Helene von Breuning (née von Kerich; 3 January 1750,

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

– 9 December 1838) was a member of the

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ru ...

upper class Upper class in modern societies is the social class composed of people who hold the highest social status, usually are the wealthiest members of class society, and wield the greatest political power. According to this view, the upper class is ...

, who engaged young

Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classic ...

to teach music to her children, gave him education and introduced him into social circles. Due to the close ties, she was later referred to as his "second mother" because she favourably shaped his early career.Antonius Lux (ed.): Great women in world history. 1000 biographies in words and pictures . Sebastian Lux Verlag , Munich 1963, p. 82. Thayer, Alexander Wheelock: Ludwig van Beethoven's life. Volume 1, 3rd edition, Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1917.

Life

Helene von Kerich was the daughter of Stephan von Kerich, privy councilor and personal physician to the last

Archduke Maximilian Francis of Austria Archduke Maximilian Francis of Austria (Maximilian Franz Xaver Joseph Johann Anton de Paula Wenzel; 8 December 1756 – 26 July 1801) was Elector of Cologne and Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights. He was the youngest child of Holy Roman ...

the Elector of Cologne. Her brother Abraham became a canon and

Scholaster A scholaster, from the Latin ''scholasticus'' (schoolmaster), or magister scholarum, was the head of an ecclesiastical school, typically a cathedral school, monastic school, or the school of a collegiate church, in medieval and early-modern Europ ...

at the Archidiakonalstift zu Bonn. She married the Electoral Court Councilor Emanuel Joseph von Breuning (* 1741, † January 15, 1777 Bonn), who died trying to save files from the Electoral Palace fire in Bonn. With her four children (Christoph, Eleonore (nicknamed Lorchen),

Stephan Stephan may refer to: * Stephan, South Dakota, United States * Stephan (given name), a masculine given name * Stephan (surname), a Breton-language surname See also * Sankt-Stephan * Stefan (disambiguation) * Stephan-Oterma * Stephani * St ...

(Beethoven's lifelong friend) and Lorenz (nicknamed Lenz)) the widowed Helene lived until 1815 in Bonn and later in

Kerpen Kerpen (; Ripuarian: ''Kerpe'') is the most populated town in the Rhein-Erft-Kreis (North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany). It is located about 20 kilometres southwest from Cologne. Division of the town The town of Kerpen was created in 1975, whe ...

and Beul (Bad Neuenahr).

Relationship with Beethoven

From 1785, when Beethoven was 15 years old, until 1792, when he left

for

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permanently, the Breuning home on Bonn's Münsterplatz was a happy retreat for the young composer and pianist. Beethoven was employed as a piano teacher for the children Lorchen and Lenz, who were two and seven years younger, respectively. The young Beethoven's troubled home life was extremely stressful and he was drawn to the warmth and closeness of the Breuning household. Helene was taken in by young Beethoven's talent, sensitivity and intelligence and she embraced him as one of her children. Beethoven visited the Breuning home almost daily; he often ate his meals there and was a frequent overnight guest. Lorchen was young Beethoven's first love, but she later married another long-time friend of Beethoven, Franz Gerhard Wegeler. Beethoven and Stephan Von Breuning, four years younger than the composer, remained close friends for the rest of their lives (Stephan died just two months following Beethoven in 1827). It was with Helene's help that the young Beethoven largely overcame his excessive diffidence and learned more refined social manners. According to Wegeler, the Breuning family helped to cultivate Beethoven's lifelong passion for literature and poetry.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Breuning, Helene von 1750 births 1838 deaths People from Bonn