Heiligenstadt Testament
The Heiligenstadt Testament is a letter written by Ludwig van Beethoven to his brothers Carl and Johann at Heiligenstadt (today part of Vienna) on 6 October 1802.
It reflects his despair over his increasing deafness, even his contemplation of suicide, and his continued desire to overcome his physical and emotional ailments to complete his artistic destiny. Beethoven kept the document hidden among his private papers for the rest of his life, and probably never showed it to anyone. It was discovered in March 1827, after Beethoven's death, by Anton Schindler and Stephan von Breuning, who had it published the following October.
A curiosity of the document is that, while Carl's name appears in the appropriate places, blank spaces are left where Johann's name should appear (as in the upper right corner of the accompanying image). There have been numerous proposed explanations for this, ranging from Beethoven's uncertainty as to whether Johann's full name (Nikolaus Johann) should be used on this quasi-legal document, to his mixed feelings of attachment to his brothers, to transference of his lifelong hatred of the boys' alcoholic, abusive father (ten years dead in 1802), also named Johann.
Since 1888, the original document[1] has been in the Carl von Ossietzky State and University Library at Hamburg, a gift from the Swedish singer Jenny Lind.
References
- "Catalogue record". University of Hamburg Library. 1888.1389. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
- Lockwood, Lewis (2003). Beethoven: The Music and the Life. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0-393-32638-1.
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