Unsterbliche
Geliebte

"Yes, I have determined to wander about for so long far away, until I can fly into your arms and call myself quite at home with you, can send my soul enveloped by yours into the realm of spirits
— yes, I regret, it must be."

The following love letter was written over the course of two days in July of 1812 by Ludwig van Beethoven. A translation of the text can be found here.

Beethoven, although never married, feel deeply in love with a mysterious woman in his early forties who remains known as “immortal beloved” — the eternally enchanting term of endearment by which the great composer addressed her in his letters. Her true identity has spurred entire books, but historians currently believe she was Antonie Brentano — a Viennese aristocrat married to a Frankfurt businessman.

The letters were found among his personal effects; they were never mailed — a beautiful and tragic testament to the fact that their affair, like all affairs, was both bedeviled and vitalized by the awareness that the two lovers could never fully have each other.

This is not the full text that I've transcribed, the text that is remaining in my version from the original is not edited, although many sections that I deemed unnecessary to the emotion and narrative behind the text were removed.