Alois Isidor Jeitteles (20 June 1794 – 16 April 1858) was an Austrian doctor, journalist and writer, best known for

Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...

's setting of his poem sequence, ''

An die ferne Geliebte ' (''To the distant beloved''), Op. 98, is a composition by Ludwig van Beethoven written in April 1816, setting poetry by Alois Jeitteles. Beethoven's ' Beethoven's only song cycle was the precursor of a series of followers, including those of F ...

''.

Life

Jeitteles was born in Brünn (now

Brno Brno ( , ; german: Brünn ) is a city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers, Brno has about 380,000 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the Czech Republic ...

), to a

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...

ish family with a medical and rabbinic tradition. He studied philosophy in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

and Brünn and medicine in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. In 1819 he opened a medical practice in Brünn. He published poetry in the pamphlets "Selam" (1812–1817) and "Aglaja" (1815–1832). With his cousin he founded the Jewish weekly "Siona" in 1818. In the same year he collaborated with

Ignaz Franz Castelli Ignaz Franz Castelli (6 March 1781 – 5 February 1862) was an Austrian dramatist born in Vienna. He studied law at the university, and then entered the government service. During the Napoleonic invasions his patriotism inspired him to wri ...

on "Der Schicksalsstrumpf", a parody of the fashionable '' :de:Schicksalstragödie'' or tragedy of fate. Jeitteles made numerous translations, including the Spanish comedy ''Die Macht des Blutes'' (Spanish title: ''La fuerza de la sangre'') by Agustin Moreto as well as several French plays. From 1848 to his death he edited the newspaper the "Brünner Zeitung". Jeitteles died in Brünn and was buried in Brno Jewish Cemetery.Alois Isidor Jeitteles
Brno Online Encyclopedia (in Czech), accessed 1 August 2020 His daughter was the suffragette :de:Ottilie Bondy (1832–1921). He also had two sons, Richard and Robert.

''An die ferne Geliebte''

Jeitteles's poetic sequence ''

(To the Distant Beloved)'', written in 1815 when he was 21, was set in 1816 as a

song cycle A song cycle (german: Liederkreis or Liederzyklus) is a group, or cycle (music), cycle, of individually complete Art song, songs designed to be performed in a sequence as a unit.Susan Youens, ''Grove online'' The songs are either for solo voice ...

, who was acquainted with both Alois and his cousin Ignaz. Beethoven's early biographer

Anton Schindler Anton Felix Schindler (13 June 1795 in Medlov – 16 January 1864 in Bockenheim (Frankfurt am Main)) was an Austrian law clerk and associate, secretary, and early biographer of Ludwig van Beethoven. Life Schindler moved to Vienna in 1813 to st ...

recorded that Beethoven thanked Jeitteles for the inspiration he provided, but it is not clear whether Jeitteles wrote the poems specifically for Beethoven or whether Beethoven first saw them on publication.Thayer (1967), p. 647

Notes

Publications

* ''Sieg, Friede, Heimkehr. Bey Gelegenheit der ... Rückkehr ... des Kaisers'', Brünn: Trailer, 1814 * ''Die Hausgenossen. Lustspiel'', Leipzig : Andrä, 1843 * ''Moderne Walpurgisnacht'', Brünn: C. Winiker, 1848

Sources

* * * Thayer, Alexander Wheelock, rev. and edited Elliot Forbes (1967). "Thayer's Life of Beethoven". Princeton: Princeton University Press.

External links