Moritz Gerhard von Breuning (28 August 1813 – 6 May 1892)"Breuning, Moritz Gerhard"
''Oesterreichisches Musiklexikon online''. Retrieved 4 December 2021. was an Austrian physician, known for his documentation and friendship of

Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

during the composer's last years.

Life

Breuning was born in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

in 1813; his parents were Stephan von Breuning and Marie Constanze Ruschowitz, whom he married in 1817. Stephan von Breuning came to Vienna from

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

about 1800; he was a member of the Austrian ''

Hofkriegsrat The ''Hofkriegsrat'' (or Aulic War Council, sometimes Imperial War Council) established in 1556 was the central military administrative authority of the Habsburg monarchy until 1848 and the predecessor of the Austro-Hungarian Ministry of War. Th ...

'', and in 1818 became ''

Hofrat was the title of the highest advising officials at the imperial, royal, or princely courts of the Holy Roman Empire, who jointly formed the ''Geheimer Rat'' reporting to the ruler. The term remained in use during subsequent monarchic reigns in Ge ...

''.Paul Nettl. "Breuning". ''Beethoven Encyclopedia''.

Philosophical Library Philosophical Library is a publisher, based in United States, specializing in psychology, philosophy, religion, and history. It was founded in 1941 by Dagobert D. Runes with the intention of publishing the works of European intellectuals fleeing ...

, New York. 1956. Gerhard von Breuning is known particularly for his friendship in his youth with composer

. Gerhard's father, Stephan Von Breuning and Beethoven had known each other since when they were boys in

. The young Beethoven became a close friend to the entire Breuning family and gave piano lessons to Stephan's younger siblings. Beethoven and Stephan were also both violin pupils of Franz Anton Ries, and their friendship continued in Vienna. Gerhard lived during his childhood in the Rotherhaus, near Beethoven's last home, an apartment in the Schwarzspanierhaus; during the final nearly two years of Beethoven's life, Gerhard, then in his early teens, paid frequent visits to the composer and often accompanied him on his walks. Beethoven was quite fond of young Gerhard and enjoyed his company. He liked to call him Ariel (referring to the character in Shakespeare's ''The Tempest''), and, since Gerhard was known to be dependent upon his father, also called him "Hosenknopf" (trouser button). Breuning later became an eminent physician in Vienna and was also for many years an active committee member of the ''

Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde The (), also known as the (German for 'Viennese Music Association'), is an Austrian music organization that was founded in 1812 by Beethoven’s friend Joseph Sonnleithner, general secretary of the Court Theatre in Vienna, Austria. Overview ...

''. In 1870, he published ''Aus dem Schwarzspanierhause: Erinnerungen an Ludwig van Beethoven aus meiner Jugendzeit'', in which he described his memories of Beethoven; it is an important biographical source about the composer's last years. Gerhard Von Breuning died in Vienna in 1892 at the age of 78.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Breuning, Gerhard 1813 births 1892 deaths Physicians from the Austrian Empire Physicians from Austria-Hungary 19th-century Austrian physicians Physicians from Vienna Ludwig van Beethoven