COPYRIGHT NOTICE: The content of this website, including text and images, is the property of The Nietzsche Channel. Reproduction in any form is strictly prohibited.
Artificial Intelligence scraping in any form is also prohibited and will be prosecuted, including via class action suits. © The Nietzsche Channel.

Wilhelm Vischer-Bilfinger.
From b/w photograph.
Colorized and enhanced image © The Nietzsche Channel.

Basel, January 1871:
Letter to Wilhelm Vischer-Bilfinger.1

Most esteemed Herr Councilor,

For the following combination [of reasons], I particularly need your kind advice and your true sympathy, which you have already often shown me. You will see that I have seriously considered the welfare of the university, and that its real interest compels me to the following, somewhat detailed argument.

My doctors2 will have informed you of the extent to which I am suffering again and that overexertion is to blame for this intolerable condition. Now I have repeatedly asked myself how this state of overexertion, which occurs in the middle of almost every semester, can be explained; and I even had to consider whether I should not give up my university work altogether, as a mode of life unsuited to my nature.3 In the end, however, I came to a different view in this regard, which I would now like to present to you.

I live here in a peculiar conflict, and it is this which so exhausts me and even wears me down physically. Compelled in the strongest way by [my] nature to think through something philosophically homogeneous, and to remain undisturbed in long trains of thought on one problem, I feel myself always thrown to and fro and distracted by my daily manifold work and its nature. In the long run, I can hardly tolerate this juxtaposition of pedagogium and university, because I feel that my real task,4 my philosophical one, to which I must, if necessary, sacrifice any profession, suffers as a result, indeed will even be reduced to an ancillary activity. I believe that this description describes most precisely what really wears me down here and prevents me from fulfilling my profession in a regularly serene manner, which, on the other hand, exhausts my body and grows into such sufferings as the current ones, which, if they were to recur more often, would absolutely physically force me to give up any philological profession.

With this in mind, I take the liberty to apply to you for the chair of philosophy that has been vacated due to Teichmüller's departure.5

As far as my personal right to aspire to the chair of philosophy is concerned, I must of course first present my own testimonial: that I believe I possess the ability and knowledge for it, and that, all in all, I even feel myself better qualified for that office than for a purely philological one. Anyone who knows me from my years at school and university has never doubted the prevalence of my philosophical inclinations;6 and in philological studies, too, I was particularly attracted to what seemed important to either the history of philosophy or to ethical and aesthetic problems. Moreover, I completely agree with your judgment and make it applicable to myself, that, in the current somewhat difficult situation of philosophy at the university and with the small number of really suitable applicants, the one who is more entitled is the one who has a solid philological education and can stimulate among the students an interest in a careful interpretation of Aristotle and Plato. I remind you that I have already announced two courses that would be philosophical in this sense, "The Pre-Platonic Philosophers with Interpretation of Selected Fragments,"7 and "On the Platonic Question."8 As long as I have been studying philology, I have never grown tired of keeping in close contact with philosophy; indeed, my main interest was always on the part of philosophical questions, as many who have dealt with me can attest. Of colleagues here, Overbeck, e.g., could provide some information about this; of others elsewhere, none more so than my friend Dr. Rohde, Privatdozent at Kiel. It is actually only due to chance that I did not make my university plans in favor of philosophy from the start: chance, which denied me an important and truly stimulating philosophical teacher: about which one should certainly not be surprised, given the current constellation of conditions for philosophy at universities. Certainly, however, in this one of my warmest wishes would be fulfilled, if here too I might follow the voice of my nature: and I think I can hope that after the elimination of the previously mentioned conflict, my physical state of health will also be far more regular. Soon enough I will be able to show myself publicly as one competent for a philosophy teaching position: my printed works on Laert[ius]. Diog[enes].9 are in any case also proof of my ambitions in the history of philosophy. I have always been interested in pedagogical questions10 and investigations: to be allowed to lecture on these would be a pleasure for me. Of more recent philosophers, I have studied Kant11 and Schopenhauer12 with especial predilection. From the last 2 years you will have certainly gained the good faith that I know how to avoid what is inept and offensive and that I can distinguish between what is appropriate for a lecture to students and what is not.

If I may now describe my combination [of reasons] to you in full, I would have thought that you would find in Rohde an extremely suitable successor for my philological professorship and position at the pedagogium. R[ohde]., whom I have known very closely for 4 years, is the most capable of all the younger philologists that I have come across, and a real gem for any university that acquires him; moreover, he is still actually available, although I hear that they are dealing with this in Kiel by establishing a new extraordinar[y] professorship in philolog[y] to keep him there permanently. I cannot express enough how much easier my life would be here in Basel having my best friend close by. — The whole transition of things could begin immediately with the beginning of the new summer semester, so that there would be no hiatus in the filling of the positions. For my part, I would be immediately ready to give you the announcement of my philosoph[ical] lectures and would commence my new position with a regular inaugural lecture at the start of the summer.

Do not let the strangeness of the proposed combination [of reasons] frighten you, most esteemed Herr Councilor, and grant it a consideration.

Asking for your indulgence, your advice, your interest[,]

I am most respectfully
your devoted servant

Dr. Fr. Nietzsche, Prof[essor]. O[rdinarius]. of Class[ical]. Philol[ogy].

1. Wilhelm Vischer-Bilfinger (1808-1874): Swiss philologist, politician, and at the time rector of the University of Basel.
2. Cf. Basel, shortly before 02-15-1871: Letter from Dr. Carl Liebermeister (1833-1901) to Wilhelm Vischer-Bilfinger. In: KGB II 7/1, p. 627. From 1865-1871, Liebermeister was professor of pathology at Basel, and chief physician of its medical clinic. In his letter, Liebermeister suggested Lugano as a suitable place for Nietzsche to recover from a gastric illness. On February 15, 1871, the Board of Trustees of the University of Basel stated in its minutes: "Laut Schreiben des Hrn. Prof. Liebermeister habe Hr. Prof. Nietzsche behufs Wiederherstellung seiner Gesundheit bis Ende des Wintersemesters beurlaubt werden müssen." (According to a letter from Herr Prof. Liebermeister, Herr Prof. Nietzsche must be given a leave of absence until the end of the winter semester in order to restore his health.)
3. Cf. Basel, 12-15-1870: Letter to Erwin Rohde in Hamburg. "Auf die Dauer nämlich sehe auch ich ein, was es mit der Schopenhauerischen Lehre von der Universitätsweisheit auf sich hat. Es ist ein ganz radikales Wahrheitswesen hier nich möglich. Insbesondre wird etwas wahrhaft Umwälzendes von hier aus nicht seinen Ausgang nehmen können. // Sodann können wir nur dadurch zu wirklichen Lehrern werden, daß wir uns selbst mit allen Hebeln aus dieser Zeitluft herausheben und daß wir nicht nur weisere, sondern vor allem bessere Menschen sind. Auch hier spüre ich vor allem das Bedürfniß, wahr sein zu müssen. Und wiederum ertrage ich deshalb die Luft der Akademien nicht mehr zu lange." (In the long run I also see what Schopenhauer's doctrine of university wisdom is all about. A completely radical way of truth is not possible here. In particular, something truly revolutionary will not be able to start from here. // Afterward we can only become real teachers if we lift ourselves out of the atmosphere of these times with every lever we can so that we become not only wiser, but above all better human beings. Here, too, I feel above all the need to be true. And that is another reason why I cannot suffer the academic atmosphere much longer.)
4. Cf. Basel, Late January and 02-15-1870: Letter to Erwin Rohde. "Die Philologenexistenz in irgend einer kritischen Bestrebung, aber 1000 Meilen abseits vom Griechentum wird mir immer unmöglicher. Auch zweifle ich, ob ich noch je ein rechter Philologe werden könne: wenn ich es nicht nebenbei, so zufällig erreiche, dann geht es nicht. Das Malheur nämlich ist: ich habe kein Muster und bin in der Gefahr des Narren auf eigne Hand. Mein nächster Plan ist, vier Jahre Culturarbeit an mir, dann eine jahrelange Reise — mit Dir vielleicht. Wir haben wirklich ein recht schweres Leben, die holde Unwissenheit an der Hand von Lehrern und Traditionen war so glücklich-sicher." (The philologist's existence in any critical endeavor, but 1000 miles away from the Greeks, is becoming increasingly impossible for me. I also doubt whether I could ever become a true philologist: if I do not achieve it incidentally, thus by accident, then it won't work. The misfortune is: I have no model and am in danger of making a fool of myself all on my own. My immediate plan is four years of cultural work by myself, then a year-long journey — perhaps with you. We really have a quite difficult life, sweet ignorance guided by teachers and traditions was such bliss and safe.)
5. Gustav Teichmüller (1832-1888) gave up the Chair of Philosophy at Basel, which he had held since 1868, for a position at the University of Dorpat. See the entry for Teichmüller in Nietzsche's Library.
6. Cf. Nietzsche's notes from 1868: "Zu Schopenhauer" (On Schopenhauer); and "Der Begriff des Organischen seit Kant" (On the Concept of the Organic since Kant). English translations in: Nietzsche's Writings as a Student. The Nietzsche Channel, 2012, 145-201.
7. Nietzsche did not lecture on "Die vorplatonischen Philosophen" (The Pre-Platonic Philosophers) until SS1872.
8. "Über die platonische Frage" (On the Platonic Question) was not held. But in WS1871-72, he taught "Einfährung in das Studium der platonischen Dialoge" (Introduction to the Study of the Platonic Dialogues).
9. See The Nietzsche Channel's list of and links to Nietzsche's philological writings here.
10. In WS1872, Nietzsche delivered five lectures "Über die Zukunft unserer Bildungsanstalten" (On the Future of our Educational Institutions). In German. In English.
11. Immanuel Kant (1724-1804): German philosopher. See Note 6.
12. Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860): German philosopher. See Note 6.

Franziska Nietzsche.
By: Jakob Höflinger, Basel.
From b/w photo, ca. 1869.
Colorized and enhanced image ©The Nietzsche Channel.

Basel, presumably January 27, 1871:
Letter to Franziska Nietzsche.1

For the 2nd of Febr[uary]. 1871.

How old are you actually, most esteemed birthday girl?2 As far as I remember, you go [back] about a century and I am delighted to be able to congratulate you on your seventy-first birthday:3 reaching that age is somewhat of an achievement.

When you think back on your last forty years, it must feel quite comfortable to you; for they have passed very quickly: which is proof that they have been spent happily.

We would like nothing more than to follow you at the same speed, or even faster, and overtake you; but I am told that this is more difficult than one might think, and that it only happens to those who were born on February 2nd.

This rapid aging of mothers is said to have just the opposite effect in their children — and indeed we have the example of our daughter4 never getting beyond seventeen, no matter how hard she has tried for eight years now. So we both will just have to console one another: I am quite content, as you are, but at times suffering from the infirmity of old age a bit more than you, celebrating my 87th birthday this year5 and shall perhaps retire as well. With honors and not without a silver goblet, from which you shall take quite a good sip.

For the next fifty years of your life, I bring you today an umbrella that will last that long, along with a cake whose longevity, however, I was not guaranteed. Enjoy one under the other if you consider it beneficial to your health —

with which you are greeted heartily by
Your
Fridericus.

1. The letter was sent on 01-27-1871 along with a letter to his sister.
2. Franziska Nietzsche's birthday was on February 2. For her birthday, Nietzsche dutifully wrote a letter to her every year from 1861-1887 (forgetting but later correcting his mistake in 1888). On 02-02-1871, Franziska Nietzsche would be 45 years old.
3. A humorous allusion to her birthday falling in the year [18]71.
4. A humorous allusion to her daughter and Nietzsche's sister, Elisabeth Nietzsche.
5. On 10-15-1871, Nietzsche would be 27 years old.

Erwin Rohde.
As a student.
From b/w photo, ca. 1860s.
Colorized and enhanced image ©The Nietzsche Channel.

Basel, February 8, 1871:
Letter to Erwin Rohde.

My dear friend,

Great, unprecedented transaction, transfiguration, transubstantiation!!1

We perhaps have a chance of spending the next semester together. You as my successor and I — as university philosopher!!

Teichmüller2 is now leaving Basel in order to go to Dorpat, and I have declared and applied for his chair: with the specific assertion that you be appointed to my current position in Basel as my successor.

Let us see how the gods steer our little ship! One should say to me that I have had the shrewdest ideas for the benefit of friendship. How I have planned to unite us! A possibility awaits!

In that case, you have to arrive here by mid-April.3

I will not write more. Let us hope for the best, but let us say nothing!

My state of health4 is so poor that the doctors are sending me south and I am leaving for Lugano the day after tomorrow.5 Inflammation of the stomach and intestines! Horrible insomnia! I will stay away until Easter and return as a philosopher if my plan succeeds. So you will hear nothing more from me about Basel matters. But not until Vischer6 writes will things then enter a favorable stage. Patience and hope! And silence!

This letter is to be concealed from everyone, even from Vischer.

Joy, beautiful spark of the gods!7

Amicus.8

1. Allusion to Nietzsche applying for the Chair of Philosophy at Basel. Cf. Basel, January 1871: Letter to Wilhelm Vischer-Bilfinger in Basel.
2. Gustav Teichmüller (1832-1888) gave up the Chair of Philosophy at Basel, which he had held since 1868, for a position at the University of Dorpat. See the entry for Teichmüller in Nietzsche's Library.
3. Teichmüller left for Dorpat in SS1871.
4. Cf. Basel, shortly before 02-15-1871: Letter from Dr. Carl Liebermeister (1833-1901) to Wilhelm Vischer-Bilfinger. In: KGB II 7/1, p. 627. From 1865-1871, Liebermeister was professor of pathology at Basel, and chief physician of its medical clinic. In his letter, Liebermeister suggested Lugano as a suitable place for Nietzsche to recover from a gastric illness. On February 15, 1871, the Board of Trustees of the University of Basel stated in its minutes: "Laut Schreiben des Hrn. Prof. Liebermeister habe Hr. Prof. Nietzsche behufs Wiederherstellung seiner Gesundheit bis Ende des Wintersemesters beurlaubt werden müssen." (According to a letter from Herr Prof. Liebermeister, Herr Prof. Nietzsche must be given a leave of absence until the end of the winter semester in order to restore his health.)
5. Nietzsche was in Lugano in mid-February, according to a couple of hotel bills for the 15th and 16th, but the exact date of his arrival there is uncertain.
6. Wilhelm Vischer-Bilfinger (1808-1874): Swiss philologist, politician, and at the time rector of the University of Basel. Cf. Basel, January 1871: Letter to Wilhelm Vischer-Bilfinger in Basel.
7. The first line of Friedrich Schiller's poem, "An die Freude" (Ode to Joy). Cf. Friedrich Schiller, Sämmtliche Werke. Bd. 1. Stuttgart und Tübingen: Cotta, 1822, 153. See the entry for Schiller in Nietzsche's Library.
8. Latin: "friend" or "comrade."

Friedrich Nietzsche.
From tinted photo taken by:
Grato Brunel (1840-1920).1
Lugano, Switzerland, Spring 1871.
Colorized and enhanced image ©The Nietzsche Channel.

Lugano, after March 22, 1871:
Letter to Franz Overbeck.

My dear friend and colleague, are you not wondering about the excess of my wretchedness in corresponding? Not to have written to you for so long! I wonder about it a lot! At least believe me how I have truly thought of you and how gratefully I have remembered the many instances of your compassionate sick care.2 Thanks to you, thanks to your fur coat, this time I got off unscathed — in every sense of the word.3 It was certainly high time; for it now seems to me, while reflecting about this January in Basel,4 as if I were walking around in a dream, in a constantly jittery nervous state, and in this state was certainly not very pleasant for you. And you put up with me then and went on walks with me etc. etc. As a reward for that you should be transported at once to this blue lake — only not today, for heaven's sake, with abominable North-German cloudy skies and fog heavy as fur! But maybe tomorrow or the day after tomorrow! Then together we could look for the first flowers of spring and they are perhaps just as surely to be found here as in Dresden, which I believe you are visiting for the holidays. If we could find a warm spot on the lake, then we could settle down there, among small snakes and lizards: although I think the land around Plauen5 can also provide these delights. If we wanted to be very courageous, we could even allow ourselves to be put on a boat and driven around on the lake, though not without footmuffs and with the likelihood of catching a cold.6 You will see that we also have a few North-German paroxysms7 here, perhaps more than in northern Switzerland, which has resulted in the establishment of "Germanophobia,"8 maybe even republican, to be achieved by a referendum, and in any case not by North-German weather conditions. Here they tend to favor Prussia: indeed we were recently allowed to celebrate, without a murder, Kaiser Wilhelm's birthday9 and staged a tableau "vivant" without fear of being shot. Yes there are harmless Germans here who even dare to play the zither, indeed you should even know that two, since yesterday 4, disguised Prussian officers are living here, who walk around the lake without any weapons and even pass the holidays without their uniform. All together a state of well-being is to be found in Lugano, which certainly exceeds the one in Basel and is perhaps exceeded only by the state of well-being in every German city, at least the one in Dresden. So it would be a poor reward if, from here to Dresden, an enchanting spell would be cast on you for your demonstrated benevolence to me: which is why I thought of expressing to you my gratitude in another way. Here is the first photograph of me that shows only to the slightest extent that I am getting better, but it just doesn't show the most important changes in the ganglionic and lymphatic system, since the coat covered those areas.

Your grateful friend,
comrade and colleague, indeed fellow human being
Friedr. Nietzsche

1. See GSA 101/12. Nietzsche with overcoat, hat, scarf, and gloves. There is little information on the location of Brunel's studio in Lugano, but it was probably situated on one of the lakeshore streets. The photo seen here is a 2000 modified version by The Nietzsche Channel of the 1871 original: we lengthened the overcoat, extended the background, and colorized the photo.
2. In February, due to poor health, Nietzsche took a leave of absence for the rest of the semester, and went to Lugano along with his sister. This is the first letter Nietzsche wrote to Overbeck (they lived in the same boarding house in Basel). During his six-week stay in Lugano, Nietzsche worked on his manuscript "Ursprung und Ziel der Tragödie" (Origin and Goal of Tragedy), which he would later refashion into the Birth of Tragedy. Overbeck, on the other hand, spent time in Dresden visiting his family after the semester ended.
3. Nietzsche was suffering from a variety of ailments, including stomach and intestinal problems. Cf. Basel, 02-06-1871: Letter to Franziska and Elisabeth Nietzsche.
4. That is, when he started feeling ill.
5. A southwestern part of Dresden.
6. At the Hotel du Parc in Lugano, Nietzsche and his sister met Adolph von Moltke (the brother of Field Marshal Helmuth Karl Bernhard von Moltke) who was staying there with his family. Moltke, while taking a boating trip around the lake, caught pneumonia and died on April 7.
7. German: Anwandelungen.
8. See Tribschen, 04-02-1871 letter from Cosima Wagner to Nietzsche in Lugano.
9. March 22.

Cosima Wagner.
Ca. 1870-72.
Colorized and enhanced image ©The Nietzsche Channel.

Tribschen, April 2, 1871:
Letter from Cosima Wagner.1

Most esteemed Herr Professor,

Kindest regards to your charming sister. Richter is staying with us; the theater director from Pest composes operas!13 That says it all, and R[ichard] doesn't belong there. We have played a lot of music for mother, "unknown music," and also a quartet.

1. Cosima Wagner destroyed all her correspondence from Nietzsche. However, we still have the following entries from her diary about Nietzsche at this time:

03-26-71	Brief von Pr. Nietzsche aus Lugano. (Letter from Pr[of]. Nietzsche in Lugano.)
04-03-71	Bei unsrem Frühstück meldet man uns plötzlich Pr. Nietzsche, welcher von Lugano ankommt und hier einige Tage zubringen wird. Er scheint sehr leidend. (At our breakfast Pr[of]. Nietzsche is suddenly announced, who comes from Lugano and will spend a few days here. He appears very run down.)
04-04-71	Schöner Aufsatz über den "Beethoven" in einer englischen Zeitung (Academy), der Verfasser ein deutscher (Franz Hüffer), Bekannter von Pr. Nietzsche, ein früherer Gegner R.'s. (Nice article on "Beethoven" in an English periodical (Academy), the author a German (Franz Hüffer), acquaintance of Pr[of]. Nietzsche, a former opponent of R.)
04-05-71	Pr. N. liest mir aus einer Arbeit vor (Ursprung und Ziel der gr. Tragödie), die er R. widmen will; große Freude daran; man sieht hier einen sehr begabten Menschen von R.'s Gedanken auf eigene Weise durchdrungen. (Pr[of]. N. reads to me from a work (Origin and Goal of Gr[eek] Tragedy) which he wants to dedicate to R.; great delight over that; in it one sees a gifted man imbued with R.'s ideas in his own way.)
04-08-71	Pr. Nietzsche verabschiedet sich, nachdem er die Kinder mit einer grünen Schlange beglückt hat. (Pr[of]. Nietzsche departs, after making the children happy with a green snake.)

2. Marie Catherine Sophie Gräfin d'Agoult (1805-1876): mistress of Franz Liszt, and Cosima Wagner's mother, who wrote works under the pseudonym Daniel Stern. See her ca. 1861 photo, and her entry in Nietzsche's Library.
3. The Franco-Prussian War began on July 19, 1870.
4. "die guten."
5. Opera by Richard Wagner. See Lohengrin, I, iii: "Mein Herr und Gott, nun ruf ich dich, ...."
6. The "Imperial March" composed to celebrate Prussia's victory and occupation of Paris. "Wagner finished the Orchestral Sketch of the Kaisermarsch on the 25th [of February 1871], and completed the full score on the 15th March [1871]." See Ernest Newmann, The Life of Richard Wagner. Vol. 4. 1866-1883. New York, Knopf, 1946: 279.
7. At the Hotel du Parc in Lugano, Nietzsche and his sister met Adolph von Moltke (the brother of Field Marshal Helmuth Karl Bernhard von Moltke) who was staying there with his family. Moltke, while taking a boating trip around the lake, caught pneumonia and died on April 7.
8. Wagner's "Kaiserlied":

For the lyrics sung by the children, see Ernest Newmann, The Life of Richard Wagner. Vol. 4. 1866-1883. New York, Knopf, 1946: 276.
9. Alfred Escher (1819-1882), Swiss railway titan, politician and financier (founder of Credit Suisse). Johann Jakob Sulzer (1821-1897), Swiss politician (Sulzer took over the position of Cantonal Secretary from Escher) and financier (founder of UBS). An old friend and patron of Wagner from his time in Zurich, Sulzer was now the president of his native city of Winterthur. According to Cosima's diary entry for April 16, Sulzer explained that the events in Zurich were the result of "Germanophobia." See the details about the so-called Music Hall Riot in The New York Times report of March 12, 1871; and the more recent November 26, 2013 article in the Tagblatt der Stadt Zürich. Read the original "invitation" that sparked the entire ordeal. Sulzer appeared before the Cantonal Council on March 14 and spoke about Germanophobia being the possible cause of the riot. Escher dismissed the claim as "groundless and irrational" (Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 21. März 1871).
10. Über die Bestimmung der Oper (On the Destiny of Opera), a lecture delivered on April 28, 1871 to the Prussian Academy of Arts in Berlin.
11. Ottilie Brockhaus, wife of Professor Hermann Brockhaus, was Richard Wagner's sister. Nietzsche had sponsored their son and Wagner's nephew, Friedrich Arnold Brockhaus (1838-1895), for a position at Basel University. At the time, he was a law professor at the University of Jena. See Cosima's diary entry for 01-03-71: "Brief an Pr. Nietzsche, welcher die Berufung unsres Neffen Fritz Brockhaus nach Basel erwirkt hat." (Letter to Pr[of]. Nietzsche, who has been instrumental in getting our nephew Fritz Brockhaus called to Basel.)
12. See Note 1.
13. Hans Richter (1843-1916) was the principal conductor of the Budapest National Theater from 1871-1875.

Erwin Rohde, Carl von Gersdorff, Friedrich Nietzsche.
From tinted photo by the business: "Victoria Karte."
Leipzig, October 1871.
Reproduced by Ferdinand Henning, Naumburg.1
Colorized and enhanced image ©The Nietzsche Channel.

Naumburg, October 20, 1871:
Letter to Erwin Rohde.

My dear friend,

Today I send you just a few remarks2 on the companions in the [Leipzig Trade] Fair photograph, which, to my delight, Henning delivered the day before yesterday. Aforesaid photographer still wants 1 thaler from us, which for each of us still comes to the amount of 10 srg. In the meantime, I have paid it. In this photograph we stand a bit out of place, and I, in particular, "hideously hunched" with a stupified look, which speaks to the utter stupidity of the Fair along with its spirits.3 At any rate — senza frivolita4 — we were still the happiest Fair Jews5 in Leipzig, for we might have dished out the roles from Lumpacivagabundus6 among us, for which I lay claim to the shoemaker part, due to delirium tremens clemens demens.7

In the meantime, the lost "Faust" has now been found by me and Gustav Krug back on the Knabenberg, at a spot where Gersdorff had rested: which I call a splendid omen.8 The first part that I opened to in the book was: Altmayer: "Now try and tell me not to believe in miracles!"9 Thus I was vividly reminded of our Fair miracle and the Advent miracle of our life in Leipzig.

"My! Should the wine still be flowing?"10

I almost believe, my dear friend, that our ghostly apparition in Leipzig was no sleight of hand.11 We were there and will be there:12 how the Jew, in the words of Jehovah, would express it. Lord, remember the red room!13

May Saint Pythagoras bless you, Saint Frit[z]sch bless me, and the thing-in-itself bless all of us!14

I return to Basel tomorrow, drawing myself up from the table of my holiday delights like a sated reveler. I have never spent such a festive and exuberant time and I know I have my friends to thank for it. But even more, all the demons to which we in one future hour will bring an offering of thanks: by means of which we will also brilliantly confirm the ideality of space and time.15 Next Monday evening at 10 o'clock, each of us will raise a glass of dark red wine and pour half of it into the black night, with the words ,16 and drink the other half. Probatum est. Gesegn' es Samiel! Uhu!17 — I notified Gersdorff.18

Thanks, my dear dear friend!

FN.

1. From Oct. 12-14, the three friends spent time in Leipzig, and attended the Leipzig Trade Fair; on the 15th, they celebrated Nietzsche's 27th birthday in Naumburg, where Henning reproduced this photograph. It was then reproduced ca. 1912 by Louis Held (1851-1927) in Weimar. See GSA 101/41. Carl Ferdinand Henning (1832-?): German portraitist and photographer with a studio at Topfmarkt 14, Naumburg. Henning took 5 photographs of Nietzsche from 1862-1868, and also reproduced two photos: this photo taken at the 1871 Leipzig Trade Fair, depicting Erwin Rohde, Carl von Gersdorff, and Nietzsche; and a photo taken in Basel in 1871 by Friedrich Hermann Hartmann. In 1862, Henning took three photos of Nietzsche. Nietzsche then ordered 2 sets of the three photos, making six in total. The Nietzsche Channel owns one of the 1862 photos (another copy is at GSA 101/3).
2. The following was written on the back of the photo: "Zur Erinnerung an 3 glückliche Tage, verlebt in Leipzig am 12t., 13t., und 14t. October 1871, wurde dieses Conterfei in einer Meßbude begonnen und in Naumburg a./S. vollendet. Dr. Friedrich Nietzsche. ordentl. Professor der class. Philologie and der Universität Basel (Prophete rechts); Dr. Erwin Rohde, Privatdocent der class. Philologie and der Universität Kiel (Prophete links); Carl von Gersdorff, Kammer Gerichts Referendarius (das Weltkind in der Mitten)." (To commemorate 3 happy days spent in Leipzig on the 12th, 13th, and 14th October 1871, this likeness was begun in a fair booth [Meßbude] and completed in Naumburg o[n] t[he] S[aale]. Dr. Friedrich Nietzsche, Professor Ord[inarius] of Class[ical] Philology at the University of Basel (prophet on the right); Dr. Erwin Rohde, Lecturer of Class[ical] Philology at the University of Kiel (prophet on the left); Carl von Gersdorff, Cameral Tribunal Referendary [i.e., an attorney] (the child of the world in the middle).)
3. Leipzig's large commercial fair was rife with, among other things, radicals, con artists, spiritualists, and booze.
4. "In a frivolous sense."
5. Meßjude: a pun on Meßbude (see Note 2). Jews had participated in the Leipzig Trade Fair since 1598, while being subjected to various indignities levied upon them, as opposed to the fairs in Frankfurt, which treated them as equals. Once freedom of domicile was granted to all Prussian citizens in 1812, Jewish immigration to cities increased dramatically. See Michael A. Meyer, Michael Brenner, German-Jewish History in Modern Times. New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 1996-98. 1:133-34; 2:23-28.
6. Der böse Geist Lumpazivagabundus oder Das liederliche Kleeblatt (The Evil Spirit Lumpazivagabundus, or the Dissolute Trio), is a farce by Johann Nestroy about three vagabonds.
7. Delirium tremens clemens demens: DTs and mild dementia (from which Knieriem, the chronic drunk shoemaker in Nestroy's play, suffers).
8. Carl von Gersdorff's copy of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust.
9. Cf. Goethe, Faust, 1:2336: "ALTMAYER. Nun sag' mir eins, man soll kein Wunder glauben!"
10. Ibid., 1:2332: "[ALTMAYER.] "Mein! Sollte wohl der Wein noch fließen?"
11. Leipzig at the time was a hotbed of spiritualism.
12. Cf. Exodus 3:14: "God said to Moses, 'I am who I am. [Alternatively: 'I will be what I will be.'] This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I am has sent me to you.'"
13. Probably alluding to a place they visited while in Leipzig, perhaps a tavern.
14. The Pythagoras reference alludes to the first part of Rohde's "Die Quellen des Iamblichus in seiner Biographie des Pythagoras (The Sources of Iamblichus in his Biography of Pythagoras)." In: Rheinisches Museum für Philologie. N.F. Bd. 26 (1871), 554-576. The one to Fritzsch is regarding Ernst Wilhelm Fritzsch, to whom Nietzsche gave his manuscript of The Birth of Tragedy for publication. As for the allusion to the Kantian "thing-in-itself (Ding an sich)," Rohde's birthday present to Nietzsche was a small box with a humorous poem inside about his search for a suitable gift. The poem concludes with the lines: "'Nun rath,' o Fritze, kennst Du mich?' / (An dieser Stelle öffnet sich das Kästchen und ein Teufel schnellt empor mit einem Zettel in der Hand): / Es gratulirt 'das Ding an sich'!" ("Now, guess, O Fritze, do you know me?" / (At this point the box opens and a demon pops up with a note in its hand): / Wishing you 'the thing-in-itself'!")
15. Another allusion to the transcendental idealism of Kant.
16. "Khairete diamones!" (Hail, demons!) See Note 18.
17. "It's approved." "Bless it, Satan! Eagle owl!" Cf. Carl Maria von Weber, Der Freischütz, 2, vi.
18. Rohde and Gersdorff complied with Nietzsche's wishes, and at the appointed hour made the "offering" to the "demons" that had been watching over them during their celebratory reunion. Nietzsche did the same, at the home of Jacob Burckhardt, who joined in.

Carl von Gersdorff.
From b/w photo, 1880.
Colorized and enhanced image ©The Nietzsche Channel.

Basel, December 14, 1871:
Letter to Carl von Gersdorff.

My dear friend,

I recently forgot something,1 namely the text of the Kaisermarsch:2 which you may excuse, given my great confusion regarding all possible matters. On Tuesday I got some breathing room: by at least sending the rest of the manuscript3 and the preface to Fritzsch.4 I cannot travel to Mannheim5 — unfortunately! unfortunately! — for the office of the clerk6 in the Regenz [Basel Senate or Committee] and a long illness of Prof[.] Gerlach7 prevent me from taking a vacation.

I have already thanked you for the vignette:8 Fritzsch has promised me a reliable woodcutter.9 I gave him your address so that the woodblock could be sent to you for the attention of the esteemed artist.10

Now the text:

Folk Song.

/: The last line repeats :/

With warm regards,
my dear friend!
Your
FN.

Where are you at Christmas? —

1. A reference to a lost letter.
2. The "Imperial March" composed to celebrate Prussia's victory and occupation of Paris. "Wagner finished the Orchestral Sketch of the Kaisermarsch on the 25th [of February 1871], and completed the full score on the 15th March [1871]." See Ernest Newmann, The Life of Richard Wagner. Vol. 4. 1866-1883. New York, Knopf, 1946: 279.
3. The manuscript of Die Geburt der Tragödie aus dem Geiste der Musik (The Birth Of Tragedy Out of the Spirit of Music), 1872.
4. Ernst Wilhelm Fritzsch, to whom Nietzsche gave his manuscript of Die Geburt der Tragödie aus dem Geiste der Musik (The Birth Of Tragedy Out of the Spirit of Music), which was published in 1872.
5. A big concert by Richard Wagner in Mannheim held on 12-20-1871 (Nietzsche attended the concert).
6. A post Nietzsche held in SS1871 and WS1871-72.
7. Franz Dorotheus Gerlach (1793-1876), who retired from the Basel Paedagogium after fifty years of service teaching Latin.
8. A reference to a lost letter.
9. Cf. Leipzig, 12-03-1871: Letter from Ernst Wilhelm Fritzsch to Nietzsche in Basel. "Die Titelvignette zu Ihrem Werk erhält mein bewährter M[usikalisches]-Wochenbl[att]-Holzschneider Neumann Ausführung." (The title vignette for your work will be executed by my reliable M[usikalisches]-Wochenbl[att]-woodcutter Neumann.)
10. Cf. Basel, 11-27-1871: Letter to Ernst Wilhelm Fritzsch in Leipzig.