Article in French.
A few years ago, the president of the Beethoven France Association, Dominique Prévot, shared with me an interesting archive: two letters written by Auguste de Gérando, a descendant of the Brunsvik family. Those who know even a passing familiarity with the story of Ludwig van Beethoven have probably heard of a woman to whom he wrote love letters in 1812 and whose identity remains mysterious, nicknamed the Immortal Beloved, as he calls her in his letters. While musicologists and researchers continue to try to solve this mystery today, we know that two potential candidates, Thérèse and Joséphine, were members of the Hungarian Brunsvik family who were close to Beethoven. The four brothers and sisters, Thérèse, Joséphine, Charlotte and François, spent long hours with him around the piano, whether taking lessons or sharing concerts with an audience of friends and family in Martonvásár Castle, located about thirty kilometers from Budapest. As I was preparing a trip to Budapest, Dominique Prévot told me about her meeting with Judith de Gérando, at the time the custodian of the family archives, very involved in Franco-Hungarian cultural life. In 2009, she had prepared a guide to Martonvásár Castle, which also houses the Beethoven Museum. The idea then came to me to contact Gérando’s family and find out more about what remains of this family close to Beethoven today, the letters of Auguste de Gérando and the conversation between Judith de Gérando and Dominique Prévot being my starting point. Since this article does not aim to solve the mystery of the Beloved Immortal, I limit myself to the known facts about the strong friendship between the composer and the members of the family, as well as their descendants. This work would not have been possible without the support of many people whom I thank, in particular Félicie de Gérando, Dr. Judit Bajzáth of the Martonvásár Museum, and Stefanie Kuban of the Beethoven Archives of the Beethoven-Haus in Bonn.
Discover the full article in “Beethoven,” the Journal of the Association Beethoven France et Francophonie: https://www.beethoven-france.org/2024/05/04/sommaire-de-la-revue-n24-premier-semestre-2024-126-pages/
Link to the article on ResearchGate (full article available): https://www.researchgate.net/publication/381608580_Sur_les_traces_de_la_famille_Brunsvik_en_Hongrie_-_Beethoven_revue_de_l’Association_Beethoven_France_No_24_2024
