Gottfried van Swieten (29 October 1733 - 29 March 1803) was an Austrian diplomat and government official who was best known for his enthusiasm for music, patronizing great artists such as Joseph Hadyn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Ludwig van Beethoven.
Biography[]
Gottfried van Swieten was born on 29 October 1733 in Leiden, United Provinces, and his family moved to Vienna, Austrian Empire in 1745 when his father became the personal physician of Empress Maria Theresa. Van Swieten excelled in his language and became fluent in many languages, and he was utilized as a diplomat. From 1770 to 1777, he served as ambassador to King Frederick the Great of Prussia, and he negotiated the First Partition of Poland with Prussia in 1772. In 1777, he became prefect of the imperial library in Vienna, and he became a councillor in 1780. In 1781, he took the composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart under his wing, and he helped him in rising to stardom. He also assisted Beethoven and Hadyn in rising to fame, and Van Swieten would be influential in court until his dismissal on 5 December 1791, ironically on the same day as Mozart's death. Van Swieten died in 1803 at the age of 69.