Elisabeth Röckel (15 March 1793 – 3 March 1883) was a German

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hertz, Hz to A5 in Choir, choral ...

opera singer and the wife of the composer

Johann Nepomuk Hummel Johann Nepomuk Hummel (14 November 177817 October 1837) was an Austrian composer and pianist. His music reflects the transition from the Classical to the Romantic musical era. He was a pupil of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Antonio Salieri, and ...

Life

Röckel was born in

Neunburg vorm Wald Neunburg vorm Wald is a municipality in the district of Schwandorf, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated 21 km east of Schwandorf on the river Schwarzach, a tributary of the Naab. Mayor The mayor is Martin Birner (CSU). He was elected in 2014 ...

, Bavaria, and was baptised Maria Eva. She was a sister of the opera singer Joseph August Röckel (1783–1870) who played Florestan in the second version of

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 opera ''

Fidelio ''Fidelio'' (; ), originally titled ' (''Leonore, or The Triumph of Marital Love''), Opus number, Op. 72, is the sole opera by German composer Ludwig van Beethoven. The libretto was originally prepared by Joseph Sonnleithner from the French of ...

'', which premiered in the

Theater an der Wien The is a historic theatre in Vienna located on the Left Wienzeile in the Mariahilf district. Completed in 1801, the theatre has hosted the premieres of many celebrated works of theatre, opera, and symphonic music. Since 2006, it has served prim ...

in 1806. In the same year she came to Vienna, too, where she lived in a flat in the theater, together with her brother. In a register of the residents of the theater she is named "Elis Rökel". According to this register in another flat of the theater lived the famous singer Anna Milder-Hauptmann with her family, who played the title role of ''Fidelio''. She became a close friend of Elisabeth. Many sources show that Elisabeth often met with Beethoven who fell in love with her and wished to marry her. However, in April 1810 Elisabeth Röckel got an engagement at the theater in

Bamberg Bamberg (, , ; East Franconian German, East Franconian: ''Bambärch'') is a town in Upper Franconia district in Bavaria, Germany, on the river Regnitz close to its confluence with the river Main (river), Main. Bamberg had 79,000 inhabitants in ...

where she made her stage debut as Donna Anna in Mozart's ''

Don Giovanni ''Don Giovanni'' (; K. 527; full title: , literally ''The Rake Punished, or Don Giovanni'') is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Its subject is a centuries-old Spanish legen ...

'' and became a friend of the writer

E. T. A. Hoffmann Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann (born Ernst Theodor Wilhelm Hoffmann; 24 January 1776 – 25 June 1822) was a German Romantic author of fantasy and Gothic horror, a jurist, composer, music critic and artist.Penrith Goff, "E.T.A. Hoffmann" in ...

. The German musicologist

Klaus Martin Kopitz Klaus Martin Kopitz (born January 29, 1955, Stendal) is a German composer and musicologist. He became known in particular with his album ''Mia Brentano's Hidden Sea. 20 songs for 2 pianos''. In the US, it was 2018 on the annual "Want List" of t ...

has suggested that Beethoven wrote his famous Bagatelle No. 25 for piano, commonly known as "

Für Elise Bagatelle No. 25 in A minor (WoO59, Biamonti Catalogue, Bia515) for solo piano, commonly known as "Für Elise" (, ), is one of Ludwig van Beethoven's most significant popular compositions. It was not published during his lifetime, only being disc ...

", in the days of Elisabeth Röckel's departure from Vienna. It had the inscription "" or Elise on 27 April (1810) as memento by L. v. Bthvn Indeed, Anna Milder-Hauptmann named her "Elise" in a letter to her. During the days before Beethoven's death, she and her husband Hummel visited Beethoven several times, and cut and saved a lock of his hair. This was later discovered in 1934 in Florence by Wilhelm Hummel, a descendant of Johann Nepomuk Hummel. The lock of hair is now held at the Ira F Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies, in the

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library The Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library (also known locally as the MLK Library or the King Library) is an 8-story public library and university library, located in downtown San Jose, California, which had its grand opening on August 16, 2003. , ...

on the campus of

San Jose State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the List of oldest schools in California, oldest public university on the West Coast of ...

.William Meredith, "New Acquisitions (Summer 2012): The Yvonne Hummel Collection", ''The Beethoven Journal'', vol. 27, no. 2 (Winter 2012), pp. 74–80 From 1819 until her death at age 89, Röckel lived in

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state (Germany), German state of Thuringia, in Central Germany (cultural area), Central Germany between Erfurt to the west and Jena to the east, southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together w ...

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Life

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Further reading