This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2009)

Ode (from the Ancient Greek ὠδή) is a type of lyrical verse.^{[citation needed]} A classic ode is structured in three major parts: the strophe, the antistrophe, and the epode.^{[citation needed]} Different forms such as the homostrophic ode and the irregular ode also exist. It is an elaborately structured poem praising or glorifying an event or individual, describing nature intellectually as well as emotionally.^{[citation needed]}

Greek odes were originally poetic pieces accompanied by symphonic orchestras.^{[citation needed]} As time passed on, they gradually became known as personal lyrical compositions whether sung (with or without musical instruments) or merely recited (always with accompaniment).^{[citation needed]} For some, the primary instrument of choice was either the aulos or the lyre (the latter of which was the most revered instrument to the Ancient Greeks).^{[citation needed]} The written ode, as it was practiced by the Romans, returned to the lyrical form of the Lesbian lyricists.^{[citation needed]}

There are three typical forms of odes:the Pindaric, Horatian, and irregular.^{[citation needed]} Pindaric odes follow the form and style of Pindar.^{[citation needed]} Horatian odes follow conventions of Horace; the odes of Horace deliberately imitated the Greek lyricists such as Alcaeus and Anacreon.^{[citation needed]} Odes by Catullus, as well as other poetry of Catullus, was particularly inspired by Sappho. Irregular odes are rhyming, but they do not employ the three-part form of the Pindaric ode nor the two- or four-line stanza of the Horatian ode.^{[citation needed]}

English ode[link]

An ode is typically a lyrical verse written in praise of, or dedicated to someone or something which captures the poet's interest or serves as an inspiration for the ode.^{[citation needed]}

The initial model for English odes was Horace, who used the form to write meditative lyrics on various themes. The earliest odes in the English language, using the word in its strict form, were the Epithalamium and Prothalamium of Edmund Spenser.^{[citation needed]}

In the 17th century the most important original odes in English are those of Abraham Cowley and Andrew Marvell. Marvell, in his Horatian Ode upon Cromwell's Return from Ireland uses a regular form (two four-foot lines followed by two three-foot lines) modelled on Horace, while Cowley wrote "Pindarique" odes which had irregular patterns of line lengths and rhyme schemes, though they were iambic. The principle of Cowley's Pindariques was based on a misunderstanding of Pindar's metrical practice but was widely imitated nonetheless, with notable success by John Dryden.^{[citation needed]}

With Pindar's metre being better understood in the 18th century, the fashion for Pindaric odes faded, though there are notable actual Pindaric odes by Thomas Gray, The Progress of Poesy and The Bard.^{[citation needed]}

The Pindarick of Cowley was revived around 1800 by William Wordsworth for one of his very finest poems, the Intimations of Immortality ode; irregular odes were also written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, John Keats, and Percy Bysshe Shelley who wrote odes with regular stanza patterns. Shelley's Ode to the West Wind, written in fourteen line terza rima stanzas, is a major poem in the form, but perhaps the greatest odes of the 19th century were Keats's Five Great Odes of 1819 which included Ode to a Nightingale, Ode on Melancholy, Ode on a Grecian Urn, Ode to Psyche, and To Autumn. After Keats, there have been comparatively few major odes in English. One major exception is the fourth verse of the poem For the Fallen by Laurence Binyon which is often known as "The Ode to the Fallen" or more simply as "The Ode".^{[citation needed]}

W.H. Auden also wrote 'Ode', one of his most popular poems from his earlier career when based in London, in opposition to people's ignorance over the reality of war. In interview Auden once stated that he had intended to title the poem My Silver Age in mockery of the supposedly imperial Golden age, however chose 'Ode' as it seemed to provide a more sensitive exploration of warfare.^{[citation needed]}

The English ode's most common rhyme scheme is ABABCDECDE.^{[citation needed]}

Notable practitioners of the ode[link]

• John Keats
• Samuel Taylor Coleridge
• William Wordsworth
• Percy Bysshe Shelley
• Edmund Spenser
• Pablo Neruda
• Horace
• Catullus
• Ovid
• Sappho
• Rudyard Kipling
• Emily Dickinson

References[link]

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Gosse, Edmund (1911). "Ode". In Chisholm, Hugh. Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

External links[link]

• 'Ode' - JPiC Forum For Writers Glossary Term of the Day
•  "Ode". Encyclopedia Americana. 1920. 

The Immortal Beloved (German "Unsterbliche Geliebte") is the mysterious addressee^[1] of a love letter which composer Ludwig van Beethoven wrote on 6–7 July 1812 in Teplitz. The apparently unsent letter was found in the composer's estate after his death, after which it remained in the hands of Anton Schindler until his death, was subsequently willed to his sister, and was sold by her in 1880 to the Berlin State Library, where it remains today.^[2] The letter is written in pencil and consists of three parts.

Since Beethoven did not specify a year, nor a location, an exact dating of the letter and identification of the addressee was speculative until the 1950s, when an analysis of the paper's watermark yielded the year, and by extension the place. Scholars have since this time been divided on the intended recipient of the Immortal Beloved letter. The two candidates favored by most contemporary scholars are Antonie Brentano^[3] and Josephine Brunsvik.^[4] Other candidates who have been conjectured, with various degrees of mainstream scholarly support, are Julie ("Giulietta") Guicciardi,^[5] Therese von Brunsvik,^[6] Anna-Marie Erdödy,^[7] Bettina Brentano,^[8] and several others.^[9]

The Letter[link]

The entire letter is written on 10 small pages, in Beethoven's rather inconsistent handwriting.^[10] The first section occupies four pages. In the following, the dashes and underlined words are as in Beethoven's manuscript, crossed-out parts are enclosed in “<...>”.

6th July, in the morning.
My angel, my everything, my very self. – only a few words today, and in pencil (with yours) - I shall not be certain of my rooms here until tomorrow – what an unnecessary waste of time - why this deep grief, where necessity speaks - can our love exist but by sacrifices, by not demanding everything. Can you change it, that you are not completely mine, that I am not completely yours? Oh God, look upon beautiful Nature and calm your mind about what must be – love demands everything and completely with good reason, that is how it is for me with you, and for you with me - only you forget too easily, that I must live for myself and for you as well, if we were wholly united, you would not feel this as painfully, just as little as I would – my journey was terrible. I did not arrive here until 4 o'clock yesterday morning. As there were few horses, the mail coach chose another route, but what a dreadful one this was! At the last stage but one I was warned not to travel at night; attempts were made to frighten me about a forest, but that only made me more eager. – I was wrong. The coach broke down on the awful road, a road without a proper surface, a country one. If the two coachmen had not been with me, I would have remained stranded on the way. Esterhazi travelled the usual road here and had the same fate with eight horses that I had with four. – Yet I did get some pleasure out of it, as I always do when I successfully overcome difficulties. – now quickly to the interior from the exterior. We will probably see each other soon, only, today I cannot convey to you my observations which I made during these few days about my life – If our hearts were always close together, I would have no such thoughts. my heart is full with so much to tell you - Oh - There are moments when I feel that language is nothing at all - cheer up - remain my faithful only darling, my everything, as I for you, the rest is up to the Gods, what must be for us and what is in store for us. –
your faithful ludwig -

The following section continues on pages 5 and 6 through half of page 7. The struck-out portion below is heavily crossed-out in the manuscript.

Monday evening, 6th July.
You are suffering, you my dearest creature – only now do I realize that letters have to be posted very early, on Mondays – Thursdays – the only days when the mail is delivered to K. - you are suffering - Oh, wherever I am, you are with me, I talk to myself and to you[,] arrange [it] that I can live with you, what a life!!!! as it is!!!! without you – Pursued by the goodness of mankind here and there, the goodness that I wish to deserve as little as I deserve it. – Man’s humility towards man – this pains me – and when I consider myself in relation to the universe, what am I and what is the man who is called the greatest? – And yet, – therein lies the divine element in man. I weep when I think that you will probably not receive first news of me until Saturday. However as much as you love me - I love you even more deeply, but - but never hide yourself from me - Good night – as I am taking the baths I must go to bed. <oh go with me, go with me> Oh God - so near! so far! Is not our love a true edifice in Heaven - but also as firm as the firmament. –

The final section of the letter resumes after a horizontal line on page 7. The handwriting on the last page is much larger and more difficult to decipher, showing a marked difference from the relatively more orderly page 9. The entire tenth page is thus taken up by only a small amount of text (beginning with "life - my everything" in the translation below).

Good morning, on 7th July.
While still in bed my thoughts turn towards you my Immortal Beloved, now and then happy, then sad again, waiting whether fate might answer us - I can only live either wholly with you or not at all, yes I have resolved to stray about in the distance, until I can fly into your arms, and send my soul embraced by you into the realm of the Spirits - yes unfortunately it must be - you will compose yourself all the more since you know my faithfulness to you, never can another own my heart, never – never – O God why do I have to separate from someone whom I love so much, and yet my life in V[ienna] as it is now is a miserable life - Your love makes me at once most happy and most unhappy - at my age I would now need some conformity[,] regularity of my life – can this exist in our relationship? – Angel, I have just heard that the mail coach goes every day – and thus I must finish so that you may receive the letter immediately. – be patient – only through quiet contemplation of our existence can we achieve our purpose to live together – Be calm; for only by calmly considering our lives can we achieve our purpose of living together.- be calm - love me - today - yesterday - What yearning with tears for you - you - you my life – my everything - farewell - oh continue to love me - never misjudge the most faithful heart of your Beloved

L.

Forever thine
forever mine
forever us. ^[11]

Text Analysis[link]

After Schmidt-Görg (1957) published 13 so far unknown love letters by Beethoven to Josephine Brunsvik, it became clear that this Letter to the “Immortal Beloved” was not the only love letter by the composer. That Josephine could have been the unknown woman was subsequently suggested by analyses of similarities in wordings and phrases between the earlier letters (from 1804 to 1809) and this mysterious one from 1812, carried out mainly in the monographs by Massin (1955, 1970), Goldschmidt (1977, pp. 189–195) and Tellenbach (1983, p. 103 f.):^[12]

• My angel (used again towards the end of this letter): see “farewell angel – of my heart – of my life.” (#219, April 1805) – this also uses the intimate German “Du” ("Leb wohl Engel"); “farewell angel of my heart” (#220, April/May 1805).

• My everything, you - you - my life – my everything: see “you – you - my everything, my happiness ... my solace – my everything” (#214, 1st quarter 1805); “dear J. everything – everything for you” (#297, after 20 September 1807).

• Esterhazy: This Hungarian Prince was well-known to the Hungarian Brunsviks.

• remain my faithful only, your faithful ludwig, since you know my faithfulness to you, never can another own my heart, never – never, never misjudge the most faithful heart of your beloved L., forever thine, forever mine, forever us: see “Long – Long – may our love last – it is so noble – so much founded on mutual respect and friendship – even great similarity in so many things, in thoughts and feelings – oh let me hope that your heart – will continue to beat for me for a long time – mine can only – stop – to beat for you – if – it does not beat any more – beloved J” (#216, March/April 1805); “your faithful Bethwn” (#279, May 1807); “your faithful Bthwn, eternally devoted to you” (#294, 20 September 1807). Clearly referring to a pre-existing and long relationship.

• You are suffering you my dearest ... you are suffering - Oh, wherever I am, you are with me: Josephine was not only frequently ill, but especially desperate around that time because her husband had left her.

• but – but never hide yourself from me: During 1807, Josephine began to withdraw from Beethoven, due to the pressure by her family; she was not home when Beethoven came to see her (see #294 and #307).

• I must go to bed <o go with me go with me –>: the heavily crossed-out words are probably the strongest indication that their love had been consummated (also explains the birth of Minona, Josephine’s seventh child, exactly nine months later).

The Period of Speculation (1827 to 1969)[link]

In his biography of Beethoven, Schindler (1840) suspected Julie Guicciardi^[13] to be the “Immortal Beloved”. However, research by Tellenbach (1983)^[14] indicates that her cousin Franz von Brunsvik may have suggested this (when talking to Schindler), as he was keen to distract any suspicion away from his sister Josephine – with whom Beethoven had been hopelessly in love from 1799 to ca. 1809/1810, but this was always kept a secret, and in fact was not known for certain until 1957. Furthermore, Schindler's biography has been found to be extremely unreliable, the many forgeries he committed (including the destruction of documents, letters and conversation books) are meanwhile well-documented.^[15] Therese von Brunsvik, who had been her sister Josephine's life-long companion and was probably the only one who knew everything of her sister's love of Beethoven, commented on the publication of Schindler's conjecture: "Three letters by Beethoven, allegedly to Giulietta. Could they be hoaxes?”^[16]

Tenger (1890) published a – fictional – diary of Therese, which was subsequently dismissed as a “chimera”.^[17] La Mara (1909) published, however, the authentic memoirs by Therese, who was full of admiration and adoration of Beethoven. This, together with interviews of some of the descendants of the Brunsviks, let her to the conclusion that Therese must have been the “Immortal Beloved”.

At first, most researchers^[18] thought the letter must have been written around 1806/7. Thomas-San-Galli (1909, 1910) checked out the official listings of guests in Bohemia, and he concluded first (in 1909) that Amalie Sebald should have been the "Immortal Beloved". (Beethoven met her later several times, and he wrote her a few friendly letters, but certainly no love letters.) Amalie was definitely not in Prague at the beginning of July 1812; Cooper (2000, p. 416) therefore rules her out as a candidate. In 1910 Thomas-San-Galli speculated that instead it might have been Therese who he thought could have (secretly) traveled to Prague.

Doubts were raised by de Hevesy (1910), who ruled out Therese,^[19] and by Unger (1910) against Amalie Sebald.^[20] A summary of the older literature can be found in Forbes (1967, pp. 1088–1092).

There was also a forged Beethoven letter by Paul Bekker in Die Musik,^[21] shown to be a hoax by Newman (1911) – a last-ditch effort to salvage the discredited Julie Guicciardi-hypothesis.

The date of the Letter – 6/7 July 1812 – has meanwhile been firmly established, not only by watermarks and references,^[22] but also by a later letter Beethoven’s to Varnhagen, according to which he must have met his “Immortal Beloved” on 3 July 1812: "I am sorry, dear V., that I could not spend the last evening in Prague with you, and I myself found it impolite, but a circumstance that I could not foresee prevented me."^[23]

La Mara (1920), after discovering more letters and notes in the Brunsvik estates, was now convinced "that Josephine widowed Countess Deym was Beethoven’s ‘Immortal Beloved’.”^[24]

Czeke (1938) published for the first time Therese’s diary notes until 1813; some were known already to Rolland (1928),^[25] who concluded that Beethoven was in love with Josephine, but then he tended towards Therese as the “Immortal Beloved”.

Kaznelson (1954) evaluated more of the documents in the Brunsvik estates, and even though he thought that Rahel Varnhagen was behind the “Distant Beloved”, he concluded that the “Immortal Beloved” must have been Josephine, mainly because her daughter Minona was born exactly nine months after the encounter with Beethoven, but her husband Baron Stackelberg was away. Kaznelson arrived at his conclusion, even though H C Bodmer in Zürich, owner of the “13 Letters” after the War (see following), would not allow him access to them.^[26]

Editha & Richard Sterba (1954), using psychoanalysis, argued for nephew Karl as the “Immortal Beloved”.^[27]

Steichen (1959) identified Marie Erdödy to have been a life-long beloved of Beethoven, and thus also the “Immortal Beloved”.^[28]

Marek (1969) argued the case for Dorothea Ertmann.^[29]

The Discovery of Josephine Brunsvik (1957 to 1999)[link]

Schmidt-Görg (1957) published 13 so far unknown love letters by Beethoven to Josephine Brunsvik (plus one draft letter by him that survived as a copy by Josephine), that could be dated to the time period from 1804 to 1809/10 when she was a widow (after the early death of her first husband Count Deym),^[30] however, he dismissed Kaznelson’s discoveries as “sensational”.^[31] Goldschmidt (1977) explains why the German Beethoven scholarship was so reluctant to accept Kaznelson’s theory (already published before these “13 letters”): "The fact that, as a result of this meeting, they had ... to take a natural daughter into account, appeared so venturesome to the professional world that the resistance to the Josephine hypothesis stiffened noticeably."^[32] Schmidt-Görg (1957, p. 31) believed that with the last letter (which he still thought to have been written in 1807 – not 1809) and with Josephine’s marriage to Baron Stackelberg (in 1810) the love relationship was terminated.

Ley (1957, p. 78) saw it differently: "Only on the negative side has one been able to arrive at certain conclusions: neither Giulietta Guicciardi, nor Amalie Sebald, nor Bettina Brentano can be considered any longer, and not even Therese Brunsvik, who for a long time was seriously regarded as the recipient of the famous love letter. But curiously enough, it is precisely the same documents which shed a definitive light, in the negative sense, on Therese which bear witness to Beethoven's passionate love for her sister Josephine."^[33]

Riezler (1962, p. 46), still very much a "standard" German biography of Beethoven, followed Kaznelson regarding Josephine being his "only love", likewise Dahlhaus (1991, p. 247) who concluded that "internal evidence" points to Josephine.^[34]

The French authors Jean & Brigitte Massin (1970) identified Josephine as the "Immortal Beloved", mainly based on comparisons of the “Letter to the Immortal Beloved” with the earlier 14 (15) love letters: “The letter to the ‘Immortal Beloved’ … not only uses similar wording, but also emphasizes his long-time faithfulness to his one and only Beloved.”^[35] In addition, with regard to traces in Beethoven’s compositions, the "Massins argue that ... the presence of Josephine in Beethoven's life left traces in his music. ... From the standpoint of music theory, the connections make eminent sense.”^[36]

After Massin (1970) and Goldschmidt (1977), Tellenbach (1983, 1987, 1988, 1999) argued extensively the case for Josephine, based on many newly discovered documents, like Therese's later diary notes, e.g., on the discovery of the "Three letters by Beethoven … they must have been to Josephine whom he loved passionately.”^[37]

"Beethoven! It is like a dream, that he was the friend, the confidant of our house – a beautiful mind! Why did not my sister Josephine, as widow Deym, take him as her husband? Josephine’s soul-mate! They were born for each other. She would have been happier with him than with Stackelberg. Maternal affection made her forgo her own happiness."^[38]
Again Therese on Beethoven: "How unhappy, with such intellectual talent. At the same time Josephine was unhappy! Le mieux est l'ennemi du bien – both together they would have been happy (perhaps). What he needed was a wife, that’s for sure."^[39]
"I was so lucky to have been acquainted with Beethoven, intimately and intellectually, for so many years! Josephine’s intimate friend, her soul mate! They were born for each other, and if both were still alive, they would be united."^[40]
Goldschmidt's evaluation of the Josephine hypothesis: "Without conclusive proofs of the opposite one should no longer want to part prematurely with the increasingly justified assumption that the 'Immortal Beloved' could hardly be anyone else but the 'Only Beloved'."^[41]

Josephine's candidacy as the "Immortal Beloved" was contested by Solomon (1988), mainly in response to Massin (1955, 1970), Goldschmidt (1977) and Tellenbach (1983).

Antonie Brentano and Other Alternatives (1955 to 2011)[link]

In 1955 the French scholars Jean and Brigitte Massin noticed the fact that Antonie Brentano was present in Prague and Franzensbad at the time and discussed her as a possible candidate for the “Immortal Beloved”:

"The assumption that it could have been Antonie Brentano, is both tantalizing and absurd."^[42] They then argue:
Tantalizing is the assumption, because

• Beethoven and Antonia since her return to Vienna were ​​"on friendly terms",
• In the summer of 1812 he lived in the same hotel in Franzensbad as the Brentanos, and
• He had dedicated in the same year to her daughter Maxe a one-movement trio.

Absurd, they argue, is the assumption because of

• Beethoven's lasting friendship with Antonie's husband, Franz,
• He borrowed money from him, and
• "The many letters he wrote Antonie prove that a true and deep but - due to mutual restraint - nevertheless only formal friendship existed between them and Beethoven always seems to perceive Franz, Antonia and their children as an inseparable unity."^[43]

There was four years later also a claim by a Japanese author (Aoki 1959, 1968) who had "discovered" Antonie. However, this had not been noticed outside Japan. She also published her findings in a recent book in German (Aoki 2008).

Once again and more detailed Solomon (1972, 1998) suggested Antonie Brentano to have been the “Immortal Beloved”.^[44] His hypothesis was founded on two major assumptions (or prerequisites):

• 1. the woman must have been in Prague and Karlsbad around the time in question (like Beethoven);^[45]
• 2. she must have been closely acquainted (at least on very friendly terms) with Beethoven, at the time immediately before this event.^[46]

ad 1: Antonie arrived in Prague on 3 July 1812 after an arduous journey with husband, child and servant (and was registered there); she left at dawn the following morning: “Where did she have time that night for a tryst with Beethoven?” (Steblin 2007, p. 148) Solomon (1972, p. 577) admits: “There is no proof that Beethoven and Antonie met in Prague.” And regarding Karlsbad: “It is possible that the letter arose from a ... meeting with a woman who informed Beethoven that she was going to Karlsbad and then failed to carry out her declared intention.” (Solomon 1998, p. 219 f.) Goldschmidt showed that "for short stays, residents [as opposed to foreigners] were exempt from reporting requirements".^[47]

ad 2: There are no love letters from or to Antonie, and no other documents supporting the possibility of a love relationship with Beethoven, there is only a letter by Antonie to her brother-in-law Clemens, where she expressed her “admiration” of Beethoven:^[48] “At what point this worship was transformed into love is not yet known. My estimate is ... in the fall of 1811. … The love affair was under way by late 1811.”^[49] Solomon (1998, p. 229) quotes as supporting his case the Song "An die Geliebte" [To the Beloved] WoO 140, an autograph of which contains in Antonie’s handwriting the remark: "Requested by me from the author on 2 March 1812."^[50] The background to this: “In November 1811, we see Beethoven writing a newly composed song with the heading ‘An die Geliebte’ [To the Beloved] into the album of the Bavarian Court singer Regina Lang. … Dilettante verses … by a clumsy author, a real dilettante, a coffeehouse poet.”^[51] Solomon (1972, p. 572) declares that Beethoven’s separation from his “Only Beloved” Josephine two years before (due to her second marriage) does not rule out that she could have been the “Immortal Beloved”: “There is no certainty that the affair was not momentarily rekindled a half-decade later. ... There is still room for a reasonable doubt." (Solomon 1998, p. 461, n. 48.)

Solomon’s hypothesis was contested by Goldschmidt (1977), Tellenbach (1983, 1987, 1988, 1993/1994, 1998), Beahrs (1972, 1986, 1988, 1993), Dahlhaus (1991), Pichler (1994), Altman (1996), Meredith (2000), Steblin (2007), and Walden (2011).^[52]

Goldschmidt (1977) summarizes: "The Antonia hypothesis … is not so fully convincing that it excludes all others."^[53] and: "In order to possibly verify the Antonia-Hypothesis with its inherent factual contradictions once and forever, it is necessary to falsify the other hypotheses that have been offered."^[54]

Altman (1996) "demonstrates, as indeed Tellenbach has done, that much of the basis for the claims of Antonie's supporters consists of distortions, suppositions, opinions, and even plain inaccuracies." (Cooper 1996, p. 18)^[55]

However, Altman's suggestion that the “Immortal Beloved” was Marie Erdödy was shown to be “impossible” by Cooper (1996).^[56]

Lund (1988) made a claim that Antonie’s son Karl, born exactly eight months after the alleged encounter with Beethoven, should have been his son; even Solomon did not endorse this, as he thought "it was 'sensationalistic'." (Meredith 2011, p. x)

Beahrs (1993, p. 183 f.) supported Josephine: "Was there for him in fact … one deep and lasting passion for a certain dear one, marriage to whom was precluded, not by psychological inhibitions of the inner man, but by prohibitive heart-breaking externals? … Where is any evidence whatsoever of true romantic love for even such dear ones as Marie Erdödy or Dorothea von Ertmann, Therese Malfatti or Antonie Brentano? Although all have been advanced as Beethoven's unknown Immortal Beloved, the assessment is unsupported by the record or by any known correspondence. Intimate friends of Beethoven, true, one and all; but loves? There is one, however, and only one, to whom Beethoven did pour his heart out in impassioned declarations of undying love remarkably similar to the phraseology of the anguished letter to his Immortal Beloved… That one is his 'BELOVED AND ONLY J' – Josephine."

Pulkert’s (2000) claim about one Almerie Esterházy, whom Beethoven did not even know, was refuted by Steblin (2001). Meredith (2000, p. 47) summarily comments: “… we lack evidence of a connection between Almerie and Beethoven... I must reiterate that we have no such evidence of a passionate love relationship between Antonie and Beethoven either, just of a close friendship; for Josephine, … we know he was indeed passionately in love with her in 1805-1807 at least."

Finally, Kopitz’ (2001) “valiant effort … show[ed] that Antonie cannot have been the ‘Immortal Beloved’. She was a happily married wife and mother … her candidacy, which includes the improbable scenario of a ‘ménage à trois’ in Karlsbad, makes no psychological sense.” (Steblin 2007, p. 148)
Walden (2011, p. 5)^[57] suggests that Bettina Brentano was Beethoven’s "Immortal Beloved", based on the assumption that one of the two spurious letters by Beethoven to her is true: "If that letter to Bettina was genuine, it would prove conclusively that Bettina was the Immortal Beloved, but the original has not survived, and the authenticity is strongly doubted today. ... her reliability and truthfulness are today under a cloud."^[58] Meredith (2011, p. xxii), in his Introduction, has reviewed the debate over the major candidates and he believes that "Walden’s proposal merits unbiased consideration".
Meredith (2011), reviewing the history of the debate so far, deplores the fact that French and German authors (like Massin and Goldschmidt) were never translated into English, thus depriving especially the US-based Beethoven scholarship of the most valuable resources in this field of study: "Unfortunately, several of the most important and controversial studies about the Immortal Beloved have never appeared in English translation, which has substantially restricted their impact." (p. xv) "Tellenbach ... too has unfortunately never appeared in English translation." (p. xvii)

Josephine re-discovered (2002 to date)[link]

Significant new discoveries in European archives were made and published by Steblin (2002, 2007, 2009, 2009a) and Skwara/Steblin (2007). These can be summarized into two important items:

• (1) Josephine’s estranged husband Baron Stackelberg was most likely away from home at the beginning of July 1812 (probably from the end of June for ca. two months), as noted in her diary: “Today has been a difficult day for me. – The hand of fate is resting ominously on me – I saw besides my own deep sorrows also the degeneration of my children, and – almost – all courage deserted me –!!! ... Stackelberg wants to leave me on my own. He is callous to supplicants in need.”^[59] Steblin (2007, p. 169) also discovered a document headed "Table of Rules" and dated 5–11 July with a list of ethical categories in the hand-writing of Christoph von Stackelberg: "Thus this whole document, dated at the time when ... he ... was deliberating about his future, is surely further proof that Josephine was left alone ... in June and July 1812."

• (2) Josephine expressed her clear intention to go to Prague (in June 1812): “I want to see Liebert in Prague. I will never let the children be taken from me. ... On account of Stackelberg I have ruined myself physically, in that I have incurred so much distress and illness through him.”^[60]

"A new way of looking at old evidence confirms that Josephine was Beethoven's one and only 'Immortal Beloved'. ... All of the puzzling aspects about Beethoven's affair with the 'Immortal Beloved,' including his various cryptic comments, can be explained in terms of his one known beloved – Josephine. Why do we doubt his word that there was only one woman who had captured his heart?" (Steblin 2007, p. 180).

However, it should be noted that this conclusion is still very much debated - for example, the article on Beethoven in the most recent edition of the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2001, supports the Antonie hypothesis,^[61] an indication of the above-quoted observation by Meredith (2011, p. xvii) that much of the recent, document-based research by European scholars (published in German or in Germany) has been ignored in America.

References[link]

Sources[link]

• Albrecht, Theodore (1996, ed.): Letters to Beethoven & other Correspondence. University of Nebraska Press.
• Albrecht, Theodore (2009): "Anton Schindler as destroyer and forger of Beethoven’s conversation books: A case for decriminalization." Music’s Intellectual History, pp. 168–181. [1]
• Altman, Gail S (1996): Beethoven: A Man of His Word - Undisclosed Evidence for his Immortal Beloved. Anubian Press; ISBN 1-888071-01-X.
• Anderson, Emily (1961, ed.): The Letters of Beethoven. London: Macmillan.
• Aoki, Yayoi (1959): “Ai no dsensetsu – Betoven to ‘fumetsu no koibito’” (Love-legends – Beethoven and the "Immortal Beloved”), Philharmony 31, no. 7, pp. 8–21. (Philharmony is the magazine of the NHK Symphony Orchestra.)
• Aoki, Yayoi (1968): Ai no densetsu – geijutsuka to joseitachi (Love-legends – Artists and Women) Tokyo: San’ichishobo, 1968.
• Aoki, Yayoi (2008): Beethoven – Die Entschlüsselung des Rätsels um die “Unsterbliche Geliebte”. [Beethoven – The Decryption of the Riddle about the "Immortal Beloved".] Munich: Iudicium.
• Beahrs, Virginia Oakley (1972): "New Light on Beethoven's Immortal Beloved?" Michigan Quarterly Review, Vol. XI/3, pp. 177–185.
• Beahrs, Virginia (1986): "The Immortal Beloved Revisited." Beethoven Newsletter 1/2, pp. 22–24.
• Beahrs, Virginia Oakley (1988): "The Immortal Beloved Riddle Reconsidered." Musical Times, Vol. 129/1740, pp. 64–70.
• Beahrs, Virginia (1993): "Beethoven's Only Beloved? New Perspectives on the Love Story of the Great Composer." Music Review 54, no. 3/4, pp. 183–197.
• Beck, Dagmar/Herre, Grita (1979): "Anton Schindlers fingierte Eintragungen in den Konversationsheften." [Anton Schindler's Fabricated Entries in the Conversation Books.] Harry Goldschmidt (ed.): Zu Beethoven. Aufsätze und Annotationen. [On Beethoven. Essays and Annotations.] Leipzig.
• Brandenburg, Sieghard (1996, ed.): Ludwig van Beethoven: Briefwechsel. Gesamtausgabe. [Ludwig van Beethoven: Letters. Complete Edition.] 8 vols. Munich: Henle.
• Brandenburg, Sieghard (2001, ed.): Ludwig van Beethoven, Der Brief an die Unsterbliche Geliebte. Facsimile, transcription and commentary in German, English and Japanese, new edition. Bonn: Beethoven-Haus.
• Cooper, Barry (1996): “Beethoven’s Immortal Beloved and Countess Erdödy: A Case of Mistaken Identity?”, Beethoven Journal XI/2, pp. 18–24.
• Cooper, Barry (2000): Beethoven. Oxford: University Press.
• Czeke, Marianne (1938): Brunszvik Teréz grófno naplói és feljegyzései. (Countess Therese Brunsvik's Diaries and Notes.) Vol. 1. Budapest: Kötet.
• Dahlhaus, Carl (1991): Ludwig van Beethoven: Approaches to his Music. Oxford: University Press.
• Forbes, Elliot (1967, ed.): Thayer’s Life of Beethoven. 2 vols. 2nd ed. Princeton: University Press.
• Goldschmidt, Harry (1977): Um die Unsterbliche Geliebte. Ein Beethoven-Buch. [About the Immortal Beloved. A Beethoven Book.] Leipzig: Deutscher Verlag für Musik.
• Hevesy, André de (1910): Petites Amies de Beethoven. Paris: Champion.
• Howell, Standley (1979): "Beethoven's Mälzel Canon. Another Schindler Forgery?", The Musical Times Vol. 120, No. 1642, pp. 987–990. In German as "Der Mälzelkanon - eine weitere Fälschung Schindlers?", in: Harry Goldschmift (ed.): Zu Beethoven. Aufsätze und Dokumente, vol. 2. Berlin: Neue Musik 1984, pp. 163–171.
• Kaznelson, Siegmund (1954): Beethovens Ferne und Unsterbliche Geliebte. (Beethoven's Distant and Immortal Beloved.) Zürich: Standard.
• Kopitz, Klaus Martin (2001): "Antonie Brentano in Wien (1809–1812). Neue Quellen zur Problematik 'Unsterbliche Geliebte'." (Antonie Brentano in Vienna (1809–1812). New Sources to the Difficulties with the “Immortal Beloved”.) Bonner Beethoven-Studien, vol. 2, pp. 115–146.
• La Mara (1909) (Ida Marie Lipsius): Beethovens Unsterbliche Geliebte. Das Geheimnis der Gräfin Brunsvik und ihre Memoiren. (Beethoven’s Immortal Beloved. Countess Brunsvik’s Secret and her Memoirs). Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel.
• La Mara (1920) (Ida Marie Lipsius): Beethoven und die Brunsviks. Nach Familienpapieren aus Therese Brunsviks Nachlaß. (Beethoven and the Brunsviks. According to Family Documents from Therese Brunsvik's Estate.) Leipzig: Siegel.
• Ley, Stephan (1957): Aus Beethovens Erdentagen, chapter "Eine unsterbliche Geliebte Beethovens", pp. 78–85. Siegburg: Schmitt.
• Lockwood, Lewis (1997): "Film Biography as Travesty: Immortal Beloved and Beethoven." The Musical Quarterly, pp. 190–198.
• Marek, George R (1969): Ludwig van Beethoven. Biography of a Genius. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.
• Massin, Jean & Brigitte (1955): Ludwig van Beethoven. Paris: Club Français du Livre.
• Massin, Jean & Brigitte (1970): Recherche de Beethoven. Paris: Fayard.
• Meredith, William (2000): "Mortal Musings: Testing the Candidacy of Almerie Esterházy against the Antonie Brentano Theory." Beethoven Journal 15/1, pp. 42–47.
• Meredith, William (2011): "Introduction", in Walden (2011), pp. ix-xxxiv.
• Newman, Ernest (1911): "A Beethoven Hoax?", The Musical Times 52/825, pp. 714–717.
• Newman, William S (1984): "Yet Another Major Beethoven Forgery by Schindler?", The Journal of Musicology Vol. 3, No. 4, pp. 397–422.
• Pichler, Ernst (1994): Beethoven. Mythos und Wirklichkeit. (Beethoven. Myth and Reality.) Vienna: Amalthea.
• Pulkert, Oldrich (2000): "Beethoven's Unsterbliche Geliebte." [Beethoven's Immortal Beloved.] Beethoven Journal 15/1, pp. 2–18.
• Riezler, Walter (1962): Beethoven. Zürich: Atlantis (8th ed.). First published in 1936 (in German).
• Rolland, Romain (1928): Beethoven the Creator. The Great Creative Epochs: I. From the Eroica to the Appassionata. [Beethoven. Les grandes époques créatrices. I. De l’Héroïque à l’Appassionata.] Transl. Ernest Newman. New York: Garden City.
• Schindler, Anton (1840): Biographie von Ludwig van Beethoven. (Biography of Ludwig van Beethoven.) Münster.
• Schmidt-Görg, Joseph (1957, ed.): Beethoven: Dreizehn unbekannte Briefe an Josephine Gräfin Deym geb. v. Brunsvik. (Beethoven: Thirteen Unknown Letters to Josephine Countess Deym née von Brunsvik.) Bonn: Beethoven-Haus. (Also contains several letters by Josephine.)
• Schmidt-Görg, Joseph (1969): "Neue Schriftstücke zu Beethoven und Josephine Gräfin Deym." [New Documents about Beethoven and Josephine Countess Deym.] Beethoven-Jahrbuch 1965/68, pp. 205–208. Bonn.
• Skwara, Dagmar/Steblin, Rita (2007): "Ein Brief Christoph Freiherr von Stackelbergs an Josephine Brunsvik-Deym-Stackelberg." (A Letter by Christoph Baron von Stackelberg to Josephine Brunsvik-Deym-Stackelberg.) Bonner Beethoven-Studien, vol. 6, pp. 181–187.
• Solomon, Maynard (1972): "New Light on Beethoven's Letter to an Unknown Woman." The Musical Quarterly, Vol. 58, No. 4 (Oct.), pp. 572–587.
• Solomon, Maynard (1988): Beethoven Essays, chapter "Recherche de Josephine Deym". Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, pp. 157–165.
• Solomon, Maynard (1998): Beethoven, 2nd ed., New York: Schirmer (1st ed. 1977).
• Solomon, Maynard (2005, ed.): Beethovens Tagebuch 1812-1818. (Beethoven's Diary 1812-1818.) Bonn: Beethoven-Haus.
• Stadlen, Peter (1977): "Schindler's Beethoven Forgeries", The Musical Times Vol. 118, No. 1613, pp. 549–552.
• Steblin, Rita (2001): "Beethoven’s Immortal Beloved: Evidence against Almerie Esterházy". Abstracts of Papers Read at the Meeting of the American Musicological Society, Sixty-Seventh Annual Meeting, November 15–18, p. 45.
• Steblin, Rita (2002): "Josephine Gräfin Brunswick-Deyms Geheimnis enthüllt: Neue Ergebnisse zu ihrer Beziehung zu Beethoven." (Josephine Countess Brunsvik-Deym's Secret Revealed: New Results about her Relationship to Beethoven.) Österreichische Musikzeitschrift 57/6 (June), pp. 23–31.
• Steblin, Rita (2002): A History of Key Characteristics in the 18th and Early 19th Centuries. 2nd ed. (1st ed. 1983). University of Rochester Press.
• Steblin, Rita (2007): "'Auf diese Art mit A geht alles zugrunde'. A New Look at Beethoven's Diary Entry and the 'Immortal Beloved." Bonner Beethoven-Studien, vol. 6, pp. 147–180.
• Steblin, Rita (2009): "'A dear, enchanting girl who loves me and whom I love': New Facts about Beethoven's Beloved Piano Pupil Julie Guicciardi". Bonner Beethoven-Studien, vol. 8, pp. 89–152.
• Steblin, Rita (2009a): "Beethovens 'Unsterbliche Geliebte': des Rätsels Lösung." (Beethoven's "Immortal Beloved": the Riddle Solved.) Österreichische Musikzeitschrift 64/2, pp. 4–17.
• Steichen, Dana (1959): Beethoven's Beloved. New York: Doubleday.
• Sterba, Editha & Richard (1954): Beethoven and His Nephew: a Psychoanalytic Study of Their Relationship. New York: Pantheon. In German as Ludwig van Beethoven und sein Neffe. Tragödie eines Genies. Eine psychoanalytische Studie. Munich 1964.
• Tellenbach, Marie-Elisabeth (1983): Beethoven und seine "Unsterbliche Geliebte" Josephine Brunswick. Ihr Schicksal und der Einfluß auf Beethovens Werk. (Beethoven and his “Immortal Beloved” Josephine Brunsvik. Her Fate and the Impact on Beethoven's Œuvre.) Zürich: Atlantis.
• Tellenbach, Marie-Elisabeth (1987): "Beethoven and the Countess Josephine Brunswick.” The Beethoven Newsletter 2/3, pp. 41–51.
• Tellenbach, Marie-Elisabeth (1988): "Künstler und Ständegesellschaft um 1800: die Rolle der Vormundschaftsgesetze in Beethovens Beziehung zu Josephine Gräfin Deym." [Artists and the Class Society in 1800: the Role of Guardianship Laws in Beethoven’s Relationship to Josephine Countess Deym.] Vierteljahrschrift für Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte 2/2, pp. 253–263.
• Tellenbach, Marie-Elisabeth (1993/1994): "Psychoanalysis and the Historiocritical Method: On Maynard Solomon‘s Image of Beethoven." Beethoven Newsletter 8/3, pp. 84–92; 9/3, pp. 119–127.
• Tellenbach, Marie-Elisabeth (1998): "Psychoanalyse und historisch-philologische Methode. Zu Maynard Solomons Beethoven- und Schubert-Deutungen." [Psychoanalysis and Historiocritical Method. On Maynard Solomon's Interpretations of Beethoven and Schubert.] Analecta Musicologica 30/II, pp. 661–719.
• Tellenbach, Marie-Elisabeth (1999): "Die Bedeutung des Adler-Gleichnisses in Beethovens Brief an Therese Gräfin Brunswick. Ein Beitrag zu seiner Biographie." [The Meaning of the Eagle Allegory in Beethoven’s Letter to Therese Countess Brunsvik. A Contribution to his Biography.] Die Musikforschung 4.
• Tenger, Mariam (1890): Beethoven's Unsterbliche Geliebte. [Beethoven's Immortal Beloved.] Bonn: Nusser.
• Thomas-San-Galli, Wolfgang A (1909): Die "Unsterbliche Geliebte" Beethovens, Amalie Sebald: Lösung eines Vielumstrittenen Problems. [Beethoven's "Immortal Beloved", Amalie Sebald: The Solution to a Much-Disputed Problem.] Halle: Hendel.
• Thomas-San-Galli, Wolfgang A (1910): Beethoven und die unsterbliche Geliebte: Amalie Sebald, Goethe, Therese Brunswik und anderes; mit Benutzung unbekannten Materials. [Beethoven and the Immortal Beloved: Amalie Sebald, Goethe, Therese Brunsvik and Others; Using Unknown Documents.] Munich: Wunderhorn.
• Unger, Max (1910): Auf Spuren von Beethovens Unsterblicher Geliebten. [Traces of Beethoven's Immortal Beloved.] Langensalza.
• Walden, Edward (2002): "Beethoven's 'Immortal Beloved': Arguments in Support of the Candidacy of Bettina Brentano". The Beethoven Journal, vol. 17, no. 2: pp. 54–68.
• Walden, Edward (2011): Beethoven’s Immortal Beloved. Solving the Mystery. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow.

Regina Spektor
Regina Spektor playing an electronic piano in 2006
Background information
Native name	Реги́нa Ильи́нична Спе́ктор
Born	(1980-02-18) February 18, 1980 (age 32) Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Origin	New York, U.S.
Genres	Anti-folk, indie rock, baroque pop, blues, pop
Occupations	Singer, songwriter, record producer
Instruments	Piano, vocals, guitar, bass guitar
Years active	1999–present
Labels	Sire/Warner Bros. Records
Associated acts	Sondre Lerche, Ben Folds, Kill Kenada, the Strokes, Dufus
Website	http://www.reginaspektor.com
Notable instruments
Steinway & Sons piano Epiphone Wildkat guitar Regina Spektor's Autograph

Regina Ilyinichna Spektor (Russian: Реги́нa Ильи́нична Спе́ктор, IPA: [rʲɪˈɡʲinə ˈspʲɛktər], English: /rɨˈdʒiːnə ˈspɛktər/; born February 18, 1980) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. Her music is associated with the anti-folk scene centered in New York City's East Village.

Early life[link]

Spektor was born in Moscow, Soviet Union in 1980 to a musical Russian Jewish family. Her father, Ilya Spektor, is a photographer and amateur violinist. Her mother, Bella Spektor, was a music professor in a Soviet college of music and now teaches at a public elementary school in Mount Vernon, New York.^[1] She has a brother Barry (Bear), who was featured in track 7, "* * *", or "Whisper", of her 2004 album, Soviet Kitsch.

She learned how to play piano by practising on a Petrof upright that was given to her mother by her grandfather.^[2] She was also exposed to the music of rock and roll bands such as The Beatles, Queen, and The Moody Blues by her father, who obtained such recordings in Eastern Europe and traded cassettes with friends in the Soviet Union.^[1] The family left the Soviet Union in 1989, when Regina was nine and a half, during the period of Perestroika, when Soviet citizens were permitted to emigrate. Regina had to leave her piano behind.^[3] The seriousness of her piano studies led her parents to consider not leaving the USSR, but they finally decided to emigrate, due to the ethnic and political discrimination that Jews faced.^[4] Spektor is fluent in Russian and reads Hebrew, and has since paid tribute to her Russian heritage, quoting the poem February by the Russian poet Boris Pasternak in her song Après Moi, and stating “I’m very connected to the language and the culture.”^[5]

Traveling first to Austria and then Italy, the family was admitted to the United States as refugees with the assistance of HIAS (the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society) and settled in The Bronx, where Spektor graduated from the SAR Academy, a Jewish day middle school in the Riverdale section of the Bronx. She then attended high school for two years at the Frisch School, a yeshiva in Paramus, New Jersey, but transferred to a public school, Fair Lawn High School, in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, where she finished the last two years of her high school education.^[6]

Career[link]

In New York, Spektor studied classical piano with Sonia Vargas, a professor at the Manhattan School of Music, until she was 17; Spektor's father had met Vargas through her husband, violinist Samuel Marder.^[7] Although the family had been unable to bring their piano from Russia, Spektor found a piano on which to play in the basement of her synagogue, and also practiced on tabletops and other hard surfaces.

Spektor was originally interested only in classical music, but later became interested in hip hop, rock and punk as well.^[1] Although she had always made up songs around the house, Spektor first became interested in more formal songwriting during a visit to Israel with the Nesiya Institute in her teenage years when she attracted attention from the other children on the trip for the songs she made up while hiking and realized she had an aptitude for songwriting.^[4]

Following this trip, she was exposed to the work of Joni Mitchell, Ani DiFranco, and other singer-songwriters, which encouraged her belief that she could create her own songs.^[4] She wrote her first a cappella songs around the age of 16 and her first songs for voice and piano when she was nearly 18.^[1]

Spektor completed the four-year studio composition program of the Conservatory of Music at Purchase College within three years, graduating with honors in 2001. Around this time, she also worked briefly at a butterfly farm in Luck, Wisconsin,^[8] and studied in Tottenham, ( a suburb of London) for one semester ^[9].

She gradually achieved recognition through performances in the anti-folk scene in downtown New York City, often as a duo with drummer Anders Griffen, and most importantly at the East Village's Sidewalk Cafe, but also at the Living Room, Tonic, Fez, the Knitting Factory, and CB's Gallery.^{[citation needed]} She also performed at local colleges (such as Sarah Lawrence College) with other musicians, including the Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players. She sold self-published CDs at her performances during this period: 11:11 (2001) and Songs (2002). In 2004, she signed a contract with Warner Brothers' record label Sire Records to publish and distribute her third album Soviet Kitsch, originally self-released in 2003.

Spektor is married to Jack Dishel, guitarist with the band The Moldy Peaches.^[9]

Style[link]

Regina Spektor in concert, April 2007.

Spektor has said that she has created a great number of songs,^[10] but that she rarely writes any of them down. She has also stated that she never aspired to write songs herself, but songs seem to just flow to her.^[11] Spektor's songs are not usually autobiographical, but rather are based on scenarios and characters drawn from her imagination.^[4][12] Her songs show influences from folk,^[13][14] punk, rock, Jewish,^[12][15] Russian,^[12] hip hop,^[13][16][17] jazz,^[13][16] and classical music.^[12][16] Spektor has said that she works hard to ensure that each of her songs has its own musical style, rather than trying to develop a distinctive style for her music as a whole.^[11]

It doesn't feel natural for me to write some diary type song. I want to write a classic like Yesterday but weird songs about meatballs in refrigerators come into my head - I can't help it.^[18]

Spektor has a broad vocal range and uses the full extent of it. She also explores a variety of different and somewhat unorthodox vocal techniques, such as verses composed entirely of buzzing noises made with the lips and beatbox-style flourishes in the middle of ballads, and also makes use of such unusual musical techniques as using a drum stick to tap rhythms on the body of the piano or chair.^[4][19] Part of her style also results from the exaggeration of certain aspects of vocalization, most notably the glottal stop, which is prominent in the single "Fidelity". She also uses a strong New York accent on some words, which she has said is due to her love of New York and its culture.^[1]

Her lyrics are equally eclectic, often taking the form of abstract narratives or first-person character studies, similar to short stories or vignettes put to song.^[1][19] Spektor usually sings in English, though she sometimes includes a few words or verses of Latin, Russian, French, and other languages in her songs. She also plays with pronunciations, which she said on a NPR interview to be a remnant of her early years when she listened to pop in English without understanding the lyrics. Some of Spektor's lyrics include literary allusions,^[4] such as to F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway in "Poor Little Rich Boy", The Little Prince in "Baobabs", Virginia Woolf and Margaret Atwood in "Paris", Ezra Pound and William Shakespeare in "Pound of Flesh", Shakespeare's Hamlet in "The Virgin Queen", Boris Pasternak in "Après Moi", Samson and Delilah in "Samson", and Oedipus the King in "Oedipus", Billie Holiday in "Lady" and Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome in "2.99 cent blues". She alludes to The Beatles and Paul McCartney in the song "Edit". She also used a line from Joni Mitchell's California in her song "The Devil Came to Bethlehem". Recurring themes and topics in Spektor's lyrics include love, death, religion (particularly Biblical and Jewish references), city life (particularly New York references), and certain key phrases have been known to recur in different songs by Spektor, such as references to gravediggers, the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and the name "Mary Ann". Spektor's use of satire is evident in "Wasteside," which refers to The Twelve Chairs, the classic satirical novel by the Soviet authors Ilf and Petrov, and describes the town in which people are born, get their hair cut, and then are sent to the cemetery.

In Spektor's early albums, many of her tracks had a very dry vocal production, with very little reverb or delay added. However, Spektor's more recent albums, particularly Begin to Hope, have put more emphasis into song production and have relied more on traditional pop and rock instruments.^[3] Spektor says the records that most impact her are those of "bands whose music is really involved",^[20] specifically naming The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Billie Holiday, Radiohead, Tom Waits, and Frédéric Chopin as primary influences.^[20][21]

In her songs, "Eet", "Us" and "Après Moi" the titular sounds are used as the focal point throughout. (In "Dance Anthem of the 80's", the sound "eet" is also used often, on words such as "meat", "street", and "eat").

Performances[link]

Regina Spektor at her first performance in Tel Aviv, Israel on March 3, 2007

Spektor's first nationwide tour was accompanying The Strokes as the opening act on their 2003–2004 Room on Fire tour, during which she and the band performed and recorded "Modern Girls & Old Fashion Men". Kings of Leon were the second opening act on that tour, and they invited Regina to open for them on their own European tour right after The Strokes tour. In June 2005, Spektor was the opening act for the English piano rock band Keane on their North American tour, during which she performed at Radio City Music Hall on June 7, 2005.^[22] During her 2006 headlining tour in support of the Begin to Hope album, Spektor sold out a performance at Messiah College in Grantham, Pennsylvania, and two shows at Town Hall Theater in New York City on September 27 and September 28, 2006.^[23]

Spektor has appeared on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien (once), Late Night with Conan O'Brien (three times), The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (twice), Jimmy Kimmel Live (twice), Last Call with Carson Daly (five times), Late Show with David Letterman (twice), Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (twice), CBS News Sunday Morning, Good Morning America (twice), Australia's Rove Live, and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (twice).^[24] On October 10, 2009 she performed on Saturday Night Live.

Since January 2005, Spektor has performed on a bright red Baldwin baby grand piano.^[25] At the present time she uses exclusively Steinway & Sons pianos. She plays a seafoam Epiphone Wildkat archtop hollow-body electric guitar.^[26]

Although she generally only performs original material, Spektor occasionally performs covers. Most famous of these covers were her performances of songs by Leonard Cohen and Madonna, for the 2nd Annual Jewish Music & Heritage Festival at the 92nd Street Y in New York City.^[4] In 2006 and 2007, Spektor embarked on a headlining tour of the U.S. and Europe, selling out numerous clubs and theaters. She covered John Lennon's "Real Love" at the performance arts center of her alma mater, State University of New York at Purchase, on March 28, 2007, at a benefit concert for the Conservatory of Music.^[27] In 2007, Spektor recorded "Real Love" for the Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur CD, which was released in June of that year. She recorded a version of the song for Triple J's Like a Version radio segment which was shown on jTV.

Regina Spektor performing in Brighton on October 26, 2006.

On March 8, 2007, Spektor appeared on the British ITV network's Loose Women, promoting and performing "Fidelity" live, and on April 20, 2007, she performed on the Late Show with David Letterman. On Saturday, April 28, 2007, she appeared at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. On Friday, May 18, 2007, she appeared on BBC1's Friday Night with Jonathan Ross. On June 16, 2007, she performed at the Bonnaroo Music Festival and later performed at the 2007 Lollapalooza on August 4, 2007 and Virgin Festival on August 5, 2007 in Baltimore, Maryland. On September 16, 2007, she performed at the Austin City Limits Music Festival and recorded a set for the Austin City Limits TV show the following day. She performed acoustic at the Bridge School Benefit at Shoreline Amphitheatre on October 27 and October 28, 2007.

On November 14, 2007, at her concert at Ryman Auditorium, in Nashville, it was announced that Spektor collapsed during the sound check and was taken to a local emergency room. According to the statement given to the audience, Spektor was fine, but doctors said that she could not perform that night. It was later reported that the cause of the collapse was an inner ear infection which caused intense vertigo. The show was initially rescheduled for December 6, 2007,^[28] but the date was once again rescheduled, and the concert finally occurred on February 29, 2008.^[29] After her initial collapse in Nashville, she was able to perform in concerts at Mountain Stage on November 18, 2007,^{[30][citation needed]} and at Duke University on November 19, 2007.^[31]

In conjunction with the release of her 2009 album Far, Spektor was headlining at Serpentine Sessions, a series of concerts London's Hyde Park on June 29, 2009. Other European performances in 2009 include Glastonbury Festival, Hultsfred Festival, Oxegen 2009, T in the Park, Paradiso (Amsterdam), Latitude Festival, and Rock Werchter. Spektor has invited Brooklyn-based rock band Jupiter One to open concerts on her 2009 North American tour. As a part of that tour, on October 14, 2009 Spektor headlined a concert at the Radio City Music Hall in NYC.

On July 7, 2010, Regina performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Montreux, Switzerland.^[32] Her cellist, Dan Cho, drowned the day before while swimming in Lake Geneva near the Chillon Castle.^[33][34] She was described as distraught, shaken, and in tears and took several breaks to regain her composure.^[35]

Media coverage[link]

Spektor performing at the Hammerstein Ballroom on October 16, 2007

Regina Spektor performing in the West London Synagogue, February 2007.

Since 2005, Spektor's music has been used in various television programs and commercials. In late 2005 "Us" (from Soviet Kitsch) was used in a commercial as part of the What Do You Want To Watch? series for the United Kingdom's British Sky Broadcasting. The advert features a clip from a documentary on skateboarder Danny Way. In the summer of 2006, a clip from "Us" was used for the teaser website for Microsoft's Zune project at ComingZune.com, as well as for a promotional campaign for MtvU. The same track is used by Dutch telecom company KPN in a commercial. "Somedays" was used in a 2005 episode of CSI: NY and "Samson" was used in a 2006 episode of the same series. "On the Radio" was used in an episode of ABC's Grey's Anatomy. "Field Below" was used in a 2006 episode titled "The Last Word" of CBS's Criminal Minds. "Fidelity" has also been used in an episode of Grey's Anatomy titled "Six Days, Part 2", Veronica Mars titled "Wichita Linebacker", Brothers & Sisters titled "Sexual Politics", during the end credits of Love and Other Drugs, and in the Brazilian telenovela A Favorita. "Better" is currently being used in a commercial for XM Satellite Radio, an episode of "How I Met Your Mother", and the popular film My Sister's Keeper. Her song "Music Box" is currently being used in a commercial for JC Penney. Spektor also sang the title song "Little Boxes" of Showtime's television series Weeds in the episode "Mile Deep and a Foot Wide" (2006) and her "Ghost of Corporate Future" was used both at the beginning and end of the episode.^[36] On January 21, 2007, she was featured on CBS News Sunday Morning.^[11]

Spektor received increased attention in 2006 when her video for "Fidelity" was viewed over 200,000 times in two days on YouTube. On Sirius Radio's Left of Center channel, her single "Fidelity" was voted by listeners as the #1 song of 2006. Towards the end of 2006, VH1 showcased her as part of their "You Oughta Know: Artists on the Rise" featurettes: they played clips from the "Fidelity" music video and showed parts of an interview with Spektor during commercial breaks on the channel.^[37] Spektor's video for "Fidelity" reached #3 on VH1's Top 20 Countdown.^{[citation needed]}

Peter Gabriel recorded a version of "Après Moi" on his 2010 release Scratch My Back.

In Australia, Spektor's music has rapidly gained popularity in mainstream culture primarily due to Begin to Hope being played on the nation-wide radio station Triple J, where it eventually became a feature album. Prior to Begin to Hope, Spektor had only a small following in Australia in comparison to the US and Europe.

Spektor reached #33 on Blender magazine's top 100 of 2006 and was also listed as one of the "Hottest Women of...Rock!".^[38] "Fidelity" was also used in a 2007 television commercial in New Zealand advertising Yahoo!Xtra, a new partnership between Yahoo! and Telecom's Xtra ISP. Also in 2007, the mobile phone company Vodafone used her lyric, "Come into my world..." from the track, "Hotel Song" on Begin to Hope, in an extensive TV advertising campaign in the UK and Ireland.

On October 1, 2007, Spektor's new video for "Better" was released on VH1 and YouTube, where it was viewed more than 100,000 times within the first 24 hours. "Fidelity" was used in the trailer for the film 27 Dresses, released on October 3, 2007.^[39]

Her song "The Call" appeared prominently in The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian,^[40] as part of the film's finale sequence. Spektor's song "Better" was used in the movie My Sister's Keeper, loosely based on the novel of the same name by Jodi Picoult. A section of "That Time" was featured in the film In Bruges. Additionally, "Us" and "Hero" are both featured on the soundtrack for the film (500) Days of Summer. Spin magazine profiled Spektor in their July 2009 issue, where she discussed her just-released album Far. The story was released in their digital edition that month, as well.^[41] In August 2009, the song "Two Birds" was used in the 2009 Fall Campaign of the Polish TV station TVN. Also Regina's song "Eet" debuted on the show 90210 in April 2010.

On September 16, 2009, it was announced that Spektor would write the music for the musical Beauty, a modern adaptation of the fairy tale Sleeping Beauty, which is set to open during the 2011–12 Broadway season.^[42]

In May 2010, Spektor performed for President Obama and his wife Michelle along with hundreds of other guests at the White House reception in honor of Jewish Heritage Month. She sang "Us" and "The Sword & the Pen", receiving a standing ovation begun by Michelle Obama.

The song "Human of the Year" featured prominently in the trailer and first episode of the 2011 HBO series Enlightened.

The song "All the Rowboats" was featured on The CW's Ringer in March 2012.

The Song "Hotel Song" was featured in the opening of the movie Friends with Kids.

Philanthropy[link]

In 2007, she covered John Lennon's "Real Love" for Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur. The following year, she participated in Songs for Tibet, an initiative to support the human rights situation in Tibet and the 14th Dalai Lama. The album was issued on August 5, 2008, via iTunes and on August 19 in music stores around the world.^[43] On January 22, 2009, Spektor performed at the third annual Roe On The Rocks gig at the Bowery Ballroom to raise money for Planned Parenthood New York City.^[44] Also, continuing with her support for Tibet, Regina Spektor played for Tibet House's annual concert at Carnegie Hall on February 26, 2010. Less than one month later, on March 23, 2010, Spektor gave a concert at the Fillmore at Irving Plaza in New York City to raise funds for the work of Doctors Without Borders in Haiti. Also, on April 27, she released a cover of Radiohead's song "No Surprises" with all proceeds going to Doctors Without Borders to help the earthquake victims in Haiti and Chile.

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• 2001: 11:11
• 2002: Songs
• 2004: Soviet Kitsch
• 2006: Begin to Hope
• 2009: Far
• 2012: What We Saw from the Cheap Seats

Singles[link]

Awards[link]

• Begin to Hope – Shortlist Music Prize (nominated)
• Studio8's Female Voice of August 2009 (won)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Regina Spektor

• Official site
• Regina Spektor at the Internet Movie Database
• Regina Spektor at the Open Directory Project
• "Regina Spektor" interview by Noel Murray (from The A.V. Club, 21 June 2006)
• Interview from Soundcheck, WNYC, 13 September 2005
• Interview from All Things Considered, National Public Radio, 28 June 2006
• Strangers Almanac Column on Regina Spektor from Glide Magazine
• NPR - All Songs Considered 7/22/2009 - Regina Spektor: When Every Sound Sings
• NPR All Things Considered 5/24/2012 - Regina Spektor Still Doesn't Write Anything Down