In 1812, Ludwig van Beethoven penned a searingly intimate letter to an unnamed woman he called his “Immortal Beloved”. Never sent and discovered only after his death, the letter has fuelled centuries of speculation and longing. Was she Antonie Brentano, the married confidante? Or Josephine Brunsvik, whose surviving correspondence with Beethoven reveals a love both profound and forbidden? The mystery remains unsolved, yet the emotional truth of the letter – its aching vulnerability, its defiance of social constraint, its yearning – continues to resonate. My new work Forever Ours draws its emotional and conceptual core from the enigmatic letters Beethoven wrote to his “Immortal Beloved”, not to answer the question of identity, but to inhabit the emotional terrain of a love that could not be spoken aloud – yet refused to be silenced. It is infused with longing, devotion and a quiet defiance. The phrase with which Beethoven signed off – “Forever yours, forever mine, forever ours” – inspired the title and became the thematic compass for the work: a meditation on eternal love, longing and the mystery of connection across time and space.

Ella Macens. Photo © Tenis Dimants