Countess Therese (von) Brunsvik (; July 27, 1775 in

Pozsony Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from 1000 to 1946 and was a key part of the Habsburg monarchy from 1526-1918. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coro ...

– September 23, 1861 in Pest, Kingdom of Hungary), sometimes referred to in English as Therese, Countess von Brunsvik or Brunswick, was a member of the

Hungarian nobility The Kingdom of Hungary held a Nobility, noble class of individuals, most of whom owned landed property, from the 11th century until the mid-20th century. Initially, a diverse body of people were described as noblemen, but from the lat ...

pedagogue Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political, and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken ...

and a follower of the Swiss

Pestalozzi Pestalozzi is the surname of an Italian family originally based in Gravedona and Chiavenna who settled in Switzerland during the Counter-Reformation. Members of this family include: * Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi (1746–1827), Swiss pedagogue an ...

Early life

She was born as the eldest child and eldest daughter of Hungarian

Count Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...

, Anton Brunszvik de Korompa (1746-1793) and his wife,

Baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than ...

ess Anna Barbara Wanckel von Seeberg (1752-1830). Her siblings were Count Franz (1779-1854), Countess Maria Josefa (1779-1821), Countess Josephine, and Countess Charlotte (1780-1843).

Biography

She was the founder of

nursery school A preschool (sometimes spelled as pre school or pre-school), also known as nursery school, pre-primary school, play school, is an educational establishment or learning space offering early childhood education to children before they begin c ...

s in

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

on July 1, 1828, after

Robert Owen Robert Owen (; 14 May 1771 – 17 November 1858) was a Welsh textile manufacturer, philanthropist, political philosopher and social reformer, and a founder of utopian socialism and the cooperative movement, co-operative movement. He strove to ...

's example set in

New Lanark New Lanark is a village on the River Clyde, approximately from Lanark, in Lanarkshire, and some southeast of Glasgow, Scotland. It was founded in 1785 and opened in 1786 by David Dale, who built cotton mills and housing for the mill workers. D ...

, Scotland in 1816. Soon the pre-school institution became famous all over Hungary and in 1837,

Friedrich Fröbel Friedrich Wilhelm August Fröbel or Froebel (; 21 April 1782 – 21 June 1852) was a German pedagogue, a student of Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, who laid the foundation for modern education based on the recognition that children have unique nee ...

founded the first "kindergarten" in Germany. One of

Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

's students, Therese was the dedicatee for his Piano Sonata No. 24 (in F major, Opus 78), and some writers speculated that she—not her sister Josephine who is generally accepted as the addressee—may have been the intended recipient of Beethoven's letter to the "

Immortal Beloved The Immortal Beloved (German "Unsterbliche Geliebte") is the addressee of a love letter which composer Ludwig van Beethoven wrote on 6 or 7 July 1812 in Teplitz (then in the Austrian Empire, now in the Czech Republic). The unsent letter is writ ...

". Her memoirs were first published by La Mara, who subscribed to this theory. and her diaries and notes (up to 1813) by Marianne Czeke,Marianne Czeke (1938): ''Brunszvik Teréz grófno naplói és feljegyzései''. ountess Therese Brunsvik's Diaries and Notes.Vol. 1. Budapest. both claiming to reveal much about the relations between

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

and the Brunsvik family, in particular her sister Josephine.

References

External links

* http://www.mek.iif.hu/porta/szint/egyeb/lexikon/eletrajz/html/ABC00523/02357.htm * http://www.aeiou.at/aeiou.encyclop.b/b830508.htm {{DEFAULTSORT:Brunsvik, Terez 18th-century Hungarian people 19th-century Hungarian people 19th-century Hungarian educators Hungarian-German people Terez People from Bratislava 1775 births 1861 deaths Pupils of Ludwig van Beethoven Educators from the Austrian Empire