Maximilian Friedrich von Königsegg-Rothenfels (13 May 1708 – 15 April 1784) was the
Archbishop-Elector of Cologne
The Archbishop of Cologne is an archbishop governing the Archdiocese of Cologne of the Catholic Church in western North Rhine-Westphalia and is also a historical state in the Rhine holding the birthplace of Beethoven and northern Rhineland-Palati ...
and the
Bishop of Münster from 1761 to 1784.
He was born in
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 ...
, son of Count Albert-Eusebius-Franz von
Königsegg-Rothenfels
Königsegg-Rothenfels was a state in far southwestern Bavaria, Germany, located north of Austria and west of Baden-Württemberg. It was created as a partition of the Barony of Königsegg in 1622, and was raised to a county seven years later. It wa ...
and his wife Countess Maria von
Manderscheid-Blankenheim. He was the first Elector of Cologne to come from outside the Bavarian
Wittelsbach
The House of Wittelsbach () is a German dynasty, with branches that have ruled over territories including Bavaria, the Palatinate, Holland and Zeeland, Sweden (with Finland), Denmark, Norway, Hungary (with Romania), Bohemia, the Electorate ...
dynasty since 1583.
He was the first employer and patron of the 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 ...
, who at age twelve composed
Three Early Piano Sonatas, WoO 47 in his honor. These works, known as the "Kurfürstensonaten" ("Prince-Elector sonatas") in German, were not assigned an opus number by Beethoven and are not included in the "canonical" count of
32 piano sonatas, which begins with
Op. 2 No. 1 in F minor and ends with
Op. 111 in C minor.
See also
*
Königsegg-Rothenfels
Königsegg-Rothenfels was a state in far southwestern Bavaria, Germany, located north of Austria and west of Baden-Württemberg. It was created as a partition of the Barony of Königsegg in 1622, and was raised to a county seven years later. It wa ...
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Maximilian Frederick Of Konigsegg-Rothenfels
1708 births
1784 deaths
Archbishop-Electors of Cologne
Prince-Bishops of Münster
18th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in the Holy Roman Empire
Cathedral deans of Cologne