[122] The Editor of this English edition takes the liberty of inserting the letter in the body of the text. Mr. Thayer, or his first German Editor, Dr. Deiters, put it in the appendix to the third volume, following it with an argument advanced to show that it was not addressed to the Countess Guicciardi. This argument the English Editor has also transferred to the body of the text so that the discussion may be read continuously.
[123] From here on the Editor of this English edition presents Mr. Thayer’s further contentions as they are set forth in the first appendix to Vol. III of the first German edition, though in the form of a translation—the original manuscript not having reached his hands.
[124] Ludwig Nohl.
[125] These concluding remarks, from chapters V and VI of Vol. III of the first German edition, are brought in here to complete the author’s public utterances on the subject of the identity of the “Immortal Beloved.” Thayer is discussing the failure of Beethoven’s marriage project.
[126] Amongst Beethoven’s posthumous effects was found a portrait in oil by J. B. von Lampi with the following inscription on the back of the frame:
To the Unique Genius
To the Great Artist
To the Good Man
from T.B.
(Dem seltenen Genie, Dem grossen Künstler, Dem guten Menschen)
This picture went from the possession of the widow of Beethoven’s nephew Karl into that of Georg Hellmesbeger Sr. in 1861 and was presented by his grandson to the Beethoven-Haus Verein in Bonn, where it is now preserved. It is, in all probability, the portrait of which Beethoven speaks in a letter to Count Franz von Brunswick, dated July 11, 1811: “Since I do not know how the portrait fell into your hands, it would be best were you to bring it with you; an amiable artist will no doubt be found who will copy it for the sake of friendship.” Besides the portrait of the Countess Therese there was also a medallion picture of the Countess Guicciardi amongst the effects left by Beethoven. It was identified as such by her son, who died in 1893. (See Breuning, “Aus dem Schwarzspanierhause,” p. 124.)
[127] Riemann in his revision of Vol. II of this biography says, “The statement in the second and third volumes of the first edition were based on the belief that the serious marriage project of Beethoven which led him to ask Wegeler to get for him [128] The Sonata in E, Op. 14, No. 1, transposed to F major, was published in 1802. See W. Altmann, “Ein vergessenes Streichquartett Beethovens,” “Die Musik,” 1905.