A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Ertmann, Baroness
ERTMANN, the Baroness. This lady, whose maiden name was Dorothea Cäcilia Graumann, of Offenbach near Frankfort, will go down to posterity as an intimate friend of Beethoven's, and one of the most competent interpreters of his pianoforte music during his lifetime. She passed many years in Vienna. We hear of her there from Reichardt[1] in Feb. 1809, when her husband was major of the 'Hoch-und-deutschmeister' infantry regiment. Reichardt met her at her sister's, Mme. Franke's, and at Zmeskall's, and heard her play the Fantasia in C♯ minor (op. 27, no. 2) and a Quartet (perhaps an arrangement of the Quintet, op. 16); and his description implies that she had both great power and great delicacy of expression, and a beautiful singing tone. On the second occasion Clementi was present, and was so far surprised out of his usual taciturnity as to exclaim more than once 'Elle joue en grand, maitre.' The Trio in D (op. 70) and the Sonata in E (op. 90) were also pieces of hers; and her playing of the Largo in the former and the 2nd movement in the latter are spoken of by Schindler as marvels of expression in different directions (i. 241). In 1820 she was still in Vienna, and we have another report of her from W. E. Müller, of Bremen,[2] who met her at the house of Gaymüller, with four other ladies, all good players, but whom, in his opinion, she far surpassed, not so much in execution as in her rendering of the intention and character of the music, and in fancy and expression. Between these two dates she had had lessons from Beethoven, and had become very intimate with him. He visited the Ertmanns in the evenings, and she would play to him, while he made himself thoroughly at home.[3] 'Meine liebe werthe Dorothea Cäcilia' is the beginning of the only letter from him to her yet published, in which he conveys to her the dedication of the noble and imaginative Sonata in A, op. 101, which bears her name. During the Ertmanns' stay in Vienna she lost a child. Beethoven at first discontinued his visits, but at length asked her to call on him, and saying 'we will talk in music,' played to her for more than an hour, 'in which he said everything; and at length even gave me comfort.'[4]
It was the happy lot of Mme. von Ertmann, after having been thus intimate with one great composer, to make the acquaintance of another. Rather more than four years after Beethoven's death the regiment moved from Vienna to Milan, and General Ertmann became commandant; and there, in July 1831, she received a visit from Mendelssohn, then on his return from Rome. The account may be read in Mendelssohn's own delightful language in his 'Reisebriefe.'[5] She played him the C♯ minor Fantasia and the Sonata in D minor (op. 31, no. 2), and his verdict is quite in accordance with those we have already heard. 'She plays the Beethoven things very beautifully, although it is so long since she studied them: true, she often forces the expression a little, now retarding, and then again hurrying; but certain pieces she plays splendidly, and I think I have learnt something from her.'
In 1844 Mme. Ertmann was again living in Vienna, where Moscheles met her, and induced her to play him the C♯ minor Fantasia (ii. 123). She died there in 1848, about 70 years old.