The film, “Immortal Beloved” is a fictionalized hypothesis on who Ludwig van Beethoven's Unsterbliche Geliebte (“Immortal Beloved”) could have been. The film runs about two hours and hints at three possible women: Johanna van Beethoven, his sister-in-law by marriage to his younger brother, Kaspar van Beethoven; Anna-Marie Erdödy, a Countess separated from her husband, raising three young children when Beethoven comes to live with her before Napoleon's army takes Austria; and Giulietta Guicciardi, a young woman he teaches piano lessons to, as well as proposes to (according to the film), but rejects her because of her father's (and her) inability to accept his deafness (it is not well-known; Ludwig seems to try to keep it hidden). Beethoven is portrayed as volatile but passionate, as well as blunt and seemingly tactless to a fault. If the story is true, then this movie has taught me more about Beethoven than I have ever learned in my music career—via Music History and theory courses.
The movie hints that he was loved greatly by all three women, but that his heart belonged to his brother's wife, Johanna (née Reiss). Historical theorists who speculate on the women in Beethoven's life who could have been his Unsterbliche Geliebte1 seem to lean heavily on Antonie Brentano as the favorite. Thérèse von Brunswick is also a potential candidate, and she is seen fleetingly in the film, as she is Countess Giulietta Giucciardi's cousin. She is considered a likely candidate due to his dedicating one piece, the Diabelli Variations (Op. 120) to her and his Piano Sonata Op. 109 to her daughter. Critics of this view put forth that Beethoven had told a friend that he had met the love of his life in 1811 (this is likely to be his “Immortal Beloved”). A Beethoven biographer has quoted two sources showing that Antonie Brentano had met Beethoven prior to 1810. SPOILER!! An alternate case is made for Anna-Marie Erdödy2, portrayed by Isabella Rossellini in the film. Gail S. Altman, who puts forth this theory, states that it “would have been against Beethoven's deepest precepts to betray a friend by carrying on an affair with his wife” (and this would be Franz and Antonie Brentano). If this is the case, this also refutes the film's claims of Johanna van Beethoven as his “Immortal Beloved.”
Anton Felix Schindler is portrayed as Beethoven's confidante, secretary, and seemingly best friend (assistant/“right-hand man”), but factually he was not this to Beethoven at all. The interpretation of Schindler as Beethoven's admirer and friend is based upon falsifications in his publications on Beethoven's life and his “exaggeration of his period of close association” with him3.
The music used in “Immortal Beloved” are all well-known Beethoven pieces, and “Für Elise” and the “Moonlight Sonata” (Piano Sonata No. 14 in C♯ minor "Quasi una fantasia", Mondscheinsonate in German), of course, make an appearance. The filmmaker made it seem as if Gary Oldman were playing the pieces because the camera shots would not shy from his fingers. I speculated that perhaps he was fingering random notes and a professional played over the scene. Gary Oldman did, in fact, learn how to play the piano for this film in order for those scenes to be authentic, but a few professionals4 actually played the pieces—Murray Perahia and Emanuel Ax—for the film.
Excerpts (movements or clips) from Beethoven's Symphonies #5, 3, 6, 8, 7, and 9 (which we have studied in class) are also used. My personal favorite is the “Pathetique” (Piano Sonata No. 8), with parts of the first and second movements. The music was clear and technically sound. However, I feel that vocal interpretations of the music were really up to the delivery of the actors—Beethoven's claiming that Count Wenzel Robert von Gallenberg's interpretation of his piece was staid and lacked any empathy or emotion (too staccato, implying he was only playing the notes, and not understanding the meaning behind the music). However, if we listen to the soundtrack only, then the pieces are all identical in form. Therefore, it is the performance of the players on screen that denote or emote what emotions we should be feeling from the music: Gary Oldman has so much emotion as Beethoven when he plays his pieces. In the scene where Giulietta Giucciardi meets Beethoven, she has just walked out of Count von Gallenberg's performance. Beethoven dedicated the “Moonlight” sonata to the Countess, however, and therein begins the speculation behind the identity of Beethoven's Unsterbliche Geliebte.
Overall, this will forever remain a mystery, unless new information comes to light. The movie was a surprise and delight, because I had been unaware of this film until this class. I enjoy Gary Oldman as an actor (I believe he is underappreciated), and he was brilliant as Ludwig. The other actors in the movie were great as well, but fleshing out the story between Ludwig and his sister-in-law, Johanna (as well as giving an explanation to their bitter relationship) by book-ending the beginning with the mystery and the ending with the unveiling made the film an artful piece of work. This movie did not feel its two hours. After having seen this and “Amadeus,” I may search for other movies based upon the lives of composers.
1Oakley Beahrs, Virginia. “The Immortal Beloved Riddle Reconsidered.” Musical Times, Vol. 129, No. 1740 (Feb., 1988), pp. 64-70
2Altman, Gail S. Beethoven: A Man of His Word - Undisclosed Evidence for his Immortal Beloved, Anubian Press 1996
3Peter Stadlen. “Schindler's Beethoven Forgeries.” The Musical Times, Vol. 118, No. 1613. (July 1977), pp. 549-552.
4“Immortal Beloved Soundtrack.” Amazon.com. 2001. Retrieved 15 Mar 2011. http://www.amazon.com/Immortal-Beloved-Georg-Solti-film/dp/B000002AQD/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1300225501&sr=8-2
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