Bettina Brentano von Arnim (the Countess of Arnim) (4 April 1785, Frankfurt am Main – 20 January
1859, Berlin), born as Elisabeth Catharina Ludovica Magdalena
Brentano, was a German writer and novelist.
Bettina Brentano was a writer, publisher, composer, singer, visual artist, an illustrator, patron of young talent and a social
activist. She was the archetype of the Romantic era’s zeitgeist and ideals and the crux of many creative relationships of
canonical artistic figures figures. Bettina is most well-known because of the company she kept. She had deep friendships with
Goethe and Beethoven and tried
to foster an artistic union between them. Many leading composers of the time, such as Robert
Schumann, Franz Liszt, Johanna Kinkel and
Johannes Brahms, admired her for her spirit and her talents. Her composition style was
unconventional, in that it molded and melded her favorite features of the old—folk music and historic themes—with unusual
harmonies, phrase lengths and improvisations that became synonymous with the music of the time.
Family and early life
Bettina von Arnim was closely related to the German writers Clemens Brentano and
Achim von Arnim: the first was her brother, the second her husband. Her daughter
Gisela von Arnim became a prominent writer as well.
Bettina was born in Frankfurt, Germany on April 4, 1785 into a large family of an Italian merchant. Her grandmother was a
novelist and her brother was Clemens Brentano, the great poet known for his lyric
poems, libretto and singspiel. He was a mentor and protector to her, and influenced her to read poetry of the time, especially
Goethe.
In 1811 she married Achim von Armin, the renowned Romantic poet. They settled in Berlin and
had seven children. Achim died in 1831, but Bettina maintained an active public life. She wrote, inspired and published until
January 20, 1859 when she died surrounded by her children.
From 1991 until 31 December 2001, her portrait was printed
on the German 5-DM bill.
Career
The years of 1806-08, she was integral to gathering the folk songs for Des Knaben Wunderhorn, the collaborative work of
her brother and her future husband, Achim von Armin. This piece became a touchstone of the Romantic musical and poetic style.
From 1808 to 1809 she studied voice, composition and piano in Munich under Peter von Winter and Sebastian Bopp. She published her
first song under the pseudonym Beans Beor. Bettina sang briefly in the Berliner Singakademie and composed settings of
Hellenistic poems by Amalie von Helvig.
It was thought that she had stopped composing due to her domestic duties after her 1811 marriage, but several more art songs
have been recovered and have been publishedd in Werke und Briefe. Another notable fact is that she was the first composer
to set the poet Hölderlin’s work to song.
She was a muse to the progressives of Prussia. She was linked to the socialist movement and was an advocate for the oppressed
Jewish community. She published two politically dissident works but she evaded chastisement because of her friendship with the
King of Prussia.
After the 1831 death of her husband, Bettina continued her dedication the creative community. She published a collection of
seven songs as a public sign of support for Prussian Music Director, Gaspare Spontini, who was under a great deal of duress.
Postmortem reconsideration
A great love of Goethe’s work and friendship, which began when she was 21 and Goethe 58, stayed with her over the breadth of
her life. Bettina's Briefwechsel mit einem Kinde was a published volume of letters between her and the renowned author
which portrayed a mutual romance. However, the originals of these letters were discovered after her death. Some commentators
claim that her published versions were significantly edited to bolster the appearance of an intimate relationship and that
Goethe's own letters to her were much more formal and impersonal than the versions Bettina had published. However, a close
comparison of the letters indicates this claim is not justified. His letters to her were similar in style and content to what she
published, although she added fictional portions indicating his support for Tyrolean rebels with whom Bettina sympathized. Goethe
could not have expressed such support because the Duke for whom he worked was part of a Napoleonic alliance that included
Bavaria, which was suppressing the rebels.
The life of Bettina von Arnim, particularly her relationship with Goethe, was explored at length by the Franco-Czech author
Milan Kundera in his novel Immortality. Closely
tied to the main theme of his book, Kundera interpreted Bettina as attempting to achieve lasting fame through her promotion of
and relation to great men. However, it is not disputed that thirteen letters to her from Goethe have been found as has been one
to her from Beethoven. The text of the found letter from Beethoven is identical to what she published.
In 2002, the Beethoven Journal, published by the American Beethoven Society, included an article that claimed that Bettina was
Beethoven's famous "Immortal Beloved". (see Vol 17, Issue 2). Bettina had published three letters she claimed to have received
from Beethoven. Only one has been found and it was identical to what she had published. In the found letter, Beethoven
acknowledged receiving two letters from Bettina and begged her to write to him again "soon and often". He also wrote that he had
carried one of her letters around with him the whole summer and that it made him "often supremely happy". In closing the letter,
he addressed her in the intimate German "du-form", which so far as is known, he never used in his letters to any woman except to
the Immortal Beloved. If another of the three letters from Beethoven that Bettina published is genuine, it would conclusively
prove that she was his Immortal Beloved.
Namesake town in Texas
The failed 1847 German settlement of Bettina in Texas was named by its progressive, idealistic
founders for Bettina von Arnim. It was located near the join of Elm Creek and the Llano
River, and lasted only a year, disbanding in 1848. There is no trace of the Bettina community, other than the later
prominence of two of its founders, Gustav Schleicher (later a U.S. congressman and
namesake of Schleicher County) and Dr. Ferdinand
Herff, who in 1854 became the first surgeon to use anesthesia in Texas.[1]
Works
- Briefwechsel mit einem Kinde, 1835 (Correspondence with a Child – English translation)
- Die Günderode, 1840
- Dies Buch gehört dem König, 1843
- Clemens Brentanos Frühlingskranz, 1844
- An die aufgelöste Preußische Nationalversammlung, 1849
References
- ^ Lyman Wight's Mormon Colony in Texas excerpt from "Mormon Trails" chapter in Hill
Country travel guide by Richard Zelade. Accessed August 6, 2007.
Resources
- Lemke, Ann Willison, grovemusic.com, February 13, 2007
- The Guardian, A Virtuoso Muse Saturday August 23, 2003
- Frederiksen E., Goodman K., "Bettina Brentano-von Arnim: Gender and Politics," The German Quarterly, Vol. 71, No. 2
(Spring, 1998), pp. 187-188.
- Walden, Edward, "Beethoven's Immortal Beloved; Arguments in Support of the Candidacy of Bettina Brentano"; 'Beethoven
Journal', Winter, 2002, Vol. 17, Issue 2.
This article incorporates text from the public domain 1907 edition of
The Nuttall Encyclopædia.
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