Friedrich Wilhelm von Redern

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Wilhelm Friedrich Graf von Redern around 1845

Count Friedrich Wilhelm von Redern (born December 9, 1802 in Berlin ; † November 5, 1883 ibid) was a Prussian Chamberlain , Real Privy Councilor , General of the Cavalry and General Director for Drama and Music, composer and politician. He was one of the key figures in Berlin's cultural life in the 1830s and 1840s and, as a confidante of three Prussian monarchs, an influential figure at court for 50 years.

life and work

Friedrich Wilhelm von Redern
Palais Redern in Berlin, Pariser Platz

Born into Havelland Uradelsgeschlechts of Rederns , was the Royal Friedrich Wilhelm von Rederns Chamberlain and Chamberlain at Prince Henry of Prussia born Wilhelm Jakob Moritz of Rederns (1750-1816) and his second wife Wilhelmina of Otterstedt (1772-1842), the eldest son . He studied law at the University of Berlin from 1821 and entered Prussian government services in 1823. Just two years later, Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm IV raised the young nobleman, as well as the highly educated Schöngeist, to the position of royal chamberlain with his wife, Crown Princess Elisabeth . On 19 December 1834 he married to Hamburg Dorothea Sophia Bertha Jenisch (1811 to 1875), a daughter of the wealthy Hamburg businessman and senator d Martin Johann Jenisch. Ä. The marriage resulted in a daughter, Wilhelmine Adelaide Marie Luise (born March 27, 1846).

General manager

Equipped with artistic inclinations and a pronounced musical talent, he was initially entrusted with the general management of the Royal Drama in 1828 in place of Count Brühl , and then finally from 1832. In this function he was responsible for the Berlin theater on Gendarmenmarkt and the Royal Opera Unter den Linden until 1842 . The prominent public position led him to have his Redernsches Palais on Pariser Platz expanded by the architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel from 1830 to 1833 into a representative city palace, which was one of the most important places in Berlin's social life and was also the refuge of his exquisite art collection. The listed city palace was demolished in 1906 for the construction of the Hotel Adlon . Count Redern was friends with Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy and Giacomo Meyerbeer , as well as with Goethe , Schlegel and the brothers Alexander and Wilhelm von Humboldt . From 1842 he directed the royal court music for King Friedrich Wilhelm IV as general director and thus also determined the fortunes of the royal court and cathedral choir and all military choirs. Also in 1842 he became Real Privy Councilor.

Military career

In 1823, a volunteer joined the Guard Rifle Battalion for a year in Redern and was released to the reserve in 1824 . In 1825 he became second lieutenant of the cavalry in the 2nd Battalion of the 8th Landwehr Regiment and in 1842 moved to the 2nd Battalion of the 24th Landwehr Regiment. He was promoted to Prime Lieutenant in 1843 and to Rittmeister in 1844. In 1846 he received the character and in 1853 the patent for major . In 1861 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and in 1862 to colonel. Rederns received the character than 1,863 major general and became the officers à la suite of the Army asked. He also received the character of Lieutenant General in 1866 and as General of the Cavalry in 1877.

Politician

As a man of the world, Redern not only mastered the keyboard of the piano, but also that of court intrigue. Under the art-loving King Friedrich Wilhelm IV., Who appointed him to the gentlemen's curia of the Brandenburg Provincial Parliament in 1847 , he also gained political influence and, after his time as director, resigned to the closed circle of court society. In the course of the revolution of 1848 he wrote some political memoranda that identified him as a legitimist of the strictest observance. In the following years he received a hereditary seat in the Prussian manor house . Until his death in 1883 he was chief treasurer at the court of Kaiser Wilhelm I. The appreciation of his person is also shown in the award of the Order of the Black Eagle in 1865, of which he became chancellor from 1877. He was also a knight of the Order of St. John .

composer

Friedrich Wilhelm von Redern was also active as a composer, but as whom he received little recognition. The overture to his only opera Christine, Königin von Schweden was premiered in Berlin in 1820.

Large landowners

Pigeon tower in Glambeck

Redern was one of the richest landowners in Prussia, who invested his fortune in land early on and left behind more than 100,000 acres of land when he died . In 1826 he acquired the Lanke lordship, which is near Berlin, from Baron Wülknitz, with 14 villages, enormous forest holdings, 17 lakes and Lanke Castle, which is surrounded by a park . In 1862 he bought Gut Glambeck im Barnim , which has been part of Friedrichswalde since 2003 , had the castle park expanded and a pigeon tower erected, which has been preserved to this day.

memoirs

In 1880 he commissioned the Potsdam writer Georg Horn to write his memoirs , after Theodor Fontane had previously rejected this "honorary work" without payment. At court, however, the memoirs were received ungraciously because of their deep insight into life there and remained unpublished until 2003.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Genealogical paperback of the German count's houses for the year 1848 . 21st year, Verlag Justus Perthes , Gotha 1848, p. 522.
personal data
SURNAME Redern, Wilhelm von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Redern, Friedrich Wilhelm von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prussian Chamberlain, Real Privy Councilor, General of the Cavalry, General Director, composer and politician
DATE OF BIRTH December 9, 1802
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH November 5, 1883
Place of death Berlin