Bettina von Arnim

Bettina von Arnim
Bettina von Arnim as drawn by Ludwig Emil Grimm during the first decade of the 19th century
Born	Elisabeth Catharina Ludovica Magdalena Brentano (1785-04-04)4 April 1785 Frankfurt am Main, Holy Roman Empire
Died	20 January 1859(1859-01-20) (aged 73) Berlin, Kingdom of Prussia
Resting place	Wiepersdorf
Pen name	Beans Beor
Occupation	Writer, publisher, composer, singer, visual artist
Language	German
Literary movement	Romanticism
Spouse	Ludwig Achim von Arnim
Children	Gisela von Arnim
Relatives	Sophie von La Roche (grandmother) Clemens Brentano (brother) Christian Brentano (brother) Franz Brentano (nephew) Lujo Brentano (nephew) Herman Grimm (son-in-law)

Bettina von Arnim (the Countess of Arnim) (4 April 1785 – 20 January 1859),^[1] born Elisabeth Catharina Ludovica Magdalena Brentano, was a German writer and novelist.

Bettina (or Bettine) Brentano was a writer, publisher, composer, singer, visual artist, an illustrator, patron of young talent, and a social activist. She was the archetype of the Romantic era's zeitgeist and the crux of many creative relationships of canonical artistic figures. Best known for the company she kept, she numbered among her closest friends Goethe, Beethoven, Schleiermacher, and Pückler and tried to foster artistic agreement among them. Many leading composers of the time, including Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn, Robert and Clara Schumann, Franz Liszt, Johanna Kinkel, and Johannes Brahms, admired her spirit and talents. As a composer, von Arnim's style was unconventional, molding and melding favorite folk melodies and historical themes with innovative harmonies, phrase lengths, and improvisations that became synonymous with the music of the era. She was closely related to the German writers Clemens Brentano and Achim von Arnim: the first was her brother, the second her husband. Her daughter Gisela von Arnim became a prominent writer as well. Her nephews, via her brother Christian, were Franz and Lujo Brentano.