Two personalities hard to manage and different in terms of outlook on life and artistic aims. Yet they can be considered two friends-enemies that never managed to work together due to their innate independence. The person who brought them together was Bettina Brentano, a woman of high prestige well introduced into the highest social circles and consequently in contact with the most important figures of the age. What is more, Goethe had an affection for Bettina because she was the daughter of Maximiliana La Roche, his first love. The friendship with the poet, born in 1807, gave rise to the “Correspondence of Goethe with a child”, which testifies how the girl’s fervent imagination tended to distort events and memories.
As regards contacts between Mrs. Brentano and Beethoven, these too are based on fantasy. It was the woman who took advantage of her acquaintance with the composer to kindle rumours of a great love affair and invent inexistent passionate love letters. Quite apart from the gossip of the time, we can give Mrs. Brentano the merit of having planned the famous meetings that went down in history and which took place on 19 and 23 July 1812 at Teplitz.

The two men mutually admired one another and, above all, the composer had a high opinion of Goethe, some of whose Lieders he had already put to music. He also wished to compose the music for Egmont. The foundations therefore existed for the two to blend in complete harmony without any specific problems that could on the other hand have arisen due to their rivalry for the same woman (Mrs. Brentano). In 1809, Beethoven had already asked the publishers Breitkopf and Hartel for a complete edition of the works of Goethe and Schiller. An anticipation of the clamorous events that were to occur later. The musician once wrote to Mrs. Brentano: “…Goethe’s poems make me happy…” and again: “Goethe seems great and majestic, always in D major”. On the other hand, testimonies have come to us from Goethe that go to join the sensations produced by the musician: “I have never seen a more collected, energetic and profound artist”, but to this phrase he added a marginal note that already made clear some reservations he had with respect to the illustrious maestro: “I well understand how singular he is with respect to the world”. Elements already able to create platforms of rich and articulated debate. Expressions of mutual consideration, but which alone are not enough to make clear the inner psychological struggle that existed between them, because both felt themselves important and indispensable for the world of culture. Goethe wrote: “Unfortunately Beethoven is a completely untameable person; of course, he is not wrong in finding the world detestable, but this is really not the best way to make it more pleasant for himself and others. We should pity him and sympathise with him for his deafness”. An offence that created an unbridgeable rift between the two men. Goethe never again listened to Beethoven’s music (the 1st tempo of the Fifth Symphony was the last page of the composer he listened to) and Beethoven closed the door onto Goethe’s world once and for all, exclaiming: “There is no more to say on his account than on the absurdities of the virtuous, when the poets that should be considered the leading masters of the country forget everything for such beads and bangles”.

Before saying this, the Maestro had seen the Poet as the universal source of a dramatic musical world (these were the years he put to music Egmont and a number of Lieders for the first Faust ) and as Claudio Casini writes: “…the leading poet’s participation in the fading of the progressive ideals nourished by the previous generation, at which Beethoven had stopped, appeared almost as a betrayal of the duties of the great poet which a part of German culture attributed to Goethe and which for Beethoven were cruelly disappointed in the meetings” (1). Even though Bettina made every effort to re-establish relations between the two men, she failed because of the obstinacy and enormous faith each had in his own opinions, without allowing anyone else to enter their range of action. What is more, Beethoven accused Goethe of being too servile with the powers that be, removing his hat and bowing when any important people passed by, while Goethe, in turn, criticised the musician because in similar circumstances, he would turn his head the other way. Two completely contrasting, but very significant viewpoints. One positive note does remain however. The fact that when they met they were able to exchange opinions and thoughts. We can only presume this gave rise to a new line of thought put into practice by them both in their subsequent works. Something we should all like to believe but of which we shall never be sure.

(1) C. Casini: “Beethoven e la libertà nella musica”. Published by Cremonese – Rome 1976

Translated by interpres sas