Assessment
Beethoven, unsurprisingly, had an extremely negative view of Johanna; in a late letter from September 1826 he called her "an extremely depraved person" and described her character as "evil, malevolent, and treacherous". On various occasions he called her the "Queen of the Night," referring to the villainess of Mozart's famous opera The Magic Flute.
There were others who shared Beethoven's view. Jakob Hotschevar, who had served as Karl's legal guardian, refused in 1830 to become the guardian of Johanna's daughter Ludovika. He informed the court that because of Johanna's "far from praiseworthy moral conduct" he simply did not want to have any further contacts with her.
Read more about this topic: Johanna Van Beethoven
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