Jeremey McMillan wants to know more:

>Beethoven also fell in out of love with many different women.  All of the
>relationships he tried to have halfway broke his heart.  He always fell
>in love with women who were, well, out of his leauge.  I believe this also
>had something to do with his pride or arrogance.  He ended up being a
>bachelor all his life as well, although I have heard rumors that he may
>have had a child out of wedlock.  (Someone please respond to that!)

OK, Jeremy, here's an attempt to give you a summary of this rumor as short
as possible, but I have to warn you: it's a neverending story!  It has
to do with his famous letter to that unknown woman, known as the Immortal
Beloved.  These days there are enough proofs to assume that he wrote that
letter on July 6/7, 1812, when he was in Teplitz in Bohemia for a so-called
Kur in an attempt to improve his health.  Now there are two women, with
whom he was befriended -to say the least- who gave birth to a child in
1813, one of them in March, the other April.  The name of the women:
Antonie Brentano, born Birkenstock, and Josephine Stackelberg (also known
as Deym, the name of her first husband, Stackelberg was the second), born
Brunswick (or Brunsvik).  The name of the children: Karl Joseph Brentano,
born in March, and Minona Stackelberg, born in April.  Ever since the many,
many hunters for the Immortal Beloved realized the intruiging birthdays
of these kids, the discussion is going on.  The most important proof for
Antonie is her close friendship with Beethoven in the preceding months.
The most important counterproof is the fact that nothing, absolutely
nothing is known about a love affair and Beethoven was also very close
with her husband, not only in the preceding months, but also later on
in the following years.  The most important proof for Josephine are the
loveletters Beethoven sent her in the years 1804/8, maybe even 1809/10 (one
letter is undated and the experts disagree on the date).  The important
counterproof is the fact that it looks as if the couple had said goodbye
after the last letter and there's not the slightest of a proof that they
reconciled in 1812.  This summary is not complete without the mentioning of
Beethoven's nephew Karl as another possible illigimate child, though the
chances for this hypothesis are little.  However, it cannot be excluded
that in 1805/6 Beethoven and Johanna, who married his brother in May 1806
when she was already pregnant, had a short affair and in this case Karl,
who was born in September 1806, must have been the result.  In this
hypothesis the unknown woman of the loveletter must have been another
one, of course.  It must have been a new affair.  The names of the most
important defenders of the various hypotheses: Solomon (American) for
Antonie; Goldschmidt (German and dead) and Tellenbach (Swiss) for
Josephine; Roos (Dutch) for Johanna and, last and least Rose, the American
moviemaker, who had the guts to put her also in the role of Immortal
Beloved in his silly movie.  Other IB candidates are Marie Erdoedy and
Dorothea Ertmann, but the hypotheses for these ladies don't include
illigitimate children.  But guess what? A publication on a new hypothesis
is forthcoming (probably this year) with a completely new candidate who
also would have given birth -maybe- to Beethoven's child (a girl in this
case).  So the number of possible illigitimate Beethoven children will
rise to 4...

Greetings,
Joyce Maier
www.ademu.com/Beethoven