Brentano, Elisabeth (Bettina)

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Brentano, Elisabeth (Bettina) (b Frankfurt-am-Main, 1785; d Berlin, 1859). Friend of Goethe and later of Beethoven. Her hysterical nature led her to invent letters she said she received from Goethe, and only one letter to her from Beethoven, though revealing an affectionate relationship, has been authenticated. In 1811, married poet Achim von Arnim who had collab. with her brother Clemens (1778–1842) in editing the folk-anthology Des Knaben Wunderhorn (1805–8).

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