Julie Guicciardi

"Julie' Guicciardi was born in Trieste, Italy, on November 23, 1784. She was the daughter of Count Franz Joséph Guicciardi, a civil servant, and his wife Susanna. Susanna was a member of the noble Brunswick family, whose members played important roles in the composer's life. In 1800 the Guicciardi family moved to Vienna. Through her Brunswick relatives, Susanna persuaded Beethoven to give the beautiful Julie fortepiano lessons. Most Beethoven scholars think that Beethoven was referring to Julie in a famous letter of November 1, 1801, to Franz Gerhard Wegeler, an old friend in Bonn who was a doctor and professor at the University. In June Beethoven had confessed his oncoming deafness to Wegeler, who replied asking about his state of mind and the medicines he was trying. After telling Wegeler that his doctors told him to apply a blistering medicine made of daphne bark to his arms and herbs to his belly, he shared that his life had become slightly more pleasant, "because I am doing more among mankind." He added, "this change was brought about a lovely, charming girl, who loves me, and whom I love, and it is the first time I feel that - marrying could make me happy, unfortunately, she is not of my class - "

In January 1802 Susanna greatly angered Beethoven by sending him a hand-made gift. He replied with a blistering letter that explained that the gift shocked him because it appeared to be a payment for the lessons, which he had given freely because of Julie's "talent and social good-naturedness." He asked her: "is this friendship? Friendship has no other reward than the one that already lies within it."

Two months later Beethoven dedicated the "Moonlight" Sonata to Julie. In 1852, four years before her death, Julie told the scholar Otto Jahn that he had originally given her the manuscript of the Rondo in G Major, Opus 51, no. 2, but asked her to return it because he needed to dedicate that work to Countess Lichnowsky. Ultimately he dedicated what has become the most famous piano sonata ever composed to Julie, thereby assuring her a place in music history.

Julie married the composer Count Wenzel Gallenberg in 1803, and the couple left for Italy soon after the wedding. If you would like to see pictures of an authentic bust and engraving of Guilietta, click here and go to the fantastic website of the Beethoven-Haus and Archiv in Bonn. Unfortunately, scholars at the Beethoven-Haus were not able to authenticate the beautiful miniature portrait that many scholars have claimed is a portrait of her.