Dorothea von Ertmann (1781-1849) - Miniatur wohl aus der Zeit um 1800, nicht bezeichnet, Fotografie, Graz, um 1897?

Dorothea Graumann, the daughter of a wealthy factory owner from Frankfurt, married the imperial captain Stephan Freiherr von Ertmann in 1798 and from then on, she lived with her husband in Vienna. Since around 1803, she was acquainted with Ludwig van Beethoven, and she took piano lessons from him.

Soon thereafter, Dorothea von Ertmann became an excellent pianist. She was famous of her sensitiveness when playing the piano works that Beethoven had composed. She admired him enthusiastically. The composer cared for her in a cordial way and in 1817, he devoted his Piano Sonata in A Major, op. 101 to her.

After her husband had been transferred to Milan in 1824, Dorothea von Ertmann lived in Milan with him. But she often came to Vienna for a visit and kept in contact with Beethoven and his friends. After the death of her husband in 1835, she returned to Vienna for good. She died in 1849 when she was almost 68 years old.(S.B.)