Andreas Ignaz Wawruch (25 November 1772, Niemtschitz an der Hanna - 20 March 1842, Vienna) was an Austrian medical doctor and university professor, particularlyÃÂ noted for his association with, and medical attendance on, Ludwig van Beethoven.
Andreas Ignaz Wawruch was the son of Ignaz Wawruch, a peasant farmer,àand Anna Wawruch, (b. Kazyk). He was givenàviolin and singing lessons by his uncle, Kaspar Wawruch, (a theologian and local schoolteacher) and in 1786 was admitted to the Archbishop's Chapel at KromÃÂà ÂÃÂà ¾Ã as a boy soprano.
After earlier studies in theology, classical literature, and music, Wawruch studied medicine at the University of Prague. At the end of 1810, he became an assistant physician at the Vienna University Hospital and also a teaching assistant in pathology and pharmacology. In 1812, he received his doctorate in medicine from the University of Vienna with his dissertation "Tentamen inaugurale philologico-medicum sistens antiquitates typhi contagiosi" (tr. "An inaugural philological-medical essay on the antiquities of contagious typhus.") Shortly thereafter, he completed his habilitation there.
He married Josepha Hildenbrand (who was the daughter of his teacher, Professor Valentin von Hildenbrand (1763-1818)) on 22 October 1815 in Vienna. Ignaz Schuppanzigh attested that Josephina was a talented fortepianist; Gerhard von Breuning stated that Wawruch was a gifted cellist. They had six children.
In 1812, Wawruch accepted a position as professor of medicine at the University of Prague. In 1819, he accepted another position as professor of medicine at the University of Vienna and the Medical Clinic for Surgeons. In Vienna, he became one of Ludwig van Beethoven's physicians. He was considered a good cellist and was a great admirer of the composer; Beethoven sent a score of Handel's Messiah to Wawruch as a New YearâÂÂs gift. Wawruch attended Beethoven medically until his death in 1827. In 1832, he became co-editor of the Medical Yearbooks series of the Imperial and Royal Austrian State (Medicinische Jahrbücher des k.k. österreichischen Staates). He was also a member of the Imperial and Royal Society of Physicians in Vienna (k.k. Gesellschaft der Aerzte zu Wien).
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