Maria Magdalena van Beethoven

Project „Portrait of Mother Beethoven“ (fictitious) by the artist Elias Maya.

Although no portrait of Maria Magdalena van Beethoven, née Keverich (1746–1787) exists and no objects from her life are included, much is known about her from archives and reports from her contemporaries. As the youngest child of the electoral head cook Johann Heinrich Keverich (1702–1759) and his wife Anna Clara, née Westorff (1707–1768) she belonged to the respected bourgeoisie in Ehrenbreitstein. At the age of 16 she married the electoral chamberlain Johan Georg Leym (1733–1765) who however died shortly afterwards (as did their son). In 1767 Maria Magdalena entered into a second marriage with the Bonn court musician Johann van Beethoven (around 1740–1792). She and her husband moved to Bonn where she gave birth to seven children of whom only three survived to adulthood – including the composer Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827). He was very attached to his mother and wrote about her in a letter after her death: „She was such a good and kind mother to me, my best friend.“

(from: broschure of Mother Beethoven House published by the Middle Rhine Museum Koblenz)