Beethoven's mother - Mary Magdalene Keverich
Hello, dear visitors of the site dedicated to Ludwig van Beethoven. Today we will talk about the mother of the great composer.
Where and when was Beethoven's mother born?
Mary Magdalene Keverich- that was the name of the mother of the great composer before marriage, to whom our site is dedicated.
Our today's heroine was born on December 19, 1746, in a house on Wambachstrasse in the Ehrenbreitstein district of Koblenz. This city at that time was a strategically important center of the Electorate of Trier, and now it is one of the most beautiful cities in modern Germany.
Mother of Mary Magdalene was Anna Clara Westorff (1704-1768). Unfortunately, we know almost nothing about her.
Her father, Heinrich Keverich (1701-1759), was the chief chef at the residence of the Elector of Trier himself, Johann Philipp von Walderdorf; the residence itself was located in the castle Philippsburg, built at the foot of the Ehrenbreitstein fortress, proudly towering over Koblenz.
From this, one of the largest fortresses in the world, which includes more than four kilometers of underground tunnels, a simply stunning view of all the sights of Koblenz opens up. Also from there you can see the fantastic landscape of the confluence of the Moselle and Rhine rivers.
Moreover, the Ehrenbreitstein Fortress has long been one of the historically important strategic centers of Germany. And this fully explains why the fortress, destroyed by the French at the end of the 18th century and rebuilt with some changes, was included in the list of UNESCO attractions.
The family of Beethoven's mother was quite wealthy, and the relatives included quite serious people: wealthy merchants, court advisers and even senators.
First marriage of Mary Magdalene
As a sixteen year old girl (January 30, 1763) Mary Magdalene married someone Johann Leima- Valet of the Elector of Trier.
However, this marriage did not bring happiness to the girl - at first she gave birth to a son who died in infancy. Well, on November 28, 1765, Johann Leim himself, her first husband, died. Thus, at the age of under 18, Mary Magdalene had already become a widow.
Second marriage of Mary Magdalene
One of Mary Magdalene's cousins married a violinist Johann Conrad Rovantini and moved with him to Bonn. There, in August 1765, he got a job in the court chapel, but already in November 1766 he would die. By the way, the son of Johann Rovantini, Franz Georg, will later teach little Ludwig to play the violin.
It is possible that it was thanks to her acquaintance with Rovantini that Mary Magdalene met his friend and colleague in the chapel -.
Mary Magdalene and Johann got married November 12, 1767 in Bonn. The girl was then only 19 years old, and Johann was twenty-eight.
It is known that - the father of Johann and part-time grandfather of the future great composer, objected to this marriage (we do not know why). Despite this, however, the old Kapellmeister resigned himself to his son's choice, and subsequently, apparently, treated his daughter-in-law very well.
Then the local baker Gottfried Fischer- the owner of the house that the Beethovens will rent in 1775, said that the Keverich family was also against this marriage (Heinrich Keverich had already died then, so other family members probably mean). But in the end, they also came to terms with this event, albeit with some disagreements.
In particular, the relatives of Mary Magdalene intended to arrange a magnificent wedding celebration in Ehrenbreitstein. But Kapellmeister Ludwig the Elder refused to go there, insisting that the wedding ceremony be held in Bonn.
The misfortunes that haunted Beethoven's mother
Mary Magdalene van Beethoven could not be called a happy woman at all, for the death of her first husband and the child born from him was far from her last misfortune.
A year after her marriage to Johann van Beethoven, Mary Magdalene's mother, Anna Clara Westorff, died. It just so happened that the latter left her daughter an impressive fortune before her death.
However, Mary Magdalene does not see a penny from this inheritance, since all the property formally transferred to her is fraudulently squandered by her relatives. However, this was only the beginning of a black streak for our heroine.
If at first after the wedding, Johann Beethoven was almost an ideal husband, then a little later his bad habit returns, and the demon of alcohol takes possession of him again.It is possible that the death of their first son served as a catalyst for this madness. And, in general, few of the children of Mary Magdalene and Johann van Beethoven managed to live a normal, full life. See for yourself:
Three sons of Mary Magdalene were highlighted in yellow, who were able to survive the infancy period and, as they say, "live life." This short list includes Ludwig the Younger(the same great composer) and his two younger brothers. All other children died in infancy. Mary Magdalene herself called her second marriage "a chain of sorrows" .
Probably only once a year Saint Magdalene's Day, Ludwig's father, with the help of neighbors and friends, gave the unfortunate wife due attention.
In the house of the baker Fischer, where the Beethovens then lived, Johann invited a whole orchestra, placing it in two rooms. Prior to this, Johann sent his wife to sleep. And in the evening, after all the preparations and tuning of the instruments, they woke Mary Magdalene, asked her to dress beautifully, put her on a beautifully decorated seat covered with a canopy, and a whole orchestra played beautiful music for her, heard throughout the street.
Although it all happened late in the evening, the neighbors were not against such a noisy celebration. And after the end of the concert, as a rule, a feast followed. A similar event was held from year to year, turning it into a ritual.
When Beethoven's mother died
Mary Magdalene died July 17, 1787. Two months earlier, her son Ludwig had left for Vienna, hoping to study with Mozart and realize himself as a musician. But, having learned that his mother was ill (apparently with tuberculosis), Ludwig immediately returned to Bonn, finding his mother a few weeks before her death.
Ludwig van Beethoven spoke only good things about his mother. He considered her not only a kind and loving mother, but also treated her like a close friend. And it was really so - although Mary Magdalene did not notice the makings of a genius in her son, she gave him as much love as she could.
The same baker Fischer described Mary Magdalene van Beethoven as “a beautiful, slender girl, rather tall, with an elongated face, a slightly bent nose and serious eyes” . His wife added that she had never seen Madame van Beethoven laughing: "She was always serious" .