Minona

Minona von Stackelberg - is she the daughter of Ludwig van Beethoven? Nine months before her birth in April 1813, the composer wrote the letter "To the Immortal Beloved", in all probability Minona's mother Josephine von Stackelberg, née Brunsvik de Korompa. Beethoven was deeply attached to her, friendship and love for many years. But her life circumstances always prevented them from living together. In 1810 Josephine married the Estonian Baron Christoph von Stackelberg in a second marriage. Their community was never happy, the baron suffered from constant financial worries. There was no longer any doubt about the failure of the marriage in the summer of 1812, when Beethoven's highly emotional letter was written.

Minona was born into an extremely precarious family situation. The paternity of Christoph von Stackelberg, however, was never publicly questioned. When he went back to his Estonian homeland and his wife Josephine did not want to follow him, he brought their children including Minona against their will to Reval, today's Tallinn. The opera also traces Minona's life there. She seemed to stand out of the family in comparison to her siblings and was even given the nickname "the governess".

Minona herself remained childless, so that a final verification of Ludwig van Beethoven's paternity by means of the DNA of possible descendants is impossible.

Minona von Stackelberg's story leaves room for questions and speculation. It is therefore precisely the search of a woman for her identity that director Hendrik Müller focuses on in his production. Minona seeks help in art, uses it as compensation, and yet she is threatened by Beethoven's supernatural father's death.