Thérèse von Brunswick

Countess Teréz Brunszvik de Korompa (Therese Countess von Brunsvik or Brunswick) (July 27, 1775, Pozsony, Kingdom of Hungary – September 23, 1861, Pest, Kingdom of Hungary) was a member of the Hungarian nobility, pedagoge and a follower of the Swiss Pestalozzi. Her father was the Hungarian count Anton Brunszvick and her mother was the baroness Anna Seeberg; her siblings were Franz, Josephine, and Charlotte.

She was the founder of nursery schools in Hungary on July 1, 1828, after Robert Owen's example set in New Lanark, Scotland in 1816. Soon the pre-school institution became famous all over Hungary and in 1837, Friedrich Fröbel founded the first "kindergarten" in Germany. She launched the Women's Association in Buda and Pest and initiated an institution for educating women and consistently supported their equality.

One of Ludwig van Beethoven's students, Therese was the dedicatee for his Piano Sonata No. 24 in F♯ major, Opus 78, nicknamed "A Thérèse", and some scholars and writers have speculated that she—not her sister Josephine—may have been the "Immortal Beloved". Her memoirs were first published by La Mara, and her diaries and notes (up to 1813) by Marianne Czeke, both revealing much about the relations between Beethoven and the Brunsvik family, in particular her sister Josephine.

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