There is no doubt that Ludwig van Beethoven was deeply in love several times in his life. However, being the emotional basketcase that he was, nearly all of his objects of desire “women whose social or marital status – often both – placed them safely beyond reach.” The most famous of Beethoven’s women is, of course, the anonymous muse known as “Immortal Beloved.” To this day, no one knows who she was, “but she left the composer in a creative crisis that lasted for years.”