Ignaz von Sonnleithner

Ignaz Sonnleithner, from 1828 Ignaz Edler von Sonnleithner (30 July 1770 – 27 November 1831), was an Austrian jurist, writer and educator. He also founded the Society of Music Friends of the Austrian Imperial State in 1812. He was a close friend to Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert.

Life

Family Sonnleithner was born on 30 July 1770 in Vienna to Christoph Sonnleithner, a lawyer and composer of church music, symphonies and quartets, and Anna Maria Franziska Sonnleithner Doppler, née Dobler (1739–1810). His brother was Joseph Sonnleithner and his sister Maria Anna Sonnleithner (1767–1819), married to Dr. Wenzel Grillparzer (1760–1809) from 12 January 1789, was the mother of Franz Grillparzer. He was married to Anna Putz (1773–1824) and one of his sons was Leopold von Sonnleithner.

Career Sonnleithner was an Imperial Council, a solicitor from 1795, a civil law notary since 1803 and in 1801 professor of Trade and Exchange law at the University of Vienna. He also was a writer and founder of the General Pension Institution. He was in Vienna on 20 April 1828 with a nobility diploma dated 14 June 1828 stating that he was raised by the Austrian nobility.

Sonnleithner led from 1815 to 1824 a musical salon, where many songs were premiered by Franz Schubert. His witty sayings were legendary and circulated long after his death in Vienna. Eduard von Bauernfeld writes in his memoirs: "Grillparzer's uncle from maternal side was a famous Viennese wit." He died on 27 November 1831 and was buried in the Matzleinsdorfer cemetery at Wiener Gemeindebezirk 5 (Stadtbezirk). In 1890, the Sonnleithnergasse in Vienna-Favoriten was named after him.

Additional informations