Sala Tarone in Berlin ca. 1801
In her letter to Wilhelm Schlegel on ca. 10 September 1801 (letter 328h), Sophie Bernhardi mentions that she has tried to take care of some of his requests, primarily involving wines and liqueurs, at an establishment called Salo Saroni, which is to be read Sala Tarone. The reference can be both to an Italian merchant J. Sala, known as Sala-Tarone, and, more specifically, to his establishment, Sala Tarone & Co., the ownership of which Sala Tarone passed to his only son, Joseph T. Sala, on 1 June 1812. But an element of uncertainty attaches to the immediate identification of the establishment itself.
Josef Körner, Krisenjahre, 3:22, describes the reference in his notes to this letter as “a stylish establishment in the Tiergarten district of Berlin in which Schleiermacher and Friedrich Schlegel were wont to spend their late evening hours.” He adduces the following documents:
(1) Karl August Varnhagen von Ense, Ausgewählte Schriften, vol. 18 (Leipzig 1875), 206:
During their earlier years, when both lived in Berlin, Schleiermacher and Friedrich Schlegel were the most intimate of friends and comrades; their studies and their amusements, their early walks together in the Tiergarten, and their late evening hours at Sala Tarone were all animated by an incessant exchange of knowledge, ideas, and thoughts. Much of what they hastily wrote down on small pieces of paper on such occasions can now be found in the famous “fragments” of Athenaeum.
It may be noted that, strictly speaking, this passage does not identify Sala Tarone as necessarily being located in the Tiergarten, though such may perhaps be inferred.
(2) Ludwig Geiger, Berlin 1688–1840, 4 parts in 2 vols. (Berlin 1893), 1:2:628:
The Tiergarten also served as a locale for déjeuners alfresco. One of the more popular establishments in the Tiergarten was that of Tarone, located opposite what is today Luise Island — at the time referred to as the “small bassin.”
[Geometrischer Plan des Königlichen Thiergartens vor Berlin nach dermaliger Beschaffenheit auf Veranstaltung der Königlichen Academie der Wissenschaften verfertiget (Berlin 1765); the “small bassin is marked as “G” and is located near the triangular Realschulgarten; the island was later renamed after the deceased queen, Die Louiseninsel im Thiergarten bei Berlin (ca. 1820):]
At about 10:00 in the morning, according to a contemporary account, carriages began arriving with distinguished ladies and gentlemen along with a musical ensemble.
Chocolate, tea and coffee, lemonade, orageade [a sweet, flavored, cloudy syrup made from barley, almonds, sugar, and a flavoring such as orange or rose water], ratafia [a sweet liqueur made from wine or grape juice combined with brandy or other spirits and often flavored with almonds, fruit, or fruit kernels] and Persiko [from Lat. persicus, peach; a popular liqueur made from cherry juice, various natural ingredients, and sugar], bread and butter with ham and Braunschweiger sausage, cold roast beef, and Danziger liqueur.
The déjeuner and dancing lasted until 1:00. The ladies, dressed after the very best and most refined taste, viz. lightly en négligé and in a fashion that was quite interesting for both the eye and the heart, resembled the graces.
Geiger is paraphrasing rather than strictly citing Johann Friedrich Carl Grimm, Bemerkungen eines Reisenden durch die königlichen preussischen Staaten in Briefen, Bemerkungen eines Reisenden durch Deutschland, Frankreich, England und Holland in Briefen an seine Freunde 4 and 5, 2 vols. (Altenburg 1779), 1:539–40 (illustrations: [1, 2] Viertes Toiletten-Geschenk: Ein Jahrbuch für Damen 1808; [3] Göttingischer Taschen-Calender für das Jahr 1801; all: Inhaltsverzeichnis deutscher Almanache, Theodor Springmann Stiftung):
Among all my brooding and walking about, I finally approached the Tarone Garden. It was probably around 10:00. A whole array of carriages, busy servants, and a group of arriving musicians led me to believe a party of some sort was about to begin. I retreated a few steps and observed the scene. — In a word, several presumably noble guests were having a déjeuner.
Afterwards I learned from the server at the Tarone Coffeehouse that everything imaginable was served at this déjeuner: chocolate, tea, coffee, lemonade and orgeade, ratafia and Persiko, bread and butter, ham and Braunschweiger sausage, Danziger liqueur and cold roast beef, etc. The meal lasted till about 1:00, along with dancing alongside the Small Basin, which is situated in front of this garden.
All the ladies were attired en négligé, after the very best and most refined taste, and in part resembled the Graces. — I would almost say:
They danced, their garments gathered up like nymphs, In the short grass. — — —Do you mean: unclothed? — Heaven forbid! but they were attired negligently, lightly, and such that they were interesting for both the eyes and the heart.
They flew more than danced, and their entire body was such a perpetuum mobile of the sort I had hitherto never beheld.
As I said, at about 1:00 they concluded, jumped in their carriages, and no doubt hastened to their toilette to prepare themselves for the table scheduled to begin at 2:00.
See also Friedrich Nicolai, Beschreibung der Königlichen Residenzstädte Berlin und Potsdam und aller daselbst befindlicher Merkwürdigkeiten, vol. 1, (1786), 975:
Café gardens where (esp. in the summer) one is served coffee, wine, beer, cold plates etc., and where in part one can also eat during the evening:
. . . 2. Outside town: Richard, Michaelis, Tackermann, Tarone, der K. Hofjäger, all of which are located in the Tiergarten.
Here in any case (1) a 1787 illustration of the Richard Coffee House, representative enough of the coffee houses in the Thiergarten at the time, and (2) the interior of a coffee house from the mid-eighteenth century ([1] “Eingang in den Richardschen Kaffeegarten,” in the article by Franz Weinitz, “Der Berliner Tiergarten: Vortrag,” Mittheilungen des Vereins für die Geschichte Berlins 17 [1900] no. 1, 23; [2] plate 3 in Herrn Alexander Popens Lockenraub: ein scherzhaftes Heldengedicht, trans. L. A. V. Gottschedin [Leipzig 1744]):
Confusion arises when trying to determine — again, in a given context — which “Sala Tarone” is meant, since a Sala Tarone establishment could also be found in town, and indeed seems to be that to which Sophie is here referring.
See again Friedrich Nicolai, Beschreibung der Königlichen Residenzstädte Berlin und Potsdam (Berlin 1779), 357; (Berlin 1786), 489:
Italian Wares. Various delicacies are available in Berlin, such as oysters, sardines, capers, fine wines, arrack [brandy], etc.: Morino and Co. (Brüderstrasse), Sala Tarrone (at the Schleusenbrücke), Engle (Breite Strasse), Heil (Leipzigerstrasse), Burgfeld (Friedrichstädtscher Markt), Kupfer and Grust (Königstrasse) et al.
The establishment, at the Schleusen Bridge, just down the street from Sophie’s residence at the Jungfern Bridge [see the supplementary appendix on Wilhelm Schlegel’s residences in Berlin], would seem to be the reference here, not least because in 1779 and 1786 it was listed as a location where one could purchase precisely what Wilhelm was requesting.
The firm, however, seems to have moved between 1786 and 1801 to Unter den Linden 32, where it is listed in the street guide to Berlin of that date (Neander von Petersheiden, Neue anschauliche Tabellen von der gesammten Residenz-Stadt Berlin, oder, Nachweisung aller Eigenthümer mit ihrem Namen und Geschäfte, wo sie wohnen, die Nummer der Häuser, Strassen und Plätze, wie auch die Wohnungen aller Herren Officiere hiesiger Garnison, 2nd ed. [Berlin 1801], 116):
Here Lindenstrasse 32 on a traditional map of Berlin (Reymannm, Neuester Grundriss von Berlin [1826]):
And in relationship to Sophie Berhardi’s residence at Jungfernbrücke 10 (lower right):
Later the firm was still at that address (J. W. Boicke, Allgemeines Adressbuch für Berlin [Berlin 1820], 366: “Sala, J. T., merchant, Unter den Linden 32; Sala-Tarone, J., merchant, Unter den Linden 32.” Similarly also Johan Daniel Friedrich Rumpf, Berlin und Potsdam: eine Beschreibung aller Merkwürdigkeiten dieser Städte und ihrer Umgebungen, vol. 2, 4th ed. (Berlin 1823), 150, who relates that Sala Tarone (albeit without an address) and several similar establishments sold Italian wares, foreign beers, port wines, etc., also oysters, lax, caviar.