Johann Georg von Browne

Count Johann Georg von Browne (or Johann Georg von Browne-Camus; 20 September 1767 – January 1827) was an officer in the Russian army, and settled in Vienna where he was a patron of Ludwig van Beethoven during the composer's early career.

Life

Von Browne was born in Riga in 1767. His father was George Browne, an Irish soldier of fortune who became an officer in the Imperial Russian Army from 1730, reaching the rank of general.[1][2]

Von Browne became a brigadier general in the Russian army. He moved with his wife to Vienna about 1794; his income came from his estates in Livonia. He was a patron of Ludwig van Beethoven during the composer's early career; Beethoven often visited his house, and his compositions were often performed there. Ferdinand Ries, a pupil of Beethoven, was through his recommendation appointed piano player at von Browne's house.[1][2][3]

Several of Beethoven's compositions, from 1798 to 1803, were dedicated to von Browne: the String Trios, Op. 9, in which the composer calls him "Premiere Mécène de sa Muse" ("foremost patron of his muse"); Seven Variations for cello and piano in E-flat major on "Bei Männern welche Liebe fühlen" from Mozart's The Magic Flute, WoO 46; Piano Sonata No. 11, Op. 22; and Gellert-Lieder, Op. 48.[1][3] Beethoven's String Trio Op. 3, and the Piano Sonatas Op. 10, were dedicated to the Count's wife Anna Margaretha,[3][4] daughter of Otto Hermann von Vietinghoff and sister of Barbara von Krüdener.

The Count's majordomo, Hofrat Johannes Büel, said that von Browne was "one of the strangest of men, on the one hand full of excellent talents and splendid qualities of heart and mind, and on the other full of weaknesses and depravity". He spent some years in a mental institution after a mental breakdown.[1][2][5]

References
  1. [H.] Peter Clive, Beethoven and His World: A Biographical Dictionary. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001, p. 60 (Page 60)
  2. Stefan Michael Newerkla, Die irischen Reichsgrafen von Browne-Camus in russischen und österreichischen Diensten. Vom Vertrag von Limerick (1691) bis zum Tod ihres Hausfreunds Ludwig van Beethoven (1827) [= The Irish counts of Browne-Camus in Russian and Austrian service. From the Treaty of Limerick (1691) to the death of their friend Ludwig van Beethoven (1827)]. In: Lazar Fleishman, Stefan Michael Newerkla & Michael Wachtel (eds.), Скрещения судеб. Literarische und kulturelle Beziehungen zwischen Russland und dem Westen. A Festschrift for Fedor B. Poljakov (= Stanford Slavic Studies, Volume 49). Berlin: Peter Lang, 2019, pp. 43–68.
  3. Paul Nettl, "Browne, Johann Georg, Count". Beethoven Encyclopedia. New York: Philosophical Library, 1956, 325 p.
  4. String Trio in E-flat major, Op. 3 (Beethoven, Ludwig van) IMSLP, accessed 11 April 2016.
  5. Derek Carew, The Companion to The Mechanical Muse: The Piano, Pianism and Piano Music, c. 1760–1850. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2007, p. 45 (Page 45)
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