mind at that moment I don't know, but in 
 an instant I flew down the hill and into the 
 pond, . . .
 
 68 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 As it turned out there was no worse result 
 than a fright to us all, and in my own case 
 a slight fever. To my father's question whether 
 I was not afraid of the water, I am said to have 
 answered : " Oh no ! my protecting angel went 
 with me! " 
 
 The other story is the one about the music 
 lesson, when Beethoven rushed away in passion- 
 ate wrath, and I flew after him with his hat and 
 cloak which he had left behind. The servant 
 fortunately caught me up at the front door 
 but you know the story ! Beethoven had heard 
 nothing of it till then. My brother was the first 
 to commit this indiscretion, and probably many 
 others ; in fact he never knew when to stop 
 when he talked of his sister Resi. From 
 other people, too, Beethoven heard much about 
 me. He who inquires learns. The country 
 folk were fond of me; I was able to give 
 more time to them than my sisters could, for 
 they were carried along by the social stream. 
 I did a little doctoring in Martonvdsar, and also
 
 COUNTESS THERESA BRUNSWICK. 69 
 
 busied myself with the children. Enough 
 when Beethoven came to us again he looked 
 at me with very different eyes. And while 
 formerly with his thoughts devoted to music 
 he would choose the most lonely paths, this 
 time he so contrived that he met me. 
 
 One evening we sat in the drawing-room. 
 Beethoven at the piano. There were no guests 
 except the clergyman, who dined and spent the 
 evenings with us every Sunday. The moon- 
 light shone into the room ; that was as it should 
 be, for him. Franz, who had seated himself 
 next to me, whispered, "Listen, he's going to 
 extemporise! " 
 
 Did I not listen ! His gloomy face cleared 
 up ; ... he passed his hands just once over 
 the whole key-board. . . . We knew what that 
 meant At least Franz and I knew that such 
 discords with him usually led up to the 
 most beautiful harmonies. Now followed some 
 touches in the depths of the instrument, and now, 
 slow, mysterious, solemn, the following song:
 
 70 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 " Oh, wilt thou give thine heart, 
 
 Then let the token be, 
 That none shall bear a part 
 In thoughts I share with thee. 
 
 Let love that makes us blest 
 Reign deep in soul and will, 
 
 Let greatest joys and best 
 Be ever calm and still." 
 
 My mother and the clergyman had fallen 
 asleep : my brother looked straight before him 
 with a serious expression. Struck by the song 
 and by his look, I was awakened to fullest 
 life. . . . The next morning we met in the 
 park. 
 
 " I am writing an opera ! " said he. " I have 
 the chief figure in my mind and before my eyes 
 wherever I go. Never till now have I been on 
 such heights ! All is light ! All is pure and 
 clear ! Till now I have been like the foolish 
 boy in the story, who gathered stones and did 
 not observe the lovely flower growing by the 
 way."
 
 COUNTESS THERESA BRUNSWICK. 71 
 
 So we found each other. But he had to go 
 away immediately. For many months it was 
 only through his letters to my brother Franz 
 that I learned anything about him and his life ; 
 that the opera was making progress, then that 
 it was finished, and finally oh, irony of fate, 
 untold torment for Beethoven's great soul 
 that in the late autumn of 1805 it was per- 
 formed in Vienna before an audience of French 
 officers who represented chiefly cultured France. 
 The applause was moderate, the success, even 
 among friends and connoisseurs(!), was but small. 
 Beethoven was advised to cut out, to abbreviate. 
 But he would listen to nothing of the sort, and 
 wrote in despair to my brother: "I shall become 
 a street-singer, a harper, an organ-grinder ! " 
 
 But he soon recovered himself. His genius 
 inspired him with the first mass. The " Missa 
 Solemnis," which later became known as the 
 masterpiece of his life, had been ordered by 
 Prince Nicholas Esterhazy, who was a great ad- 
 mirer of Italian music, and who played the part of
 
 72 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 a cold and superior patron towards Beethoven. 
 He had the mass performed at his palace at 
 Eisenstadt in 1807, and behaved in a very 
 formal manner on the occasion, even addressing 
 Beethoven with the words, " What have you 
 been about? " Beethoven was so much hurt by 
 this reception of his work that he wanted to 
 refuse the price offered for it, and as a conse- 
 quence he would have nothing more to do with 
 the Prince. 
 
 All Beethoven's most intimate friends, and 
 among them even his friends and patrons of 
 princely rank, such as Lichnowsky, Kinsky, and 
 Lobkowitz, from whom for years he derived 
 a certain income, had occasionally to submit to 
 having the door shut in their faces. They 
 hardly could discover whether it was the queer 
 old fellow's temper which made him play hide- 
 and-seek with them, or whether he really was 
 storming about in woods and fields. As a 
 matter of fact often he would be sitting in his 
 room with the door locked, "not caring a fig
 
 COUNTESS THERESA BRUNSWICK. 73 
 
 for all their talk," as he would afterwards confess 
 to them. More often, though, he had really 
 stormed out into the open air. To be alone 
 with Nature, to have her only for friend and 
 confidant this was what he wanted when his 
 hot head was filled with desperate thoughts. 
 Nature was at all times his consoler. Some- 
 times, when his friends sought him out where 
 he had taken a summer lodging, he would 
 again make off! S he often came to his 
 intimate friend, Franz Brunswick, at Marton- 
 vasdr. 
 
 And this happened in the spring of 1806. 
 After the over-exertion and excitement of the 
 year 1805 the "Fidelio " year he wanted a few 
 weeks' quiet at our house. Then it was, in May, 
 1806, that I became engaged to him with the 
 knowledge and consent of my dear and only 
 brother Franz. 
 
 The first condition was, the closest secrecy ; 
 the second, laid down by Franz, that the 
 marriage should not take place until he had
 
 74 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 secured a suitable and permanent appointment. 
 Not till then was my invalid mother to be asked 
 to give her permission. I hardly dared think of 
 this step, for her deeply rooted aristocratic pride 
 was the most susceptible part of her character, 
 and the whole of society, which at that time 
 meant only the high nobility, would have sided 
 with her. But for the consideration which I had 
 for my mother, I should have followed my 
 beloved into any condition of life. For at 
 first it was I who was impatient and restless. 
 Beethoven, on the contrary, agreed to every 
 arrangement and stipulation, and while striving 
 indefatigably for a permanent position in life, he 
 tried to fill me with calmness and hope. What 
 these long delays meant to Beethoven's passion- 
 ate soul became later on only too apparent ! 
 At first the thought that I was his bride, that I 
 had never loved another, transported him to the 
 seventh heaven. So he protested and assured me. 
 He hoped and worked for us both, he was full of 
 strength and courage, though his deafness was
 
 COUNTESS THERESA BRUNSWICK. 75 
 
 increasing, and he was frequently obliged to take 
 the baths to strengthen his over-excited nerves. 
 I also felt the joy and blessing of his love. But 
 the secret weighed on my mind like a sin against 
 my mother, and like a derogation of my beloved 
 one. I should have liked to say to every one : 
 " And if I were obliged to go begging with him 
 I should still be proud to be his wife ! " . . . 
 Later Beethoven's mood changed. It is not in a 
 man's nature to wait. How would he, with his 
 disposition, have been able to bear the delay 
 patiently for any length of time ? But soon, 
 when I grew accustomed to it, and complained 
 no more, trying in my turn to quiet him, he 
 felt hurt and injured. . . . Storm and sunshine 
 alternated in his letters, and in our hours of 
 intercourse. Terrified by his passionateness, 
 stirred in the depths of my heart by his love, 
 I earnestly entreated that God would send me 
 counsel and help. That his genius produced 
 the most glorious works during the four years 
 of our engagement, and that they were all
 
 76 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 secretly dedicated to me, was a comfort to me 
 only many, many years later. In the most 
 terrible days of my life the endlessly long and 
 desolate days, which followed the hour, in 
 which we parted for ever, I was inconsolable. 
 
 As to the intimate circumstances and the 
 actual cause of the catastrophe Countess 
 Theresa kept unbroken silence. But it is only 
 too probable that it was brought about by 
 Beethoven's sudden and vehement demand that 
 the long engagement should come to a close. 
 With this aim in view he had quietly arranged 
 (1810) for the transmission of all the necessary 
 papers from Bonn. 
 
 From what the Countess told me I inferred 
 that for some time after the breaking off of the 
 engagement her brother kept himself out of 
 Beethoven's way, owing, apparently, to some 
 personal offence. At last, however, a complete 
 reconciliation took place between them, which 
 may have been partly brought about by the 
 winning influence which Beethoven's character
 
 COUNTESS THERESA BRUNSWICK. 77 
 
 and musical power exerted over all his friends. 
 It was this influence which so frequently brought 
 Prince Lichnowsky back to him in spite of his 
 having been so often offended. 
 
 It was Countess Theresa's earnest wish that 
 a reconciliation between Beethoven and her 
 brother should take place, and that their friend- 
 ship should continue on the former intimate 
 terms ; she could now once more get accurate 
 information about all Beethoven's doings, and 
 remain in unbroken intellectual contact with him. 
 
 In the conversation which I record here these 
 circumstances were not touched upon. 
 
 " How strange it is," said Countess Theresa 
 wearily, after a long pause, " that it fatigues me 
 so much to talk of that which is constantly in 
 my thoughts ! I suppose it is that I am so 
 unaccustomed to clothe those thoughts in words. 
 You know that since the death of my brother 
 that part of my life has lain in the quiet grave 
 of my heart ; ... of this old heart, which for 
 its sake has kept an eternal youth ! "
 
 78 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 She was silent now for some time ; then, hold- 
 ing out her hands to me, she said 
 
 " Dear child, at my age one's physical nature 
 is a tyrannical master. I shall have to give 
 way to it presently and get a little sleep. . . . 
 This one thing, however, I must tell you in 
 conclusion the word that parted us was not 
 spoken by me, but by him ! . . . I was 
 terribly frightened, became deadly pale, and 
 trembled all over. . . ." 
 
 The last words were scarcely intelligible 
 Countess Theresa became suddenly unconscious, 
 and sank back upon the cushions of the sofa in 
 a deep sleep. Much alarmed, I crept out of the 
 room to call the maid. 
 
 " Her ladyship must have been talking too 
 much. To-morrow she shall stay quietly in 
 bed, and then she will be well again." 
 
 When on the following day I went to inquire 
 how she was I met the doctor, whom I knew 
 very well. 
 
 "The old heart trouble will keep reminding
 
 COUNTESS THERESA BRUNSWICK. 79 
 
 us of its presence. I must order absolute rest. 
 The Countess belongs to my most obedient 
 patients, and you, I know, will not disobey my 
 orders." 
 
 This lasted a week. Every day I inquired 
 after her. But my time in Pesth was over. The 
 state of affairs, too, was becoming more and 
 more threatening. I was obliged to return to 
 Vienna without seeing the Countess again. 
 But the kind doctor himself brought me a 
 sealed note from her. " My dear child," she 
 wrote, " you of course understand that you are 
 to keep to yourself what you have seen and 
 heard. A shrug of the shoulders and a pitying 
 smile is all that society gives to such things. 
 If God allows me to live a few years longer 
 more light will come to me. I know already 
 that the chief blame is mine. The true Jteroic 
 courage which overcomes all was wanting in me. 
 Leonora puts me to shame! Destroy all Blanka 's 
 letters ; T also mine, if you possess any, and this 
 
 1 A precautionary measure of which the necessity very soon 
 appeared.
 
 8o RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 one immediately. The evil days are drawing 
 near. You can always have news of me from 
 my niece M. 1 in Vienna. May God be with 
 you and protect you, my dear child ! " 
 
 Yes, the evil days were drawing near. For 
 the purpose of our story we need hardly allude 
 to them. In the year 1851, when the disturb- 
 ance in Hungary was quite over, I visited some 
 relations and a friend in Pesth. Placards were 
 still up at all the chief places giving the names 
 of those condemned to death. At the first 
 glance I saw the names " Andrassy, Batthyanyi, 
 Teleki." I did not meet Countess Theresa in 
 Pesth. She was staying at the same lieaWi resort 
 where Beethoven Jiad gone to strengthen his nerves 
 in the year 1806, shortly after his engagement 
 with her. Fiired, on the Plattensee. It was from 
 there that the letter of the 6th of July, which 
 was found among his possessions, was written 
 
 1 The orphan daughter of Countess Theresa's sister, who 
 had married in Russia. This niece now lived in Vienna with a 
 friend.
 
 COUNTESS THERESA BRUNSWICK. 81 
 
 to her. I wrote to her there. Her answer, 
 which was very short, contained these words : 
 " I have seen the room in which he stayed at 
 that time you know whom I mean ! When 
 I go to Vienna I will tell you about it." 
 
 But a long time passed before I saw her 
 again. She did not come to Vienna till May, 
 1857. Again she gave me a whole day, and 
 for two hours I was able to talk with her 
 alone. 
 
 First she spoke of the revolution, to which 
 she was decidedly opposed, then of her poor 
 Blanka, whose pardon she still hoped for. At 
 last she came to her favourite topic music. 
 She spoke of cultivated and uncultivated, 
 musical and unmusical, voices ; and of how a 
 pleasant voice wins the heart. It was on this 
 occasion that I told her the story of a young 
 musical prodigy, which Countess Bdnffy De"nes 
 had told her friends. She had taken the son of 
 a Saxon clergyman, C. Filtsch, of Siebenburgen, 
 in order to have him educated by Franz Liszt 
 6
 
 82 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 in Paris. One day a dog barked during the 
 music lesson. " In what key is the dog barking, 
 Karl ? " asked Liszt. And the boy, stopping 
 his ears, answered, " G major, but out of tune ! " 
 People had doubted the story, and thought it 
 curious. I did not know what to make of it. 
 Countess Theresa then made further observa- 
 tions on the qualities of voices. She spoke long 
 and beautifully about the sounds throughout 
 nature. ... A great musical talent she held to 
 be the highest gift of God, which only a few 
 chosen ones, who heard these sounds everywhere 
 and constantly, possessed. " The great musi- 
 cian," she said, " knows these sounds by heart, 
 just as one of you knows a poem. How else 
 would it have been possible for Beethoven, when 
 he was become quite deaf, to present with such 
 marvellous fidelity the whispering of leaves, the 
 murmuring of the wind, the sweetest songs of 
 birds, and finally the rushing of the storm in 
 water and in air ? " 
 
 So Countess Theresa came back again to the
 
 COUNTESS THERESA BRUNSWICK. 83 
 
 beloved master. I started when she began to 
 talk about him. She noticed it and smiled. 
 
 " Don't be afraid ! It will not hurt me now. 
 In these last years I have had to sympathise 
 with so many others in their sorrows, and to feel 
 so deeply for my country, which has brought 
 such sorrow upon itself that I have not had 
 time to dwell overmuch on my own life, and 
 I have become more tranquil about it. ... My 
 jewels you know the everlastings from /';;/, 
 which I did not return with his letters I have 
 sewn into a little white silk cushion. The little 
 cushion will be placed under my head when 
 they lay me in my coffin. What is in it no one 
 will guess. ... I look upon it as a wise dispen- 
 sation of God in Beethoven's life that we parted 
 from one another. For what would have be- 
 come of his genius and what of my love, if I 
 had had cause to fear him? As it is, we 
 remained the highest for each other each 
 dwelling in the heart of the other for ever. 
 We did not meet again, but my brother saw
 
 84 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 him just before his death, which he seemed to 
 anticipate. 
 
 " ' Will you take your sister a kind greeting 
 for me?' he asked, and then added, pressing 
 his friend's hands and with tears in his eyes, 
 ' she was too good for me ! ' . . . 
 
 " A picture was found among his belongings 
 no one knows that it is of me and that first 
 letter, which he wrote to me in July, 1806, after 
 our engagement. So he had saved that one. 
 And I had copied it before returning it to him 
 with all the other letters. I have read it so 
 often that I know it by heart, like a poem 
 and was it not a beautiful poem ? . . . Haydn, 
 Mozart, Beethovpn are like Lessing, Goethe, 
 Schiller, benefactors of mankind. Whoever 
 hears Beethoven's Mass in D. (Solemnis) un- 
 consciously folds his hands and feels himself 
 uplifted to the sublimest heights. I can only 
 humbly say to myself that man loved thec ! 
 And thank God for it. ... Amen, child ! we 
 will not speak of it any more. I am nearly
 
 COUNTESS THERESA BRUNSWICK, 85 
 
 eighty ; those I loved most have gone home 
 before me. Daily I count the treasures which 
 await me there." 
 
 Countess Theresa died in the year 1861. In 
 the place where she loved most to live, and 
 where she had been most deeply beloved, there, 
 in a cool vault, she was buried. 
 
 Upon her coffin has not an invisible hand laid 
 a wreath of everlastings ?
 
 BUST OF COUNTESS THEKKSA BRUNSWICK IN THE NATIONAL 
 
 MUSEUM AT BUDA-PESTII, EXECUTED A FEW YEARS 
 
 BEFORE HK.K HEATH, BY ARADI.
 
 THE PICTURE OF COUNTESS 
 THERESA. 
 
 (A SUPPLEMENTAL CHAPTER.) 
 
 IF I remember rightly it was at my last meet- 
 ing with Countess Theresa in Vienna, in 1857, 
 that I entreated her to give me her portrait. 
 Of course I was modest enough only to mean 
 a photograph. Her answer was gentle, but 
 quite decided. " No more portraits of me ! " 
 Thereupon I was silent. But when we resumed 
 the conversation, the subject of the picture taken 
 of her in her youth, which with her own hands 
 she had dedicated and given to Beethoven after 
 her engagement to him, naturally came to the 
 fore. 
 
 87
 
 88 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 Countess Theresa well knew that this picture 
 had been found among the scanty relics of the 
 great master ; but what had since become of it 
 she did not know. I myself have only lately 
 been able to get fuller information about it. A 
 propitious fate had ruled over it. It came into 
 the possession of a family in which musical 
 talent was hereditary and the worship of 
 Beethoven traditional. And how this came 
 about is noteworthy, so that I shall return to 
 it presently. 
 
 Beethoven kept the picture of his betrothed, 
 which remained to him after the return of the 
 letters, carefully hidden. As even after the 
 breaking off of the engagement those concerned 
 in it observed the strictest silence regarding it, 
 they succeeded in keeping the secret. And this 
 explains how it was that the picture was found 
 in Beethoven's room after his death, together 
 with that first letter of the 6th of July, 1806, to 
 his betrothed, the " Immortal Beloved." Baron 
 Spaun told me of this ; he had once surprised
 
 COUNTESS THERESA BRUNSWICK. 89 
 
 Beethoven with the picture in his hand, talking 
 to himself, and had discreetly withdrawn with- 
 out having been noticed. Later he recognised 
 the picture among Beethoven's possessions. 
 
 Until the year 1864 the picture was kept by 
 the widow of Beethoven's nephew, and hung on 
 the wall among the few other pictures which 
 had belonged to the great composer. It raised 
 no special interest, as it was not known whom 
 it represented ; but Alexander W. Thayer, 
 Beethoven's biographer, who saw it there re- 
 peatedly, found in it a corroboration of his 
 conjectures. 
 
 Shortly after the first appearance of this little 
 book, " Beethoven's Unsterbiche Geliebte," in 
 which it was shown decisively that this picture 
 was the portrait of the Countess Theresa Bruns- 
 wick, more was made known regarding it. For 
 there appeared in the newspapers an announce- 
 ment by Joseph Hellmesberger, sen., musical 
 conductor at the imperial court in Vienna, 
 saying that he was in possession of the picture,
 
 90 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 and that he intended to have it photographed, 
 in order to make it accessible to Beethoven's 
 admirers. 
 
 A few weeks after this I was able, at his 
 house, to see the picture of my motherly friend, 
 and he very kindly gave me all the information 
 he could about it, and also about his relations to 
 the Beethoven family. 
 
 Hellmesberger's father was a distinguished 
 musician and a contemporary of Beethoven, 
 and reverence for the great master descended 
 from him to son and grandson. Joseph Hellmes- 
 berger, jun., the grandson, is now conductor of 
 the Imperial Opera. The son, as a boy of four- 
 teen, was an excellent violinist. One day 
 Mayseder, who was at that time one of the 
 most celebrated musicians in Vienna, came to 
 his father and said : " Do lend me your little 
 Joseph. There's a Count Brunswick with his 
 sister Theresa here, who are very musical, and 
 they want to play Beethoven trios." Mayseder's 
 request was granted, and in this way Joseph
 
 COUNTESS THERESA BRUNSWICK. 91 
 
 Hellmesberger, sen., learnt to know the brother 
 and sister, who had come for a short time to 
 Vienna and were staying in the Himmelpfort- 
 gasse. The boy was very much praised for his 
 playing, and had occasion to admire the fine 
 piano-playing of Countess Theresa, to whom he 
 looked up with great reverence as being a pupil 
 of Beethoven. It was the B major trio in which 
 the young musician took part, Count Franz 
 Brunswick playing the 'cello, on which he was 
 a distinguished performer. 
 
 Joseph Hellmesberger, sen., did not meet 
 Countess Theresa Brunswick again. He devoted 
 himself specially to the study of Beethoven, and 
 he was the first, when only seventeen years old, to 
 bring before the Viennese public the later string 
 quartettes and quintettes, which till then had 
 been neglected as too obscure. Later, Joseph 
 Hellmesberger made the acquaintance of Beet- 
 hoven's relatives, and became intimate with 
 Louis van Beethoven, a son of his nephew Carl. 
 A daughter of this nephew showed a special gift
 
 92 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 for music, and Hellmesberger therefore brought 
 her to the Conservatorium, and took charge of 
 her musical education generally. His expecta- 
 tions, however, have not been fulfilled. 
 
 About the year 1863 the fear arose in the 
 musical circles of Vienna lest Beethoven's re- 
 mains might meet with the same fate as 
 Mozart's. For they had been, like the remains 
 of Franz Schubert, for more than thirty years 
 in plain wooden coffins in the little Wahringer 
 churchyard. Hellmesberger therefore started 
 the idea that they should be re-interred in 
 metal coffins. And the idea was taken up. 
 But the project seemed likely to be defeated 
 by the expense, which would have exceeded 
 2,000 gulden. Hellmesberger, however, did not 
 let the matter rest, and at last, through two 
 concerts of Beethoven's and Schubert's compo- 
 sitions, he collected the considerable sum that 
 was needed. The re-interment of the two 
 great masters was solemnly celebrated in 
 Vienna at the public cemetery in 1863 ; and
 
 COUNTESS THERESA BRUNSWICK. 93 
 
 the Beethoven family, out of gratitude, pre- 
 sented Hellmesberger with the picture, which 
 they had inherited from Ludwig van Beethoven, 
 and to which the illustrious master had mani- 
 festly attached great value. 
 
 Since the painting of this picture of Countess 
 Theresa Brunswick which I now saw before 
 me in its old faded gilt wooden frame more 
 than eighty years have passed. At the back of 
 the frame one can still distinctly make out the 
 words : " To the rare genius, to the great artist, 
 to the good man, from T. B" The picture was 
 painted by Lampi, who, with Heinrich Ehrlick 
 (Henri), was one of the most prominent and 
 favourite portrait painters in Vienna at the 
 beginning of the century. It is a portrait of 
 the head and shoulders only. A yellowish 
 scarf is wound round the light-brown wavy 
 hair ; a reddish drapery covers the neck and 
 shoulders. Her noble features are highly 
 spiritual, the dark eyes have a gentle, earnest 
 look. The eyes alone recalled to my mind
 
 94 COUNTESS THERESA BRUNSWICK 
 
 the face of my motherly friend, for I had only 
 learnt to know her when she was nearly fifty. 
 When she was painted, Countess Theresa was 
 about twenty-eight years old. She looks younger 
 in the picture, but it is probably true to life, for, 
 like her niece, Blanka Teleki, even in later 
 years, she looked remarkably young. 
 
 The picture, which is now in the Beethoven 
 House at Bonn, is interesting as a memorial of 
 one of the most deeply-stirring events in the 
 great master's life perhaps of that which had 
 the greatest influence on his genius.
 
 STfje Oretffjam 
 
 VNWIN BROTHERS, 
 CHILWORTH AN LONDON.
 
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