We know that Ludwig van Beethoven wrote mysterious letters to an “immortally beloved”, whose identity is shrouded in myth and speculation. Was it a love triangle or a secret lover? And if so, who? Was there an illegitimate child, or even a legal custody battle? Or was it something that eludes the grasp of rational thought? The existing literature on the question is thoroughly diverse in its interpretative scope. What emerges is a conundrum that seems unsolvable: an example of the paradox of deep anguish contained in a great love.

For the choreographer Jörg Mannes, this “immortally beloved” figure appears to oscillate between effervescent devotion and desperate withdrawal. An unachievable idea that Beethoven seeks so adamantly to resolve. Set to Beethoven’s 4th Piano Concerto, the ballet «Unsterbliche Geliebte», which was created specifically for the Bavarian Junior Ballet Munich, focuses on the mysterious love triangle between Beethoven, his mistress and her noble husband. For Mannes, the figures continually emerge from and dissolve in the musical structure, binding together real and imaginary traumas.

ABOUT JÖRG MANNES
Beginning his training at the Ballet School of the Vienna State Opera, Mannes went on to complete his training in Monte Carlo, London and New York. As an ensemble member of the Vienna State Ballet, he received a Rudolf Nurejev Scholarship which enabled him to dance with the Opéra de Paris for a six-month period. Three years later he was employed as a soloist with Heinz Spoeli at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein. It was during this time that Mannes began choreographing, which led him to assume the artistic directorships of the ballet companies at the Stadttheater Bremerhaven, Landestheater Linz and the State Opera of Hannover. Aside from creating productions for companies internationally from the 2022/23 Season, he is the ballet director of the Theatre Magdeburg.

First premiered on 1 February 2020 as part of the series “Montagsstücke” at the Bavarian State Opera