Franz Gerhard Wegeler

Franz Gerhard Wegeler ( born August 2, 1765 in Bonn, † May 7, 1848 in Koblenz ) was a German physician and boyhood friend of Ludwig van Beethoven.

Life

After studying medicine at the University of Bonn Electoral Cologne he received from Maximilian Franz, as well as Beethoven, a scholarship for further education at the University of Vienna. Wegeler led Beethoven already in 1785 by a recommendation to the family of Helene von Breuning widow and opened the young virtuoso, paving the way for his future social advancement. Also Stephan von Breuning later remained friends with the two.

After his return to Bonn, the local university doctorate him on 1 September 1789 and gave him the same year a professorship. In 1793 he was Rector of the University for a year before he had to cease its activities in 1794 after the invasion of French troops and fled for two years in Vienna, where Beethoven lived since 1792. In his time in Vienna Franz Gerhard Wegeler wrote that continue the salary of his professorship was referring, in particular medical writings. 1796 in Vienna, Beethoven and Wegeler saw for the last time, but remained closely connected by correspondence from Beethoven's death in 1827.

After his return to Bonn in 1796, he joined up again, until 1798, the university was closed. After a short period, earned his living in the Wegeler as a practicing physician, he got a job as a teacher end of 1798 at the Central School in Bonn.

1802 married Franz Gerhard Wegeler and Eleonore von Breuning, a former piano pupil of Beethoven. The couple had four children. Among the descendants belong Helena Theresia Josepha (1803-1832) and Julius Wegeler Stephan ( 1807-1883 ).

1804 took over Franz Gerhard Wegeler the management of the midwifery school in Bonn, the same year he was appointed a member of the District Committee on smallpox vaccination in the arrondissement of Bonn. In 1807 he became a member of the Central Committee of the smallpox vaccination for the entire Rhine - Moselle department.

In 1807 he left Bonn and went into Koblenz in French service and was from 1808 to 1814 Head of Medizinalpolizei in the Rhine- Moselle department. In 1810, Franz Gerhard Wegeler doctorate was also recognized under French rule, and he received the title: Docteur en médicine and Docteur en surgery.

In 1812 he got the gold and the silver in 1813 awarded merit nobility of Napoleon. 1817 Wegeler awarded the Iron Cross second class at the white band and 1818, the large gold medal. 1831 came the Red Eagle Order, Third Class. 1830 Franz Gerhard Wegeler Stiller joined as an associate in the wine trade house Your Hard & Tesche, its management was able to take his grandson Julius Wegeler.

A special importance was Franz Gerhard Wegeler as a friend and biographer of Beethoven: Together with Ferdinand Ries he worked from 1837 to 1838 on the book Biographical Notes on Ludwig van Beethoven, which appeared in 1838 in Koblenz publisher Karl Baedeker.

Infection in April 1848 is seen as the cause of his death in May 1848. His grave is located in the main cemetery of Koblenz.

In 1906 ( 18th District ) was named after him in the Wegelergasse Vienna Waehring. In Bonn -Poppelsdorf is Wegelerstraße the seat of numerous university institutes ( Physical and Theoretical Chemistry, data center, math ) and the Deanery of mathematics and science faculty.

Publication

  • Franz Gerhard Wegeler and Ferdinand Ries, Biographical Notes on Ludwig van Beethoven, Koblenz 1838 ( digitized version of the first edition )

Literature (selection )

  • Julius Pagel: Wegeler, Franz Gerhard. In: General German Biography (ADB ). Volume 41, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1896, pp. 421 f
  • Stephan Ley: Beethoven as a friend of the family Wegeler - v. Breuning. Bonn 1927
  • Berthold Prößler: Franz Gerhard Wegeler. Publisher Beethoven-Haus, Bonn 2000
  • Friederike Grigat: The collection Wegeler in the Beethoven -Haus Bonn. Critical catalog. Publisher Beethoven -Haus, Bonn 2008, ISBN 978-3-881-881111
  • Klaus Martin Kopitz and Rainer Cadenbach (ed.): Beethoven from the perspective of his contemporaries in diaries, letters, poems and memories. Assisted by Oliver Korte and Nancy Tannenberger. Henle, Munich 2009, Volume 2, No. 648-650, ISBN 978-3-87328-120-2
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