The year 2027 marks 200 years since Beethoven’s death. To this day, no one knows for sure the name of Beethoven’s love, the recipient of his famous “Immortal Beloved” letter. He carried the secret of his eternal muse to the grave...

Who are the phenomenal women that surface as possibilities, each with such talents and fortitude of spirit as to potentially inspire Beethoven’s undying adoration? This concerto offers a portrait of each through gorgeous music featuring expressive and virtuosic passages for solo violin while referencing the mystery’s tantalizing connection to Beethoven’s only opera.

The stories of nine women are told through musical means: woven into the piece are ciphers of their names; quotes from and adaptations of music connected to them, mostly by Beethoven; and excerpts from Beethoven’s letter embedded rhythmically and emotionally in the music. Antonie Brentano and Josephine von Brunsvik each have extended sections detailing events from their lives, and seven others who have at some point been suggested as the solution to the mystery are featured one after another in a kaleidoscopic middle movement. 

Just as we perceive the lack of choices and personal autonomy these women lived with through a modern lens, the music was created through syncretic dialogue between the music of Beethoven and the composer's 21st-century sensibilities and methods. Learning about these women and their social and cultural milieu, it becomes clear that Beethoven’s music was in a sense, the soundtrack to their lives.

With context that showcases what these women went through and who society allowed them to be, the piece is an egalitarian tool carrying their voices into the present with timeless relevance.

Length: 30 mins, in three parts

Instrumentation: 2222 - 2200 - timp - pf - solo vn - strings