A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Breuning

by Alexander W. Thayer

^[1]BREUNING, a family mainly interesting for its connexion with Beethoven. Christoph von Breuning in 1761 was Chancellor of the Commandery of the Teutonic order at Mergentheim. His five sons, George Joseph, Lorenz, Johann Philipp, Emanuel Joseph, and Christoph, all received important offices either in the Order or in the Electorate; and Emanuel Joseph, born in 1741, became at twenty a 'Conseilleractuel' at the Court in Bonn, and, Jan. 3, 1750, married Helène, daughter of Hofrath Stephan von Kerich. The good influence of this excellent woman upon the young Beethoven renders a word upon her character pertinent. She was brought into close relations with the literary and scientific circles of the little capital, and was a woman of singular good sense, culture and i-efinement; mild, kindly, affectionate in her domestic relations; as wife and mother irreproachable.

On Jan. 15, 1777, a fire in the Electoral Palace caused the death of thirteen persons, including Emmanuel Joseph Breuning, in the 36th year of his age. His widow, who had just entered her 28th year, was left with three children:—Christoph, born May 13, 1771; Eleonore Brigitta, born April 23, 1772; Stephan, born Aug. 17, 1774; to whom a fourth was added a few months later:—Lorenz (Lenz), born in the summer of 1777.

She remained in the house where her husband died, which is still standing, across the square from the Minster Church. Immediately after the death of Emmanuel, his brother, Canon Lorenz came from Neuss to reside with her, as guardian and instructor of the children. Notwithstanding the presence of two ecclesiastics in the house as members of the family, Wegeler, writing of a time some ten years later than Breuning's decease, testifies to the broad and liberal spirit, the free and unconstrained tone that reigned; and this is confirmed by the fact that neither of the sons was educated for the priesthood. Besides classical studies, exceptional attention appears to have been paid to the rising German literature and the works of the leading English authors.

Into this family, in his 18th year, Beethoven came first as music-teacher of Eleonore and Lenz, and soon almost as a member of it. [See vol. i. 164.] The good influence upon his intellectual development and moral character of this intercourse with the Breunings cannot be over-rated, and a short notice of the members of that household more closely connected with him will not be out of place.

Eleonore Brigitta married Franz Gerhard Wegeler, Beethoven's biographer, at Beuel, March 28, 1802, and died at Coblenz, June 13, 1841, in her 70th year. [See Beethoven, vol. i. p. 166b.]

Stephan (Lorenz Joseph Judas Thaddeus) the well-known friend of Beethoven in later years, also studied jurisprudence at Bonn and Göttingen. Shortly before the fall of the Electorate, Max Franz, Elector of Cologne and Grand Master of the Teutonic Order, gave him a position in the Order at Mergentheim. A grand chapter held in Vienna in the summer of 1801 brought Stephan v. B. thither in the spring of that year, where he renewed his intimacy with Beethoven, begun in their boyhood, when both were pupils of Franz Ries on the violin. As the Teutonic Order no longer afforded the opportunity of a career, Stephan obtained a place in the Austrian War Office, and in 1818 advanced to the dignity of Hofrath. This rapid rise (in the Austrian service) of a young man who lacked the advantages of noble birth and aristocratic protection, and was not even an Austrian by descent, confirms the traditions of his remarkable executive ability, his great industry and extreme fidelity to duty. In Oct. 1825, Frederick, Prince of Hohenzollern-Heckingen, became President of the Imperial Council of War. From this moment Breuning was exposed to vexations and mortifications, which rapidly undermined his health, and he died, ten weeks after the decease of his friend Beethoven, on June 4, 1827. His relations with Beethoven, who often tried him sorely, have been given in a former article. [See vol. i. 172 b, 183 b, 184 a, 189 b, 192 b, 199 b.] He was twice married, first to the daughter of Ritter von Vering, head of the Austrian military medical administration. She was a pupil of Schenk the composer, a fine pianist, and author of divers little compositions. Beethoven—who had often played duets with her—dedicated the interesting pianoforte arrangement of the Violin Concerto to her. She was born Nov. 26, 1791, and died, says the epitaph composed by her husband 'on the 21 March, 1809, in the eleventh month of happy wedded life, at the moment of the entrance of spring.' The second wife was Marie Constanze Ruschowitz, born Dec. 1, 1784, died Oct. 5, 1856, leaving one son and two daughters.

Lorenz (Lenz) studied medicine at Bonn and Vienna—whither he came in 1794 and renewed his musical studies with Beethoven. At parting the then young composer wrote in his album to this effect:—

          Truth exists for the wise,
          Beauty for the feeling heart!
          They belong to each other.

Dear Good Breuning!

Never shall I forget the time which in Bonn as well as here I have spent with thee. Retain thy friendship for me, so as thou wilt find me ever the same. Vienna 1797 on the 1st October.

Thy true friend

L. v. Beethoven.

Their separation was final; on the 10th of the next April young Breuning died.

Moritz Gerhard, son of Stephan and Constanze (Ruschowitz), was born at Vienna Aug. 28, 1813. He is 'k.k. Medicinalrath,' and for many years has been one of the most eminent physicians of the Austrian capital. He passed his childhood in the 'Rothehaus' very near that in which Beethoven died [see vol. iii. 425], and during the composer's last sickness was much with him. Besides numerous pamphlets and articles on subjects relating to his profession, he is known in musical literature by his extremely interesting and valuable little book, 'Das Schwarzspanier Haus,' a collection of reminiscences of Beethoven and the Breunings. [See vol. i. p. 208 a.] He has for many years been an active and influential member of the governing body of the great 'Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde.' [See vol. i. 591.]

Letters from Beethoven to various Breunings—the widow, Christoph, Eleonore, Stephan, Lenz, and Gerhard—are given in Nohl's Briefe Beethovens' and in 'Neue Briefe Beethovens.'

Beethoven dedicated the following works to members of this family:—

To Fräulein Eleonore the variations on 'Se vuol ballare' for PF. and violin (July 1793), and the Easy Sonata for PF. solo in C major (1796). Nottebohm's Catalogue, p. 148.

To Stephan the Violin Concerto, op. 61 (March 1809); and to Frau v. B. the adaptation of the same for piano. (See Thayer's Beethoven (i. 162, etc.)

[ A. W. T. ]

1. Copyright 1889 by A. W. Thayer