Maria Magdalena van Beethoven

Maria Magdalena van Beethoven
Painting by Benedikt Beckenkamp. The portrait's authenticity is disputed: Alexander Wheelock Thayer writes that it rests on "uncertain tradition" and "lacks authoritative attestation".
Born	Maria Magdalena Keverich (1746-12-19)19 December 1746 Ehrenbreitstein
Died	17 July 1787(1787-07-17) (aged 40) Bonn
Other names	Maria Magdalena Leym
Spouse	Johann van Beethoven
Children	7, including Ludwig van Beethoven Kaspar Anton Karl van Beethoven Nikolaus Johann van Beethoven

Maria Magdalena van Beethoven, née Keverich (19 December 1746 – 17 July 1787) was the wife of the Bonn court musician Johann van Beethoven, and the mother of the composer Ludwig van Beethoven. Her birthplace is now a museum, the Mutter-Beethoven-Haus.

Life

Her birthplace in Ehrenbreitstein, now a museum

Maria Magdalena Keverich was born in Ehrenbreitstein, a village on the Rhine opposite Koblenz (and now part of Koblenz). Her parents were Johann Heinrich Keverich (1701–1759) and Anna Klara (Clara) née Westorff (1707–1768), who were married in 1731. Her paternal grandparents were Johann Heinrich Keverich (c. 1660–1709) and Eva Catharina Keverich, nee Alber (1669–1753) and her maternal grandparents were merchant Jacob Westorff (1667–1727) and Maria Magdalena Westorff, nee Schetter (born 1680). From 1733, Johann was head cook at the court of Franz Georg von Schönborn, the Elector of Trier, at Schloss Philippsburg in Ehrenbreitstein. Among her siblings was Johann Peter Keverich (1734–1807), who later became a priest and Prior of the Carmelite Monastery in Koblenz.

Maria Magdalena was the youngest of their six children. On 30 January 1763, she married Johann Georg Leym (1733–1765), who was in the service of the Archbishop of Trier; he died in 1765.

In her first marriage, she had a son, Johann Peter Anton Leym (1764–1764), who died in infancy.

One of her cousins married court violinist Johann Conrad Rovantini and moved with him to Bonn, where she found work in the orchestra of the electoral court.

Her cousin Anna Margaretha Daubach (born 1730) was a daughter of her maternal aunt Maria Magdalena Westorff (1699–1762), who was married court chef Georg Adam Daubach (1690–1749), and was mother of Franz Georg Rovantini (1757–1781), who subsequently he became a teacher of her son Ludwig.

She married Johann van Beethoven (c. 1740–1792) at the Church of St Remigius, Bonn on 12 November 1767. Johann's father was Kapellmeister at the court of the Electorate of Cologne, which was in Bonn, and Johann was a court musician there. Johann and Maria van Beethoven had seven children: the future composer Ludwig was the second, born in 1770.

Maria died in Bonn in 1787 of tuberculosis, aged 40. Her birth place is now a museum, named Mutter-Beethoven-Haus.

Brothers and sisters

Mary Magdalene van Beethoven had five older siblings, four of whom died in infancy and only of whom survived:

• Anna Catharina Keverich (1731–1731)
• Johann Jacob Keverich (1732–1732)
• Johann Peter Keverich (1734–1807) – priest.
• Johann Balthasar Keverich (1743)
• Gallus Keverich (1743)

External links

• Literature by and about Maria Magdalena van Beethoven in the German National Library catalogue
• Mutter-Beethoven-Haus
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