Archduke Rudolf of Austria

His Eminence Rudolph Johann Joseph Rainer Archduke of Austria
Cardinal, Archbishop of Olomouc
Portrait by Johann Baptist von Lampi, Vienna Museum
Metropolis	Archdiocese of Olomouc
See	Olomouc
Installed	24 March 1819
Term ended	24 July 1831
Predecessor	Maria Thaddäus von Trautmannsdorff
Successor	Ferdinand Maria Chotek von Chotkow
Other post(s)	Archduke of Austria
Orders
Ordination	19 March 1805
Consecration	26 September 1819 by Sigismund Anton von Hohenwart
Created cardinal	4 June 1819
Rank	Cardinal-Priest of S. Pietro in Montorio
Personal details
Born	(1788-01-08)8 January 1788 Florence, Tuscany
Died	24 July 1831(1831-07-24) (aged 43) Baden, Lower Austria
Nationality	Austrian
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Previous post(s)	Coadjutor of Anton Theodor von Colloredo-Waldsee-Mels, Archbishop of Olomouc (1805–1811)
Coat of arms

Styles of Rudolph von Habsburg-Lothringen
Reference style	His Eminence
Spoken style	Your Eminence
Informal style	Cardinal
See	Olomouc

Rudolph Johann Joseph Rainier, Archduke of Austria, Prince Royal of Hungary and Bohemia, Cardinal-Archbishop of Olomouc (8 January 1788 – 24 July 1831), was a member of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, and an Austrian clergyman and noble. He was consecrated as Archbishop of Olomouc (Olmütz) in 1819 and became cardinal in the same year. Rudolph is known for his patronage of the arts, most notably as sponsor of Ludwig van Beethoven, who dedicated several of his works to him.

Biography

Born in the Pitti Palace in Florence, Tuscany, he was the youngest son of Emperor Leopold II and Maria Louisa of Spain. In 1803 or 1804, Rudolph began taking lessons in piano and composition from Ludwig van Beethoven. The two became friends, and Rudolph became a supporter and patron of Beethoven; their meetings continued until 1824. Beethoven dedicated 14 compositions to Rudolph, including the Archduke Trio, the Hammerklavier Sonata, the Emperor Concerto and the Missa Solemnis. Piano Sonata No. 26 - Les Adieux ("The Farewells") was gifted to Rudolf just before his flight from Vienna with the imperial family on the occasion of the 1809 invasion by Napoleon. The movements are "Lebewohl", "Abwesenheit", and "Wiedersehen" ('farewell', 'absence', and 'reunion'). Rudolph dedicated one of his own compositions to Beethoven. The letters Beethoven wrote to Rudolph are today kept at the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna.

Franz Schubert and Ferdinand Ries also dedicated works to Rudolf.^[1]

On 24 March 1819, aged 31, Rudolph was appointed Archbishop of Olomouc in the present day Czech Republic but then part of the Austrian Empire. He was made Cardinal-Priest of the titular church of S. Pietro in Montorio by Pope Pius VII on 4 June 1819. He was ordained a priest on 29 August 1819, and consecrated a bishop on 26 September.

In 1823–24, he was one of the 50 composers who composed a variation on a waltz by Anton Diabelli for Vaterländischer Künstlerverein. In Rudolph's case, the music was published anonymously, as by "S.R.D" (standing for Serenissimus Rudolfus Dux). He acquired a significant library of musical compositions, comprising over 18,000 works from 2,400 composers, now held by the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde.^[2]

He died on 24 July 1831 of a cerebral hemorrhage in Baden bei Wien at the age of 43 and was interred in the Imperial Crypt in Vienna; his heart was buried in the crypt in Saint Wenceslas Cathedral in Olomouc.

Family

Rudolph of Austria never married and had no children.

Ancestors

Sources

• Cardinal biographies
• http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bhabs.html

External links

• Media related to Rudolph von Österreich at Wikimedia Commons