311a. Friedrich Schlegel to Caroline in Jena: Jena 24 April 1801 [*]
|610| To Madam Schlegel. Here is the piano. [1] I hope the bed frame has in the meantime been located. I do know it was sent but did not know where it was being stored [2] . . . If I know that you are at home, I will visit you at 4:00. May I request that you let me know whether that is a convenient time for you? [3] Your most devoted Friedrich Schlegel.
Notes
[*] Caroline sent this billet to Wilhelm Schlegel in her letter to the latter on 24 April 1801 (letter 311), mentioning that she “did have to send word to Friedrich because of some business matters.” This billet seems to be Friedrich’s response to Caroline’s missive. — Reprinted in KFSA 25:265, where Hermann Patch, ibid., 25:598, notes that Caroline enclosing this billet in this letter explains how it ended up in Wilhelm’s literary estate. Back.
[1] See Dorothea Veit to Wilhelm on 28 October 1800 (letter 273a), in which she remarks (illustration: anonymous, An einem Klavier sitzende Frau und ein junger Mann. [ca. 1776–1800]; Herzog August Bibliothek; Museums./Signatur Graph. Res. A: 371.8):
I did bring your piano over here [their the new apartment] with me; would it be too inconvenient for you to let me keep it for a while yet? Please be so good as to write and give me a response if you still can.
Although KFSA 25:599 adduces Dorothea’s letter to Schleiermacher on 31 October 1800 (letter 273b) in pointing out how the piano was played in the new apartment, that occurrence refers to Johann Wilhelm Ritter playing a piano at Dorothea’s birthday celebration at the home of the Paulus family. Back.
[2] Most — though not all — of the illustrations of beds in this project depict bed curtains, which were essentially standard in bourgeois homes (Daniel Nikolaus Chodowiecki, [1] Verschiedene Speisen und Utensilien aus dem Alltagsleben, Pflanzen und Tiere [late 18th-century]; Herzog August Bibliothek; Museums./Signatur Graph. C: 272):
[3] Friedrich did indeed go over to Leutragasse 5 to see Caroline; see her letter to Wilhelm on 24 April 1801 (letter 311). Concerning his version of the meeting, see his letter to Wilhelm on 27 April 1801 (letter 312a). Back.
Translation © 2015 Doug Stott