Dorothea von Ertmann (born Dorothea Graumann; 3 May 1781 – 16 March 1849) was a German pianist.

Biography

Dorothea Graumann was born in

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...

and married Stephan von Ertmann, an Austrian infantry officer, in 1798. The couple moved to Vienna, where Dorothea Ertmann began taking lessons with

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 classic ...

; he called her his "Dorothea-

Cecilia Cecilia is a personal name originating in the name of Saint Cecilia, the patron saint of music. The name has been popularly used in Europe (particularly the United Kingdom and Italy, where in 2018 it was the 43rd most popular name for girls born ...

". He dedicated his Piano Sonata No. 28 (in A major, Op. 101, composed in

1816 This year was known as the ''Year Without a Summer'', because of low temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere, possibly the result of the Mount Tambora volcanic eruption in Indonesia in 1815, causing severe global cooling, catastrophic in s ...

) to her, and she may also have been the intended recipient of his

Immortal Beloved The Immortal Beloved (German "Unsterbliche Geliebte") is the addressee of a love letter which composer Ludwig van Beethoven wrote on 6–7 July 1812 in Teplitz. The unsent letter is written in pencil on 10 small pages. It was found in the comp ...

letters. Her only child, Franz Carl, died at a young age in March 1804. While she was in mourning, Beethoven invited her to his home and improvised on the piano for her for an hour in order to comfort her, saying "We will now talk to each other in tones". Ertmann premiered his Cello Sonata No. 3 on 5 March 1809 with

Nikolaus Kraft Nikolaus Kraft (14 December 1778, Eszterháza, Hungary – 18 May 1853, Cheb, Bohemia) was an Austrian cellist and composer (six cello concertos). He was the son of Antonín Kraft image:AntonKraft.jpg, Antonín Kraft Antonín Kraft (30 December ...

. She and her husband moved to

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

in 1820, where she was visited by Felix Mendelssohn, but after her husband's death in 1835 she returned to Vienna where she died. Ertmann gave a number of public concerts and was most noted for her performance of Beethoven's compositions: Alexander Thayer said that "all contemporary authorities agree, he wasif not the greatest player of these works at least the greatest of her sex".

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 s ...

suggested that "she grasped intuitively even the most hidden subtleties of Beethoven's works with as much certainty as if they had been written out before her eyes". He also said that "without Frau von Ertmann, Beethoven's music would have disappeared even sooner from the repertory" because she created a musical salon dedicated to preserving his style against the rise of newer, more "fashionable" composers. The German opera singer and teacher

Mathilde Marchesi Mathilde Marchesi (née Graumann; 24 March 1821 – 17 November 1913) was a German mezzo-soprano, a singing teacher, and a proponent of the bel canto vocal method. Biography Marchesi was born in Frankfurt. Her father's last name was Graumann; ...

, née Graumann, was her niece.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ertmann, Dorothea von 1781 births 1849 deaths 19th-century classical pianists 19th-century German musicians German pianists Austrian nobility German emigrants to Austria Musicians from Vienna Musicians from Frankfurt Pupils of Ludwig van Beethoven