Josephine Brunsvik

Her father Anton died in 1792, leaving his wife Anna (née von Seeberg) with four young children; the other three were Therese (1775–1861), the first-born, Franz [de] (1777–1849), the only son and sole heir, and Charlotte (1782–1843).

The children grew up enjoying an education by private teachers, studying languages and classic literature; all four turned out to be talented musicians: Franz became a distinguished violoncellist, the girls excelled at the piano – most of all, Josephine.

After some initial (mainly financial) difficulties, the Deyms developed a reasonably happy relationship,[5] and Beethoven, continuing as Josephine's piano teacher, was a regular visitor.

32) but the intensely lyrical piano piece Andante favori WoO 57, a musical declaration of love, especially for Josephine (thought by some to have been intended as the original middle movement for the stormy Waldstein Sonata Op.

[9] In 1808, Therese joined her sister on a long journey that led them to Yverdon-les-Bains in Switzerland where they met the famous educator Pestalozzi, to find a teacher for Josephine's two school-age sons.

The man recommended to them was the Estonian baron Christoph von Stackelberg (1777–1841), who joined them on their return trip to Austria, via Geneva, southern France and Italy.

[12] Mother Anna von Brunsvik very reluctantly gave her written consent to the marriage,[13] not only to give the baby a father, but also because Stackelberg threatened to discontinue the education of the Deym children otherwise.

[15] But the final straw, indeed the main reason for the irreversible breakdown, was the failed purchase of an expensive estate in Witschapp, Moravia, that Stackelberg could not manage to finance, and it resulted in their complete financial ruin.

[19] The main point of this new marriage contract was that Stackelberg had it in writing that he could leave her any time – which he subsequently did when a daughter, Minona, was born on 8 April 1813 (it is possible he suspected she could not have been his child).

[20] Josephine, alone and increasingly ailing, "hired the dubious mathematics teacher Andrian [Karl Eduard von Andrehan-Werburg] ... she gradually fell under his charismatic spell, becoming pregnant and giving birth to Emilie [on 16 September 1815], hiding in a hut.

[24] But as if this series of traumatic incidents was not enough, more heartbreak was to follow: Dechant Franz Leyer in Trautenau wrote her on 29 December 1815[25] that he had her three young daughters in his custody, but Stackelberg had long since stopped sending any money.

Josephine and Therese – excited to hear of them again after almost two years - scraped together as much money as they could and sent it to Leyer, who soon afterward suggested they should take the children home to their mother where they belonged, given that their father had gone missing.