LETTER 15
GET AT THE VERY HEART OF IT
Ludwig van Beethoven to Emilie H.
17 July 1812
It was at the beginning of July 1812 that forty-two-year-old German composer Ludwig van Beethoven wrote one of his best known missives: a passionate, ten-page declaration of love to his ‘Immortal Beloved’ which still to this day provokes discussion, not least due to a recipient whose identity remains a mystery and whom it seems Beethoven was unwilling to live without. A week later, in the wake of such anguish, he was writing an altogether different kind of letter, this time to an eight-year-old girl. Emilie H. was an admirer and aspiring pianist from Hamburg who, with help from her governess, had recently sent to her musical idol a hand-embroidered pocketbook as a thank you for his work. In return, young Emilie received a letter of advice far more honest than one would expect, and a generous invitation to write again.
Teplitz, 17th July, 1812.
My Dear Good Emilie, My Dear Friend!
I am sending a late answer to your letter; a mass of business, constant illness must be my excuse. That I am here for the restoration of my health proves the truth of my excuse. Do not snatch the laurel wreaths from Händel, Haydn, Mozart; they are entitled to them; as yet I am not.
Your pocket-book shall be preserved among other tokens of the esteem of many people, which I do not deserve.
Continue, do not only practise art, but get at the very heart of it; this it deserves, for only art and science raise men to the God-head. If, my dear Emilie, you at any time wish to know something, write without hesitation to me. The true artist is not proud, he unfortunately sees that art has no limits; he feels darkly how far he is from the goal; and though he may be admired by others, he is sad not to have reached that point to which his better genius only appears as a distant, guiding sun. I would, perhaps, rather come to you and your people, than to many rich folk who display inward poverty. If one day I should come to H., I will come to you, to your house; I know no other excellences in man than those which causes him to rank among better men; where I find this, there is my home.
If you wish, dear Emilie, to write to me, only address straight here where I shall still be for the next four weeks, or to Vienna; it is all one. Look upon me as your friend, and as the friend of your family.
LUDWIG V. BEETHOVEN
‘DO NOT ONLY PRACTISE ART, BUT GET AT THE VERY HEART OF IT; THIS IT DESERVES, FOR ONLY ART AND SCIENCE RAISE MEN TO THE GOD-HEAD.’
– Ludwig van Beethoven