A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Guicciardi, Giulietta

by George Grove

GUICCIARDI. Giulietta or Julie, Countess (Gräfin) Guicciardi—born Nov. 24, 1784, married Count Gallenberg, Nov. 3, 1803, died March 22, 1855—was a Viennese lady, to whom Beethoven dedicated his 'Sonata quasi fantasia' in C♯ minor (Op. 27, No. 2), published in the beginning of March 1802. She was his pupil, and in a conversation with Otto Jahn in the year 1852 (reported by Thayer, Life, ii. 171), she stated that he had given her the Rondo in G (Op. 51 No. 2), but that he withdrew it, and dedicated it to Countess Lichnowsky, and then dedicated the Sonata to her instead. The Countess Guicciardi has, on the authority of Schindler, been believed to be the person to whom Beethoven addressed the passionate letters so often printed (see Moscheles's Schindler, i. 101–106). They were found after his death in the secret drawer of his writing-desk, with his treasured bank-shares. They are all written with pencil on one piece of paper, and the accurate dates are as follow: 'am 6 Juli Morgends'; 'Abends Montags am 6 Juli'; 'Guten Morgen am 7 Juli'—no year named in either, though Schindler adds 1806 to each. In his later editions he adopts 1803 as the year. Thayer however, after an elaborate investigation (Life, ii. 173–180; and Appendix to vol. iii. in Musical World for 1878, nos. 8 and 11), comes to the conclusion that the letters were not written in any year from 1800 to 1803 inclusive, and that the Countess Guicciardi was not the object of them^[1]. Beethoven however had been deeply in love with her, and believed that his passion was returned. At least such was his impression in Feb. 1823, when he wrote in a conversation-book preserved in the Berlin Library, 'J'etois bien aimé d'elle et plus que jamais son epoux.' A few lines further on he states that he had seen her again after her marriage—'main je la meprisois.'

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1. If Beethoven had mistaken the day of the month, 1806 might be the year.