Love inspired Beethoven’s greatest works, but he never got around to making sweet music with the women he adored, experts claim
- Ludwig van Beethoven died a virgin, claims a major biography
- The composer disdained intimacy, but often fell in love with women he met
He was inspired to create musical masterpieces by the women he loved – but Ludwig van Beethoven died a virgin, claims one major biography.
The composer spurned intimacy – which he considered a sin – although, according to author Norman Lebrecht, he continued to fall in love with women he met.
“We can be absolutely sure that Beethoven never had sex in a relationship,” he says.
“We can be 98 percent sure he never had sex at all. He needed love to drive creation, but he avoided intimacy, considering it tantamount to a sin, a violation of radiant ideals.’
Ludwig van Beethoven’s greatest works were inspired by love, but the composer died a virgin, a major biography claims
Mr. Lebrecht came to his conclusion after studying hundreds of pages of historical records and the “conversation books” the German composer, who had been deaf since the age of 30, used to communicate with his visitors.
The classical music expert said there was no doubt that Beethoven “fell in love serially,” but that infatuation never translated into a physical relationship. He believes that Beethoven’s obsession with his work, his deafness, and complex psychological factors meant he never accomplished his passion.
At 41, the composer was shabby and smelly
The author said: “Beethoven comes from two generations of alcoholics. His father was quite brutal and violent towards both him and his mother. Beethoven felt protected from his mother.’ He added that Maria, the composer’s mother, lived on in his thoughts after death as “an untouchable ideal, as a woman who needs to be protected from male violence – and of course part of male violence can be sex”.
Herr Lebrecht believes an incident in the composer’s early life is revealing, when he attacked a friend’s daughter.
He said: “One finds traces of earlier fumbling, nothing more. The point is, he’s grossly exaggerated in horror at his own behavior.
The composer spurned intimacy – which he considered a sin – although he repeatedly fell in love with women he met
“It so happened that the girl forgives him and remains his lifelong friend. But that’s how he is with women – he doesn’t trust them.”
Lebrecht believes the sensitive Beethoven was also appalled at the moral depravity he encountered upon arriving in Austria aged 21, saying he was “repelled by Viennese carnality and the corruption of the rich”. This is a town where wealthy people bought their musicians’ teenage daughters so they could personally deflower them.
“It was Sodom and Gomorrah. One of Beethoven’s contemporaries was only allowed to have sex with his wife when they visited a brothel. When Beethoven was invited to a brothel by a friend, he makes it clear that he has no intention of attending.’
Herr Lebrecht said previous claims that the composer visited such places were likely the result of mistranslations – he said that “a pleasure house” was a café at the time, not a brothel as the name suggests.
Herr Lebrecht said Beethoven tended to fall in love with unattainable women. He said: “He serially falls in love in his late 20s and then kind of forgets.
“Then, as he turns 40, he begins to fall in love again serially, both because he needs it as a romantic stimulus for his work and because he realizes he has no family. He’s alone in the world. But at this point he is a man who is 41 years old, shabby and smelly.”
Mr. Lebrecht’s book, Why Beethoven: A Phenomenon In 100 Pieces, will be published by Oneworld on Thursday.