Maria Magdalena van Beethoven, née Keverich (19 December 1746 – 17 July 1787)[2] was the wife of the Bonn court musician Johann van Beethoven, and the mother of the composer Ludwig van Beethoven. Her birthplace is now a museum, the Mutter-Beethoven-Haus.
Maria Magdalena Keverich was born in Ehrenbreitstein, a village on the Rhine opposite Koblenz (and now part of Koblenz). Her parents were Johann Heinrich Keverich (1701–1759) and Anna Klara (Clara) née Westorff (1707–1768), who were married in 1731. From 1733, Johann was head cook at the court of Franz Georg von Schönborn, the Elector of Trier, at Schloss Philippsburg in Ehrenbreitstein.[3][4] Among her siblings was Johann Peter Keverich (1734–1807), who later became a priest and chose a religious life.
Maria Magdalena was the youngest of their six children. On 30 January 1763, she married Johann Georg Leym (1733–1765), who was in the service of the Archbishop of Trier; he died in 1765.[3][4]
In her first marriage, she had a son, Johann Peter Anton Leym (1764–1764), who died in infancy.
She married Johann van Beethoven (near 1740–1792) at the Church of St Remigius, Bonn on 12 November 1767. Johann's father was Kapellmeister at the court of the Electorate of Cologne, which was in Bonn, and Johann was a court musician there. Johann and Maria van Beethoven had seven children: the future composer Ludwig was the second, born in 1770.[4][5]
Maria died in Bonn in 1787 of tuberculosis, aged 40.[3][5] Her birth place is now a museum, named Mutter-Beethoven-Haus.
Mary Magdalene van Beethoven had five older siblings, four of whom died in infancy and only of whom survived: