Alexander Franz von Rall

Alexander Franz Alexandrowitsch von Rall ( Russian Александр Франц Александрович фон Раль ; * July 24, 1756 in Hanau ; † April 22, ^July / May 4,  1832 ^greg. In St. Petersburg ) was a Hessian - Russian banker and patron .

Life

Rall, son of the major of the Prussian Army Alexander Franz Rall, began his professional career in a small trading company in Hanau. Rall's uncle Johann Gottlieb Rall served in the Hessian army, while Rall's uncle Christian Friedrich Rall entered Russian service when Fyodor Grigorjewitsch Rall became major general and administered the Marble Palace in St. Petersburg from 1785 .

In 1788 Alexander Franz Rall went to St. Petersburg, where his uncle Fyodor Grigorjewitsch Rall got him a job as Alexander Alexandrowitsch Rall in the office of the court banker Richard Sutherland. Rall quickly made a career there and became Sutherland's closest collaborator. In 1791 Sutherland's embezzlement of state funds became known, so that Sutherland killed himself. In the investigation that followed, Rall was able to prove his innocence. With ukase from Paul I , the office of the court bankers was finally founded in 1798 with Rall as one of the commission agents, which carried out business with the major banks in Hamburg , London , Leipzig , Berlin , Vienna , Dresden , Genoa and other places and provided loans for Russia recorded. The office also regulated the supply of money to the Russian missions abroad and the military units deployed abroad, as well as the purchase of weapons. All commission agents had their own trading houses or bank accounts and participated in these transactions themselves. Rall soon took over the management there and became known as the "King" of the St. Petersburg Stock Exchange . By the highest ukase, Rall received the hereditary baron dignity in 1800. In 1807 he took Russian citizenship.

Rall owned five houses in St. Petersburg, two dachas on Kamenny Island, five dachas on Peterhof Street, a country house in Jekaterinhof on the outskirts of St. Petersburg and some estates in the St. Petersburg governorate . He ran a cloth factory on the Kleine Ochta and a paper factory on the Narva Gate in St. Petersburg . Rall was married to Jelisaweta Nikolajewna Molwo (1768–1843), daughter of the wealthy sugar manufacturer Hermann Nikolaus Molwo. Rall and his wife were into music and played the piano well , while Rall also played the violin . Rall's house on Angliskaya Naberezhnaya was one of the most famous music centers in St. Petersburg, which was visited by all famous musicians and singers. Foreign musicians also lived there. In 1792 Rall founded the New Music Society. In 1802 he founded the musician widows' fund to support the widows and orphans of the members, which was converted into the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Society in 1805 with Rall as honorary director.

In 1817 Rall went bankrupt , from which he could no longer recover. He was buried in the Volkovo Lutheran Cemetery.

In consideration of Rall's merits, especially during the war in 1812 , Nicholas I made sure that the widow kept the house on Angliskaya Naberezhnaya on the condition that after her death it would be shared equally with her children regardless of gender. Of the eight children, the eldest daughter Sofja married the general and geodesist Friedrich Schubert . Fyodor became a composer and conductor . Adelaida married the orientalist Ossip Julian Iwanowitsch Senkowski . The youngest daughter Alexandra married the architect Alexander Pavlovich Brjullow .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} Березовский Б .: Филармоническое Общество Санкт-Петербурга. История и современность . КультИнформПресс, St. Petersburg 2002, p. 33-36 .
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Род фон Ралль: 4. Ралль Александр Александрович, или Францевич (Ганау, 07/24/1756– 04/22/1832, СПб) (accessed on September 21, 2017).
3. ↑ Козырева М. Г .: Придворный банкир А. Раль . In: Немцы в России: Петербургские немцы . 1999, p. 205-211 .