Johann Gottfried Seume

Johann Gottfried Seume (29 January 176313 June 1810) was a German writer.

Biography Seume was born in Poserna (now part of Lützen, Saxony-Anhalt). He was educated first at Borna, then at the St Nicholas School (Nikolaischule) and University of Leipzig. The study of Shaftesbury and Bolingbroke wakened his interest in theology, and, breaking off his studies, he travelled to Hesse-Kassel to join the military. Seume later wrote that he was traveling to study in Paris when he was seized by Hessian recruiting officers and sold to England, whereupon he was drafted to Canada. (Multiple historians dispute this account, suggesting Seume voluntarily enlisted. with Beethoven's "Moonlight" Sonata. It is unclear whether this was a reference to an idea that had been previously discussed between the two men, or a new idea of Grosheim's.

Nevertheless, in the minds of some writers the association between "Die Beterin" and the sonata came to assume more solidity than it ever had in reality. "Die Beterin" was also sometimes said to be a painting. In the 1954 edition of Grove's Dictionary of Music, it is specifically denied that the "Moonlight" Sonata has any connection with "a picture, Die Beterin (The Pleader)".

Beethoven had two volumes of Seume's works in his possession when he died.