Yes, dear friends, we understand each other far too well, I think, for many words to be necessary on my part about this journal business.1 To begin with, R. W[agner] has not learned to fear, but unfortunately also to wait.2 In 4 years, I had hoped that there would be enough people3 to start the undertaking on a larger scale. Well it shall, however, happen right now: whereby the fear of a fausse couche4 creeps up on me. Meanwhile: Mr. Schmeitzner is determined, so we all have to watch and help5 so that things go well. — Returning sincere New Year's wishes from the heart Your F N.

1. In an explanatory note published in 1908, Heinrich Köselitz wrote: "Hans Frhr. v. Wolzogen und Dr. Richard Pohl hatten sich, zum Theil im Äuftrag Rich. Wagner's, an den Verleger Ernst Schmeitzner gewendet zum Zweck der Gründung einer Zeitschrift im Wagner'schen Sinne. Ich hatte N. mitgetheilt, wie von Widemann und mir in dieser Sache an Schmeitzner geschrieben worden set, nämlich abrathend, da wir es für kein Glück hielten, daß die damaligen Wagner-Apostel bequeme Gelegenheit fänden, noch mehr zu Worte zu kommen. Im Lauf des Jahres 1877 wurden aber die Verhandlungen zwischen Bayreuth und Schmeitzner fortgeführt und zeitigten im Januar 1878 die Gründung der 'Bayreuther Blätter.' (— Daß N. auf dieser Karte vom 8. Jan. 77 noch an seine Mitarbeit am Bayreuther Blatter glaubt, beruht darauf, daß ihm von Herrn und Frau Wagner, selbst noch in Sorrent, versichert worden war, die zu gründende Zeitschrift werde jedem Mitarbeiter vollkommen freien Spielraum für seine eigenste Meinungsäußerung gewähren.)" (Hans Frhr. v. Wolzogen and Dr. Richard Pohl had, partly on behalf of Richard Wagner, turned to the publisher Ernst Schmeitzner for the purpose of founding a journal in the interests of Wagner. I had informed N. that Widemann and I had written to Schmeitzner about this matter, namely advising against it, since we considered it unfortunate for the Wagner apostles of the time to find an even more convenient opportunity to express themselves. In the course of 1877, however, the negotiations between Bayreuth and Schmeitzner continued and in January 1878 resulted in the founding of the Bayreuther Blatter. (— That N., in this postcard of Jan. 8, 1877, still believes in his collaboration with the Bayreuther Blatter is due to the fact that Mr. and Mrs. Wagner, who were still in Sorrento themselves, had assured him that the journal to be founded would give every collaborator complete freedom to express their own opinions.)) See Friedrich Nietzsches Gesammelte Briefe. Bd. 4. Friedrich Nietzsches Briefe an Peter Gast, herausgegeben von Peter Gast. Leipzig : Insel, 1908, 441f.
2. An allusion to Richard Wagner's "Siegfried," the third opera in the cycle The Ring of the Nibelung.
3. A sarcastic allusion to: Hans von Wolzogen (1848-1938): German editor of the Bayreuther Blätter; and Richard Pohl (1826-1896): German music critic and proponent of Richard Wagner. Nietzsche was replying to a 01-02-1877 letter from Köselitz and Widemann, in which they disparaged the character of Hans von Wolzogen and Richard Pohl (as sycophantic flunkeys of Richard Wagner).
4. Miscarriage.
5. See Note 1 above.

Elisabeth Nietzsche (1846-1935).
From b/w photo, 1875.
Colorized and enhanced image ©The Nietzsche Channel.

Sorrento, January 20, 1877:
Postcard to Elisabeth Nietzsche.

So all of a sudden things are not good with a malady that has dragged on for years! 2 days in bed again, bad days afterwards too. — Many thanks for Benoni1 and Reuter's work2 (good sentiments, good mind, abominable presentation). Happy about Dr Förster's3 visit (we do not really like his brothers4) Thank you very much for your letters, they all arrived. The "School of Educators"5 (also called Modern Monastery, Ideal Colony, Université Libre) is floating in the air, who knows what will happen! We already have you in mind for the board of all economic affairs of our institution consisting of 40 people. First of all, you must learn Italian!

1. Giovanni Domenico Ruffini (1807-1881): Italian writer. Author of Lorenzo Benoni. Scenen aus dem Leben eines Italieners. Herausgegeben von einem Freunde. Aus dem Englischen. Bde. 1-4 (Wurzen: Verlags-Comptoir, 1854). [Series: Europäische Bibliothek der neuenbelletristischen Literatur, 876=Ser. 9, 76.] See the entry for Ruffini in Nietzsche's Library.
2. Richard Reuter (1840-1904): pseudonymous author of Nationalliberale Partei, nationalliberale Presse und höheres Gentlementhum. Von einem Nichtreichsfeinde. Berlin: Springer, 1876. See the entry for Richard Reuter in Nietzsche's Library. Reuter's mother Minna (1814-1905) and Franziska Nietzsche were friends. For his dealings with Nietzsche and Elisabeth, see Richard Reuter, "Ein Besuch bei dem jungen Nietzsche." In: Die Kritik, 2 (1895), 1275-1281. Reprinted in Sander L. Gilman (Hrsg.), Begegnungen mit Nietzsche. 2. verbesserte Auflage. Bonn: Bouvier, 1985, 276-283. English translation: Sander L. Gilman (ed.), Conversations with Nietzsche. New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1987, 76-83.
3. Ludwig Bernhard Förster (1843-1889): a Berlin schoolteacher and leader of the German anti-Semitic movement in the late 1870s, whom Elisabeth Nietzsche met in 1876, and married on 05-22-1885. Förster's mother lived in Naumburg and knew Franziska Nietzsche. See the entry for Bernhard Förster in Nietzsche's Library.
4. Franz Theodor Förster (1839-1898): superintendent of the diocese of Naumburg (1872-1876); deacon, senior pastor, superintendent of the diocese of Halle (1877-1894); and from 1894-1898 a professor of theology at the University of Halle. Artur Paul Förster (1844-1925): animal rights campaigner, anti-Semitic agitator and politician. See the entry for Paul Förster in Nietzsche's Library. Nietzsche met him in 1875. See Basel, 07-08-1875: Letter to Elisabeth Nietzsche in Naumburg. "In dieser Verfassung bekam ich den Besuch eines Berliner Herrn, Namens Dr. Förster, und unterhielt mich so ziemlich, ihn aber vielleicht unziemlich. Er behauptete mit unsrer lieben Mutter einmal zusammen gewesen zu sein, in Großjena, erinnre ich mich recht." (In this condition I received a visit from a Berlin gentleman named Dr. Förster, and had such a reasonable — but perhaps for him unreasonable — chat. He claimed to have been with our dear mother once, in Großjena, if I recall correctly.)
5. Nietzsche and several friends had planned on starting an educational institute.

Louise Ott.
From tinted photograph by M. Vollenweider.1
Strasbourg, France, 1876.
Colorized and enhanced image ©The Nietzsche Channel.

Paris, January 21, 1877:
Letter2 from Louise Ott.

My friend,

Allow me to say a few words to you in French — just a few, because I am not very strong yet! Yes, I was ill and my silence was completely involuntary. Otherwise, how could I have delayed answering such a charming letter as yours? Dear friend, I now know what it is to have a headache and eye pain. Oh! how many times have I thought of you in the midst of my sufferings — well, it was almost a consolation! Today, the illness has finally succumbed to quinine and I am now out of bed, where I have spent many weeks. I think I avoided pituitous fever.

Do you know that I indeed laughed a lot at your suggestion for me to write a novel!3

Me write! But do you know that I am incapable of having "an idea" in my poor head? No, my friend, you do not know the real Louise ... — — the one you love is a creation of your excellent and eager imagination. It does not matter — keep your affection for her — it does her good — and she has enough heart to return it to you generously. Write to me as soon as you can.

L. O.

1. Moritz Emil Vollenweider (?-1899): Swiss photographer, with studios in Bern, Strasbourg, and later Algiers. Vollenweider and his four sons were something of a dynasty in the world of 19th-century Swiss photography. He was a founding member, and the first president of the Schweizerischer Photographen-Verein (Swiss Photographers Association) from 1886-1888.
2. Original French: "Mon ami, // Laissez moi vous dire un mot en français — un seul mot, car je ne suis pas encore bien forte! Oui, j'ai été malade et mon silence était parfaitement involontaire. Comment aurais-je tardé sans cela à repondre à une aussi charmante lettre que la vôtre? Cher ami, je sais maintenant ce que c'est, que d'avoir mal à la tête et mal aux yeux. Oh! que de fois j'ai pensé à vous au milieu de mes souffrances — tenez, c'était presqu'une consolation! Aujourd'hui, le mal a cédé enfin à la quinine et me voilà hors de mon lit, où j'ai passé de longues semaines. Je crois que j'ai échappé a une fièvre muqueuse. // Do you know that I indeed laughed a lot at your suggestion for me to write a novel!3 // Moi écrire! Mais savez vous que je suis incapable d'avoir "une idée" dans ma pauvre tête? Non, mon ami vous ne connaissez pas la vraie Louise ... — — celle que vous aimez est une création de votre imagination belle et chaude. C'est égal — conserves lui votre affection — cela lui fait du bien — et elle a assez de coeur pour vous la rendre largement. Ecrivez moi dès que vous pourrez. // L. O."
3. See excerpt from Sorrento, 12-16-1876: Letter from Nietzsche to Louise Ott in Paris. "Neulich fiel mir ein, Sie, meine Freundin, möchten einen kleinen Roman schreiben und ihn mir zu lesen geben: man übersieht so schön, was man hat und was man vom Leben wünscht und wird gewiss dabei nicht unglücklicher — das ist die Wirkung der Kunst. Jedenfalls wird man weiser dabei. — Vielleicht ist es ein thörichter Rath: dann sagen Sie mir, dass Sie über mich gelacht haben; es macht mir Vergnügen dies zu hören." (Recently it occurred to me that you, my friend, might want to write a little novel and give it to me to read: one surveys so well what one has and what one wishes of life and in doing so one certainly does not become more unhappy — that is the effect of art. At any rate, it would make one wiser as well. — Perhaps it is foolish advice: if so, tell me that you laughed at me; I would be delighted to hear that.) Complete letter: in German; in English.

Marie Baumgartner (1831-1897).
From b/w photo, 1866.
Colorized and enhanced image ©The Nietzsche Channel.

Sorrento, January 27, 1877:
Postcard to Marie Baumgartner.

Dear madame, I'm a little worried about what may have happened to the translation1 that it still does not appear. — Meanwhile, Dr. Rée's manuscr[ipt]. dispatched to Schmeitzner.2 — I've had some bad days, but also some good days behind me. But I cannot read. Slow improvement; and the doubt as to whether it will be okay again has not been overcome. — Has Frau Cos. W[agner] sent back your "Schopenh."?3 — A volume of poems by Schuré has been published.4 Do you know any novels by Daudet?5 We have planned [on reading] Voltaire, Diderot, Michelet, Thucydides.6

My very best wishes! Your F N.

1. Nietzsche had yet to receive his copy of Marie Baumgartner's French translation (Richard Wagner à Bayreuth).
2. Paul Rée, Der Ursprung der moralischen Empfindungen. Chemnitz: Schmeitzner, 1877. See the entry for Rée in Nietzsche's Library.
3. Marie Baumgartner's translation of Schopenhauer als Erzieher (Schopenhauer as Educator) was completed in February 1874, but never published. She sent the manuscript to Ernst Schmeitzner in March 1875, who then — on Nietzsche's instructions — forwarded it to Cosima Wagner in July 1875.
4. Edouard Schuré (1841-1929): French writer, notable music critic, and an admirer and acquaintance of Nietzsche. They first met at the 1876 Bayreuth Festival. For Schuré's account of the meeting, see Edouard Schuré, "L'individualisme et l'anarchie en littérature. Frédéric Nietzsche et sa philosophie." In: Revue des deux mondes. August 15, 1895, 775-805 (782ff.). Excerpt: "Je rencontrai Nietzsche à Bayreuth, en 1876, aux premières représentations de l'Anneau du Nibelung. Si ces mémorables fêtes scéniques marquent désormais un point capital dans l'histoire de l'art dramatique, elles furent peut-être aussi l'origine secrète de la nouvelle évolution de Nietzsche. Du moins m'a-t-il semble qu'il reçut là les premières atteintes du mal qui l'a poussé dans cette voie. / En causant avec lui, je fus frappé de la supériorité de son esprit et de l'étrangeté de sa physionomie. Front large, cheveux courts repoussés en brosse, pommettes saillantes du Slave. La forte moustache pendante, la coupe hardie du visage lui auraient donné l'air d'un officier de cavalerie, sans un je ne sais quoi de timide et hautain à la fois dans l'abord. La voix musicale, le parler lent, dénotaient son organisation d'artiste; la démarche prudente et méditative était d'un philosophe. Rien de plus trompeur que le calme apparent de son expression. L'oeil fixe trahissait le travail douloureux de la pensée. C'était à la fois l'oeil d'un observateur aigu et d'un visionnaire fanatique. Ce double caractère lui donnait quelque chose d'inquiet et d'inquiétant, d'autant plus qu'il semblait toujours rivé sur un point unique. Dans les momens d'effusion, ce regard s'humectait d'une douceur de rêve, mais bientôt il redevenait hostile. Toute la manière d'être de Nietzsche avait cet air distant, ce dédain discret et voilé qui caractérise souvent les aristocrates de la pensée. [....] Nietzsche assista donc sans enthousiasme aux scènes grandioses de la Walkyrie, de Siegfried et du Crépuscule des Dieux, dont il s'était promis tant de joie. Quand nous partîmes ensemble, aucune critique, aucune parole de blàme ne lui échappa, mais il avait la tristesse résignée d'un vaincu. Je me souviens de l'expression de lassitude et de déception avec laquelle il parla de l'oeuvre prochaine du maître et laissa tomber ce propos: 'Il m'a dit qu'il voulait relire l'histoire universelle avant d'écrire son poème de Parsifal!...' Ce fut dit avec le sourire et l'accent d'une indulgence ironique, dont le sens caché pouvait être celui-ci: 'Voilà bien les illusions des poètes et des musiciens, qui croient faire entrer l'univers dans leurs fantasmagories et n'y mettent qu'eux-mêmes!'" (I met Nietzsche in Bayreuth, in 1876, at the first performances of the Ring of the Nibelung. If these memorable scenic celebrations now mark a crucial point in the history of dramatic art, they were perhaps also the secret origin of Nietzsche's new evolution. At least it seems to me that he received the first attacks of the illness there that propelled him on this path. / While chatting with him, I was struck by the superiority of his mind and the strangeness of his physiognomy. Broad forehead, short hair brushed back, prominent Slavic cheekbones. The heavy drooping mustache, the bold cut of his facial features seemed to give him the look of a cavalry officer, with, at the same time, an indefinable sort of timidity and haughtiness. The musical voice, the slow way of speaking, bespoke of his artistic constitution; the cautious and meditative approach was that of a philosopher. Nothing could be more misleading than the seeming calm of his expression. The fixed eye betrayed the dolorous travail of his thinking. It was both the eye of an acute observer and a fanatical visionary. This double character gave him somewhat of an unquiet and disquieting aspect, especially since he always seemed riveted on one single point. In moments of effusion, his gaze softened with a dreamy gentleness, but soon became hostile again. Nietzsche's entire way of being had that distant look, that quiet and veiled disdain that often characterizes the aristocrats of thought. [....] Nietzsche therefore attended without enthusiasm the grandiose scenes of the Valkyrie, of Siegfried and of the Twilight of the Gods, from which he had promised himself so much joy. When we left together, no criticism, no word of censure escaped him, but he had the resigned sadness of a vanquished man. I remember the expression of lassitude and disappointment with which he spoke of the master's forthcoming work and dropped this remark: "He told me that he wanted to reread universal history before writing his tone poem of Parsifal!..." It was said with a smile and accent of an ironic indulgence, the hidden meaning of which could be this: "Here indeed are the illusions of poets and musicians, who believe they bring the universe into their phantasmagoria and only put themselves in it!") The book Nietzsche refers to is Edouard Schuré, Les chants de la montange. Paris: Sandoz et Fischbacher, 1877. See the entry for Schuré in Nietzsche's Library.
5. Alphonse Daudet (1840-1897): French writer. See the entry for Daudet in Nietzsche's Library.
6. At the time, several books were read aloud to Nietzsche, et al. while in Sorrento.

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

Sorrento, January 27, 1877:
Letter to Franziska Nietzsche.

My heartiest congratulations in advance,1 my beloved mother; let us wish together that the coming year of your life may be more spared from suffering, loss2 and worries than the past year.

I cannot write an actual letter, it gets to me so much that I always have to atone for it for a couple of days (like the other day when I finally had to write poor Frau Ritschl).3 There have been bad days and hours again and again; in summa, however, I believe things are progressing, but no one should believe that things will suddenly go well. Now it is also a bit cool and windy for us.4 My brain still seems to lack blood; I have been thinking too much for the last 10 years (which is known to be more of a strain than just "working too much": although I have done that too.)

Where can the French translation of my work on Wagner be?5 — Lorenzo Benoni6 will now be read to me; we are all looking forward to it.

Dr[.] Rée sent his manuscript "über den Ursprung der moralischen Empfindung" to Schmeitzner.7 — Brenner has written charming short stories,8 Fr[au]l[ein]. von Meysenbug is working on a novel.9 — It is possible that Prince Lichtenstein will join our little community.10 Seydlitz and his wife will come later, already announced;11 also some Roman ladies.12

Now that I know how, I will teach you how to make risotto later.

Finally, my best thanks for your entertainingly long letter13

Your Fritz.

1. Franziska Nietzsche's upcoming birthday was on February 2.
2. A reference to the death of her mother, Wilhelmine Oehler, on 11-02-1876.
3. See Sorrento, January 1877: Letter to Sophie Ritschl. Friedrich Ritschl (1806-1876) died on November 9, 1876. He was Nietzsche's philology professor at the University of Bonn and the University of Leipzig. Sophie Ritschl (née Guttentag, 1820-?): wife of Nietzsche's philology professor, Friedrich Ritschl. She was a friend of Richard Wagner's sister, Ottilie Brockhaus, through whom (in 1868) she was able to introduce Nietzsche to Wagner.
4. Nietzsche was staying in Sorrento with Malwida von Meysenbug, his student Albert Brenner, and Paul Rée.
5. Nietzsche had yet to receive his copy of Marie Baumgartner's French translation (Richard Wagner à Bayreuth).
6. Giovanni Domenico Ruffini (1807-1881): Italian writer. Lorenzo Benoni. Scenen aus dem Leben eines Italieners. Herausgegeben von einem Freunde. Aus dem Englischen. Bde. 1-4 (Wurzen: Verlags-Comptoir, 1854). [Series: Europäische Bibliothek der neuenbelletristischen Literatur, 876=Ser. 9, 76.] See the entry for Ruffini in Nietzsche's Library.
7. Paul Rée, Der Ursprung der moralischen Empfindungen. Chemnitz: Schmeitzner, 1877. See the entry for Rée in Nietzsche's Library.
8. Albert Brenner (1856-1878; Nietzsche's student), "Das flammende Herz." In: Deutsche Rundschau, 12 July-Sept. 1877:1-11. [Written under the pseudonym Albert Nilson. The story was originally called "Das Bild" (The Picture) then changed by the editor. Brenner read the story aloud while he was staying in Sorrento with Nietzsche et. al. Brenner died of tuberculosis in 1878. Cf. Franz Bernoulli: Franz Overbeck und Friedrich Nietzsche. 1:207.] See the entry for Brenner in Nietzsche's Library.
9. Malwida von Meysenbug, Phädra. Ein Roman von der Verfasserin der Memoiren einer Idealistin. Bde. 1-3. Leipzig: Reißner, 1885. Only Bd. 2 and Bd. 3 are online.
10. Prince Rudolf of Liechtenstein (1833-1888): a friend of Richard Wagner. No information about whether or not he visited is known.
11. Reinhart von Seydlitz and his wife Irene stayed in Sorrento from the end of March through the end of May 1877.
12. The reference is unknown.
13. Naumburg, 01-18/19-1877: Letter from Franziska Nietzsche to Nietzsche in Sorrento.

Marie Baumgartner (1831-1897).
From b/w photo, 1866.
Colorized and enhanced image ©The Nietzsche Channel.

Sorrento, February 4, 1877:
Postcard to Marie Baumgartner.

Here, dear madame, some wildflowers from Sorrento. We all1 send you expressions of our esteem and admiration, for the last few evenings we have read your book2 with renewed astonishment. Brenner3 looked for the flowers on the rocky seashore, Fr[äu]l[ein]. M[eysenbug] arranged them.

1. Nietzsche was staying in Sorrento with Malwida von Meysenbug, his student Albert Brenner (1856-1878), and Paul Rée.
2. Marie Baumgartner's French translation (Richard Wagner à Bayreuth).
3. Albert Brenner (1856-1878): Nietzsche's student in Basel. Brenner died of tuberculosis in 1878.

Franz Overbeck.
By: Louis Zipfel.
From b/w photo, Zürich, 1876.
Colorized and enhanced image ©The Nietzsche Channel.

Lörrach, February 9, 1877:
Letter from Marie Baumgartner.

Esteemed, dear sir,

I feel compelled to thank you for your joyful letter,1 and even more so for the flowers2 that were lying on my table the day before yesterday when I came home with a broken heart from a game of whist with my elderly aunt.3 They were still so fresh in the little box, and had been individually wrapped with such touching care, that now the inevitable has happened: I have shed a beneficial, salutary number of tears, and have been homesick for you, that is, I have deeply longed to be able to be there with you. Not merely with you alone, but with you in the circle of those who well deserve it due to the love and kindness that you no longer experience singularly but rather plurally. And as you tell me "all of us," and as you and your friends try to bring me joy, my thanks and heartfelt devotion also goes to "all of you." The flowers have recovered so well in the water that one almost no longer sees their long journey, and they still smell strongly even today. — I sincerely apologize to Fräulein von Meysenbug and Dr Rée for taking the liberty of sending them the books4 without an accompanying letter; I took the liberty of doing so because you had already received the book and because that day I also dealt with just about a dozen mailings, some of which I could not possibly have sent without a letter. A total of 30 copies have now been distributed, of which I will send you a small list one day. I also sent one to Prof. Rohde, with a note,5 although you had not given me any instructions about that; but it seemed to me as justified as many other mailings. I also enclosed a note for Frau Diodati.6 Herr Schmeitzner took care of the distribution of 14 copies that were able to go without a letter or whose recipients were already notified in advance. — This morning the first letter of thanks7 arrived: a writing from Prof. J. Burckhardt, so beautiful that I would have liked to have read it to you right away! I am very pleased about this letter because it also says that the difficult passages in your book have become "articulate and clear" in a new form; and since, dear sir, you also have this feeling, I want at least to be reassured about this point. It now remains to pass the dangerous test before an actual French person, before someone who will read it quite impartially. From my end, I will probably only learn something about this from Prof. Lichtenberger,8 who himself writes very nicely in French and knows German well; Fräulein von Meysenbug will perhaps someday hear Herr Monod's9 verdict. Please tell me about this, even if it were not nice to hear. There must exist in the Monod family a hereditary tradition of the most beautiful things that can be written in French! I also have my particular ideal of French style; but when translating, one cannot steer towards this as unwaveringly as when one writes freely for oneself, and it is always only a matter of more or less form, which one can save from the battle between both languages under consideration!

Later in the evening.

It was good that I already had Professor Burckhardt's comforting letter in my pocket! for, a few hours later, when I intended to visit Adolf10 in Basel, I met in the Baumannshöhle11 Mr. Overbeck, who cordially told me that he wanted to make a list12 of the inaccuracies that he and his wife found in the French version; and, judging from what he said, it seems it's going to be a long list! You should not let that spoil your joy, esteemed sir, if your friend should write to you along these lines. I am far from claiming that I have translated your book word for word; I know quite well how much more precisely and strictly I could have handled it, but in most cases I had reasons for not blindly following the dictionary. It has hardly ever affected the meaning. This much is certain: I will never again give away a manuscript so quickly; I could have improved it a lot with more inspiration; but it would not have turned out exactly as Mr. Overbeck had in mind; for I neither want to put my name to a slavishly rigid, awkward, and ugly sounding piece of writing, nor dedicate it to you!

I cannot tell you how sorry I am that your eyes are getting weaker! It is a hardship that cannot be replaced by anything. — When I try to imagine what I would do if I were blind, all I can think of is: knit stockings, think up poems, and plot novels, the latter which my friends would write for me. Now consider how much better off you would be in this most severe case, from which may God protect you! You could compose music instead of my sock-knitting; and the source of your untimely thoughts13 would still be in your heart! Be of good cheer, and if your stay in Sorrento does not turn out to be good for your poor eyes, then on your journey home take the route via Paris to my nephew Landolt,14 who is giving successful treatments there as an ophthalmologist, and is thoroughly educated in his profession.

I would also like to send my regards to Mr. Brenner,15 since he was so kind in taking part in the collection of the flowers; I have a rather nagging memory of leaving him inhospitably on his last visit to Lörrach in the pouring rain, so that the flowers had something of the biblical "coals"16 about them. Lohengrin17 has now filled the Basel theater 5 times in the last couple of weeks!

With the warmest regards and wishes from your devoted
M. Baumgartner.

1. Sorrento, 02-02-1877: Letter from Nietzsche to Marie Baumgartner in Lörrach.
2. Sorrento, 02-02-1877: Postcard from Nietzsche to Marie Baumgartner in Lörrach.
3. Probably her paternal aunt, Rosine Koechlin (1792-1878), who died on February 05, 1878.
4. Marie Baumgartner's French translation (Richard Wagner à Bayreuth).
5. See Jena, 02-17-1877: Letter from Erwin Rohde to Nietzsche in Sorrento, in which he confirms receiving a copy of Marie Baumgartner's translation.
6. Amélie Diodati (née Plantamour, 1842-1927), was an acquaintance of Hugo von Senger (1835-1892), and the daughter of the Swiss astronomer Emile Plantamour (1815-1882).
7. Basel, 02-08-1877: Letter from Jacob Burckhardt to Marie Baumgartner in Lörrach. See the online catalogue of the State Archives Basel-Stadt, PA 207 Jacob Burckhardt-Archiv, 52 B 12.
8. Ernest Lichtenberger (1847-1913). Uncle of the nietzschephile and translator Henri Lichtenberger (1864-1941).
9. The French historian Gabriel Monod (1844-1912), who was married to Malwida von Meysenbug's foster-daughter Olga Herzen (1851-1953).
10. In February 1874, Nietzsche had started dictating to Adolf Baumgartner (1855-1930): a student of Jacob Burckhardt and Nietzsche at the pedagogium in Basel, and the son of Marie Baumgartner. Baumgartner left Basel in the autumn of 1874, serving in the Hussars for his one-year military service. He returned to Basel to resume his studies, which ended in the summer of 1877. On Nietzsche's advice, he went to Jena in the autumn of 1877 to study under Erwin Rohde, but their relationship soured. Baumgartner went on to write a philological book on the Armenian historian, Moses of Khoren (ca. 410-490s). See Adolf Baumgartner, Dr. M. Lauer und das zweite Buch des Môses Chorenazi. Leipzig: Stauffer, 1885. In 1878, Nietzsche gifted him a dedicated copy of Ralph Waldo Emerson's Neue Essays (Letters and Social Aims). Autorisirte Uebersetzung mit einer Einleitung von Julian Schmidt. Stuttgart: Abendheim, 1876. The dedication reads: "Herrn Adolf Baumgartner / als Gefährten für einsame / Spaziergänge / empfohlen. / / Und dabei gedenken Sie auch / meiner! — / / F. Nietzsche / Ende 1878." (Mr. Adolf Baumgartner / Recommended as a companion on lonely walks. / / And with it remember me too! — / / F. Nietzsche / Ende 1878.) For further biographical details on Baumgartner, see Emil Dürr, "Adolf Baumgartner 1855-1930." In: Basler Jahrbuch. 1932, 211-242.
11. Baumannshöhle (Baumann's cave) the nickname of Nietzsche's residence in Basel at Schützgraben 45 after it was purchased in June 1873 by Otto and Anna Baumann-Reisch (1841-1923).
12. A 5-page list of Overbeck's 77 corrections as well as Overbeck's copy of the book is online: HTML; PDF (120 MB).
13. An allusion to Nietzsche's Unzeitgemässe Betrachtungen (Untimely Meditations).
14. Edmund Landolt (1846-1926): an ophthalmologist and the son of Rosine Koechlin (1792-1878).
15. Albert Brenner (1856-1878): Nietzsche's student in Basel. Brenner died of tuberculosis in 1878.
16. Cf. Romans 12:20: "Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head."
17. Lohengrin: opera by Richard Wagner.

Sorrento Panorama.
From b/w picture postcard, ca. 1900.
Colorized and enhanced image ©The Nietzsche Channel.

Sorrento, Mid-February 1877:
Letter to Reinhart von Seydlitz.

Dear good friend, nothing but an inquiry — apart from the most heartfelt thanks for your letter.1 Is your state of health good and favorable enough to make a decision about the spring?2 I hope and wish so with all my heart. — You would still find me in Sorrento. My two friends and companions are leaving me at the end of March,3 and I will be left alone here with Fr[äu]l[ein]. von Meysenbug (who gratefully commends her honored circle).

My eyes are worse, my head not much better — so, with the old Italian expression (which a papal nephew first used; the court usher came to lead him to his death) "Va bene, patienza!"4

The days are extraordinarily beautiful; a mixture of sea, forest and mountain air prevails here, and there are many shady, quiet paths. Many a plan runs through both our minds (Frl. v. M[eysenbug] and me) and you are always part of them.

Above all: if one isn't healthy, one should get healthy. But when we are healthy, then some good things should still happen, right?

Faithfully
yours
Friedrich Nietzsche

1. Davos, 12-29-1876: Letter from Reinhart von Seydlitz to Nietzsche in Sorrento.
2. Reinhart von Seydlitz and his wife Irene stayed in Sorrento from the end of March through the end of May 1877.
3. Paul Rée and Albert Brenner left Sorrento on 04-10-1877.
4. "Okay, be patient!" Unknown reference. At the time, several books were read aloud to Nietzsche while in Sorrento.

Heinrich Schiess.
From b/w photo.
Colorized and enhanced image ©The Nietzsche Channel.

Sorrento, February 18, 1877:
Letter to Franziska Nietzsche.

My dear mother, it pains me to have given occasion, through a letter,1 to the fact that you were a bit worried about us; enough, that was neither my thought nor intention concerning it. I wrote to F[rau] R[itschl]2 because I felt it necessary, just as I wrote to Frau Gerlach3 before Christmas and to Frau Brockhaus4 recently. It's not your fault that I have had attacks;5 so — I beg your pardon.

My health has been very bad again, almost desperate. There were days like the ones around Christmas last year. Within a week I lay in bed twice with severe pain. — "Flicker" is a misnomer for the condition of my eyes. I can't read, the words become clumped together.

Prof. Schiess, who was consulted about it, found it disturbing if it did not disappear soon; he recommended that I seek medical advice in Naples.6 (Naples has an excellent medical faculty at its university) I was there and conferred with the most famous doctor, Professor Schrön;7 and now I am back to normal. After three months I should return if no new symptoms appear in the meantime. All the remedies work very slowly in such an advanced state of my headaches. The explanation of a head catarrh is nothing, rather I now know very well what the evil is like. The first very careful examination and discussion!

Sorrento excellent for the cure; especially quite famous as a treatment place for the eyes.

My heartfelt thanks for everything that has been written and communicated. (I cannot quite read what I'm writing myself: sorry if everything looks very sloppy[.])

With all my love
your F.

1. Cf. Sorrento, 01-27-1877: Letter to Franziska Nietzsche in Naumburg.
2. Cf. Sorrento, January 1877: Letter to Sophie Ritschl in Leipzig.
3. Katherina Gerlach (née Eckert, 1811-1886): wife of Franz Dorotheus Gerlach (1793-1876), Basel philologist who retired in 1870, and died on 10-31-1876.
4. Ottilie Brockhaus (1811-1883). Wife of Hermann Brockhaus (1806-1877), the Sanskrit specialist and later rector of the University of Leipzig in 1872-1873, who died on 01-05-1877. Ottilie was also a friend of Sophie Ritschl (1820-?), and was Richard Wagner's sister. She introduced Nietzsche to Wagner in 1868.
5. The "attacks" refer to Nietzsche's eye troubles.
6. Nietzsche's opthalmologist and colleague at Basel, Johann Heinrich Schieß-Gemuseus (1833-1914). Schieß did not recommend anyone specifically, but advised Nietzsche "nach Neapel zu fahren und dort einen Augenarzt zu konsultiren. Es sind mehrere dort, deren Adressen Du durchs deutsche Consul[at] jedenfalls leicht erhalten kannst." (to go to Naples and consult an ophthalmologist there. There are several there whose addresses you can easily get from the German consulate.) See Basel, 02-05-1877: Letter from Heinrich Schieß to Nietzsche in Sorrento. For a more detailed biography of Schiess, see Ronald D. Gerste, "Contributions to Progress in Ophthalmology from Switzerland: From the 16th to the 21st Century." HTML.
7. Otto Schrön (1837-1917). Schrön studied at Erlangen and Munich; on December 1, 1864, he was appointed professor of pathological anatomy at the University of Naples.

Reinhart von Seydlitz.
From b/w photo, ca. 1875.
Colorized and enhanced image ©The Nietzsche Channel.

Sorrento, End February 1877:
Letter to Reinhart von Seydlitz.

Dear friend

The mutual assurances of our hopeful dispositions have crossed:1 I gratefully accept the good symbol.

I need such news as you are giving me, for my state of health has recently been bad again and has awakened the evil spirit of impatience in me.

In Naples I went to see the excellent doctor Professor Schron2 at the university; I recommend him for the reputation he enjoys and the experience which I now have of him. But you3 still have the choice between 6 other German doctors. A good German-speaking doctor is also in Sorrento. The medical faculty in Naples is respected everywhere and educates competent physicians. Foreigners have begun to flock to Sorrento; March is even considered the month that brings the most. We actually only found out in the last few days that it can be stormy here. March is said to be the beginning of fine weather, but a few windy days are inevitable. There are such good hidden paths between orange groves that one always feels a windless calm there and only from the intense movement of the pine trees above can one see how the world outside is stormy. (Reality and parable of our life here — true about both[.])

You already know that I am staying, that I am expecting you; Fr[au]l[ein]. von Meysenbug will write herself,4 I think your letter gave a lot of joy, mixed with the amazement I felt too, which keeps asking: is it even possible? Such people exist? And why do they give us this love? Do we deserve them? (I am talking about myself and, ultimately, I am seriously asking: won't you be mistaken? Heaven knows, you will find a very simple5 person who does not have a great opinion of himself[.])

And now all the best
firmly wished for the new friend from
Friedrich Nietzsche

1. Nietzsche was replying to a 02-17-1877 letter from Reinhart von Seydlitz, who was asking questions about Sorrento. Seydlitz himself was replying to Nietzsche's mid-February 1877 letter.
2. Otto Schrön (1837-1917). Schrön studied at Erlangen and Munich; on December 1, 1864, he was appointed professor of pathological anatomy at the University of Naples. Cf. Sorrento, 02-18-1877: Letter to Franziska Nietzsche in Naumburg.
3. Cf. Davos, 02-17-1877: Letter from to Reinhart von Seydlitz to Nietzsche in Sorrento, in which Seydlitz asks several questions about Sorrento in preparation for his visit, all of which Nietzsche answers in this letter.
4. The letter or telegram is lost.
5. einfachen.

Franz Overbeck.
By: Louis Zipfel.
From b/w photo, Zürich, 1876.
Colorized and enhanced image ©The Nietzsche Channel.

Sorrento, March 26, 1877:
Letter to Franz Overbeck.

Dear good friend, I have not been able to read or write the whole time of late due to an aggravation of my eye condition; so I could only honor your pain in quiet, silent sympathy, lament your great loss1 and generally marvel at how man still continues to live when his natural roots are cut off. I concluded that he must have many more roots than he usually supposes; if he loses some, he creates new ones. At the same time I thought of your marriage2 and think that it will have been of use to you as the best comforter. Did I write to you that I lost my grandmother?3

My condition gives me much concern, I saw the necessity of again entrusting myself to medical assistance and am now under the care of Professor Schron4 (University of Naples)[.] Ointment on the head with narcein, then use of sodium bromide, together with some dietary prescriptions; I am supposed to report after three months. In fact my eyes are now better again (I was completely unable to read)[.]

The last month was very bad, cold, stormy rain almost relentlessly. Rée and Brenner5 are leaving at the end of March.6 Seydlitzs are coming to us.7 We are staying here. — Rohde marries on Pentecost.8 Gersdorff's affair is not good.9

Greetings, my dear friend, to your wife, then Frau Baumgartner, Baumann10 also the Immermanns.11

I owe thanks and an answer to the good Köselitz.12

Farewell and be certain of the love of your friend.

I have thought of many things that should be presented to you first when we get together.13

Regards to everyone. — Please pay the bookseller's bill.

1. Franz Overbeck's mother, Johannna Camilla Overbeck (née Cerclet, 1808-1877), died on 02-25-1877.
2. Franz and Ida Overbeck were married on 08-08-1876.
3. Nietzsche's maternal grandmother, Wilhelmine Oehler (née Hahn, 1794-1876). Nietzsche had already told Overbeck about her death in an 11-11-1876 letter.
4. Otto Schrön (1837-1917). Schrön studied at Erlangen and Munich; on December 1, 1864, he was appointed professor of pathological anatomy at the University of Naples. Cf. Sorrento, 02-18-1877: Letter to Franziska Nietzsche in Naumburg.
5. Albert Brenner (1856-1878): Nietzsche's student in Basel who accompanied him to Sorrento. Brenner died of tuberculosis in 1878.
6. They left Sorrento on 04-10-1877.
7. Reinhart von Seydlitz and his wife Irene stayed in Sorrento from the end of March through the end of May 1877.
8. After their engagement in July 1876, Erwin Rohde and Valentine Framm (1859-1901), the daughter of a lawyer from Rostock, were married on 08-08-1877.
9. Carl von Gersdorff's engagement to Nerina Finocchietti. Cf. Basel, 12-11-1877: Letter to Carl von Gersdorff in Berlin.
10. Anna Baumann-Reisch (1841-1923): Nietzsche's landlady when he resided in Basel at Schützgraben 45.
11. Hermann (1838-1899) and Marie Immermann (née Diehl, 1847-1926). Hermann Immermann was a doctor and professor of pathology in Basel.
12. Heinrich Köselitz sent Nietzsche some stationery.
13. Franz Overbeck visited Nietzsche on 05-20/21-1877 in Bad Ragaz.

Irene von Seydlitz.
From b/w photo, ca. 1875.
Colorized and enhanced image ©The Nietzsche Channel.

Sorrento, March 31, 1877:
Letter to Elisabeth Nietzsche.

Dear good sister, I thank you sincerely for your letters1 and am only answering today because I did not know what to answer; actually I do not know today either. Don't you think that after 6 weeks I will no longer be able to stand B[ertha] R[ohr]2 and can no longer see or hear her? Perhaps I am exaggerating. Otherwise you indeed know what we both think about her, I guess we ourselves have not had any illusions; right? — Now speakng of Nat. Herzen,3 what do you think? But she is also 30 years old, it would be better if she were 12 years younger. Otherwise her style and her mind suit me quite well. — With Gersd[orff] the matter of the dowry is still not settled, it is a very complicated story.4 But keep quiet about it. — The Seydlitzs are here, full of goodwill and courtesy towards me.5 Gradually it will probably be possible to "befriend" the very good, talented S[eydlitz]. His young wife6 is Hungarian, very pleasant. — Did you reply to Frau Wagner's letter?7 The Wagners are going to London in [May], and I presume something regarding you.8 — On Capri we happened to meet female visitors to the Bayreuth Festival, apparently from the immediate vicinity of Bayreuth, a young girl's name was A. v. T.9 Who is that? — Spring has come here now, or just about. Cloudy again today. I have been feeling a bit better lately.

Warmly your brother.

I know [the article in] Das musik[alisches]. Wochenblatt about me.10

Just consider little Köckert.11 — (Religious tolerance12 an absolute requirement!)

1. A lost letter from the end of February 1877; and Naumburg, 03-22/24-1877: Letter from Elisabeth Nietzsche to Nietzsche in Sorrento.
2. Bertha Rohr was a pretty friend of both Malwida von Meysenbug and Ida Overbeck, as well as an acquaintance of Nietzsche in Basel. They both belonged to the Basler Kunstverein. E.g., see the society's 1873 report. She was seen as a marriage prospect. In fact, Nietzsche was so attracted to her while on vacation in 1874 that he planned on proposing. Cf. Bergun, 07-22-1874: Letter to Elisabeth Nietzsche in St Romay. "Als Curiosum noch die Mittheilung, dass ich neulich Abends einmal fast entschlossen war, Fräulein Rohr zu heirathen; so gut hatte sie mir gefallen." (As a curiosity, there is also news that at one point the other night I almost decided to marry Fraulein Rohr; I liked her that much.) Elisabeth's response in a letter from the end of February 1877 is lost, but we can guess some of its contents from Nietzsche's 07-30-1874 reply, in which he toned down his remark about Rohr: "Meine Bemerkung über Fr[äulein]. R[ohr] sollte Dich nicht aufregen, ich theilte sie als Curiosum mit. Übrigens sind Deine Bedenken meine Bedenken. Nur weisst Du, dass der Augenblick gewöhnlich mehr kann als eine ganze Kette von Nach- und Vorblicken." (My remark about Fr[äulein]. R[ohr] should not upset you, I shared it as a curiosity. Anyway, your concerns are my concerns. Only you know that the moment can usually do more than an entire series of forethoughts and afterthoughts.)
3. Natalie Herzen (1844-1936) was the older sister of Olga Herzen (1850-1953), and was considered as a possible wife for Nietzsche. Although they were the same age, he thought she was too old.
4. Carl von Gersdorff's engagement to Nerina Finocchietti. Cf. Basel, 12-11-1877: Letter to Carl von Gersdorff in Berlin.
5. Reinhart von Seydlitz and his wife Irene stayed in Sorrento from the end of March through the end of May 1877.
6. Irene von Seydlitz (née Simon von Pálya). See her photo, ca. 1875, above.
7. 02-17-1877 letter from Cosima Wagner to Elisabeth Nietzsche.
8. In the summer of 1877, during a concert tour by Richard Wagner, Elisabeth Nietzsche managed the household while they were gone, as she had done in the spring of 1875 in Bayreuth.
9. Unknown reference.
10. Richard Falckenberg's review of Unzeitgemässe Betrachtungen, IV. Richard Wagner in Bayreuth In: Musikalisches Wochenblatt, 11-10-1876, 639-640; 11-17-1876, 655-657.
11. During his stay in Geneva in April 1876, Nietzsche was introduced to the Köckert family in Champel by the German conductor, Hugo von Senger (1835-1892). Adolph Köckert (1828-1911) was a violinist who left the music profession in 1876 and entered the banking business of his father-in-law after his marriage. Through correspondence, Nietzsche stayed in touch with his wife, Marie Köckert (née Haltenhoff, 1836-1923). On April 7th, Nietzsche gave her the unfinished manuscript of his Richard Wagner in Bayreuth, which he had brought along with him to read while in Geneva. The "kleine Köckert" (little K[öckert]) girl Nietzsche refers to was apparently the Köckert's daughter. The Köckerts had three children: a son, Gustav Köckert (1860-1948), and two daughters. The eldest daughter was named Emma Köckert (1859-?), who married a professor of theoretical physics and historian of science, Emil Anton Cherbuliez (1837-1914); the youngest was Helene Charlotte Köckert (1864-1909), an accomplished singer who married Franz Wilhelm Ferdinand von Hessert (1856-1924).
12. Freisinnigkeit.

Paul Rée.
From b/w photo, ca. 1876-77.
Colorized and enhanced image ©The Nietzsche Channel.

Sorrento, April 17, 1877:
Letter to Paul Rée.

I was alone in Villa Rub[inacci] until Friday.1 Then finally Frl. v. M[eysenbug] returned. — Laid in bed for several days, always bad, until today. Nothing is more dreary than your apartment without Rée. We speak and keep silent a lot about the absent people; yesterday it was confirmed that only your "appearance" was lost. In the evening we play mill.2 There is no reading, Seydl[itz] is in bed;3 we could be one another's "humane nurse"4 insofar as we took turns lying in bed. Dear friend, how much I owe you! You shall never be lost to me again!

In sincere loyalty your, F N

Thanks and thanks once again for the telegram and letter.

1. Paul Rée and Nietzsche's student in Basel, Albert Brenner (1856-1878), left Sorrento on 04-10-1877, where they were all staying with Malwida von Meysenbug, who rented part of the Villa Rubinacci in Sorrento in 1876.
2. The ancient strategy board game for two players also known in English as Nine Men's Morris.
3. Reinhart von Seydlitz was recovering from an illness. He and his wife Irene stayed in Sorrento from the end of March through the end of May 1877.
4. An allusion to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), and his Italiänische Reise. 2. In: Goethe's sämmtliche Werke in vierzig Bänden. Bd. 24. Stuttgart; Tübingen: J. G. Cotta, 1856, 16. "Neapel den 27. Mai 1787. [....] Auf Herder's dritten Theil freu' ich mich sehr. Hebet mir ihn auf bis ich sagen kann wo er mir begegnen soll. Er wird gewiß den schönen Traumwunsch der Menschheit, daß es dereinst besser mit ihr werden solle , trefflich ausgeführt haben. Auch muß ich selbst sagen halt' ich es für wahr, daß die Humanität endlich siegen wird, nur fürcht' ich, daß zu gleicher Zeit die Welt ein großes Hospital und einer des andern humaner Krankenwärter seyn werde." (Naples, May 27, 1787. [....] I am really looking forward to Herder's third part. Keep it for me until I can say where it should be sent to me. With it he will certainly have excellently set forth mankind's beautiful dream-wish that things shall one day get better. I have to say myself that I believe it is true that humanity will ultimately triumph, only I fear that at the same time the world will become one huge hospital and [we] will become one another's humane nurse.)

Griechische Culturgeschichte by Jacob Burckhardt.
Manuscript by Louis Kelterborn.1
Title Page with dedication to Nietzsche, 1875.
© Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek, Klassik Stiftung Weimar.2
Enhanced image The Nietzsche Channel.

Sorrento, April 22, 1877:
Postcard to Louis Kelterborn.

Thank you, dear friend, from the bottom of my heart, for all the sympathy that your letter3 shows me. Unfortunately I can report nothing consolatory about the state of my health; after some fluctuations and temporary prospects for improvement, in general I now barely dare to say that it has not become worse. I am coming back to Basel in the autumn. Loyally yours F. N.

1. Nietzsche attended Jacob Burckhardt's lectures on the "History of Greek Culture" while at Basel in SS1874 and SS1876, and had two sets of lecture notes made by his students, Louis Kelterborn (1853-1910) and Adolf Baumgartner (1855-1930). Kelterborn's dedication reads: "Herrn Prof. Dr. Fr. Nietzsche, / in herzlicher Dankbarkeit / gewidmet von / Louis Kelterborn, Dr. jur." (Herrn Prof. Dr. Fr. Nietzsche, / in sincere gratitude / dedicated by / Louis Kelterborn, Dr. jur.) Kelterborn's recollections about Nietzsche from 1869-1880 (Erinnerungen (August 1901)) were written in a letter from Boston to Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche in Weimar. His recollections specifically regarding the years 1870-1876 were published in: Friedrich Nietzsche, Werke und Briefe, historisch-kritische Ausgabe: Briefe III, IV, hrsg. von Wilhelm Hoppe. München: C. H. Beck, 1940, 1942. Reprinted in: Sander Gilman (ed.), Begegnungen mit Nietzsche. Bonn: Bouvier, 1985, 103-123. The mutual interest of Kelterborn and Nietzsche was music. In fact, Kelterborn moved to America and became a music teacher in Boston, where he initially resided at 28 Cedar Street, according to the 1900 United States Federal Census.
2. Online at Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek.
3. Basel, 04-11-1877: Letter from Louis Kelterborn to Nietzsche in Sorrento.

Heinrich Köselitz.
From b/w photo, 1875.
Colorized and enhanced image ©The Nietzsche Channel.

Sorrento, April 25, 1877:
Postcard to Heinrich Köselitz.

Thank you very much for everything that has been said and wished for. But no more polemics,1 I beg you, that is not the business of a musician. Later I will tell you more about this matter, which I have to describe as an amusing disaster. To win over Jak[ob]. Burckhardt is, according to a very similar previous experience,2 impossible; who would not want to respect the only thing he wants from us, respect for his personal concept of freedom? Loyally your N.

My state of health miserably unstable.

1. Nietzsche alludes to Heinrich Köselitz's harsh attack against Selmar Bagge (1823-1896), the conservative opponent of Richard Wagner. At the time, Bagge, a former editor of the Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung in Leipzig, was the director of the Allgemeine Musikschule in Basel. In December 1876, in order to educate the concert-going public in Basel about Beethoven's 9th Symphony (which was to be performed at the inauguration of the new Great Music Hall in Basel), Bagge gave an introductory lecture, which he later had printed in the Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung on 01-24/31-1877. For Heinrich Köselitz's critique, see "Musikalische Philister." In: Musikalisches Wochenblatt, 8, 1877, 200-202.
2. Nietzsche alludes to Karl Hillebrand's attempt in January 1874 to get both Nietzsche and Jakob Burckhardt to contribute to his journal, Neue Reihe Italia.

Elisabeth Nietzsche (1846-1935).
From b/w photo, 1875.
Colorized and enhanced image ©The Nietzsche Channel.

Sorrento, April 25, 1877:
Letter to Elisabeth Nietzsche.

Nothing more cheerful than your letter,1 dearest sister, which hit the nail on the head on every possible point. I was so unwell! Within 14 days I was in bed for 6 days with 6 major attacks, the last of which was quite desperate. I got up and then Frl. v. M[eysenbug] was down for 3 days due to rheumatism. In the very depths of our misery we laughed a lot together when I read her a few selected passages from your letter. — The plan which Frl. v. M[eysenbug] now adamantly describes as something to keep in mind and in the execution of which you must help is this: We convince ourselves that, in the long run, my existence at the University of Basel cannot continue, that I could at most carry it through at the expense of all my more important projects and yet at the cost of totally sacrificing my health. Of course I will still have to spend the next winter there under these conditions, but it should be over by Easter 1878 if the other concerted move succeeds, i. e. marriage to a woman who suits me, but who is necessarily wealthy. "Good, but rich" as Frl. v. M[eysenbug]. said, and this "but" made us laugh out loud. With this wife I would then live in Rome for the next few years; which place is equally appropriate for health, society, and my studies. The project should be fostered this summer, in Switzerland, so that in the autumnn I will return to Basel, married. Various "persons" are invited to come to Switzerland, including several names that are completely foreign to you, e.g. Elise Bülow [sic]2 from Berlin, Elisabeth Brandes from Hanover. As for intellectual qualities, I always find Nat[alie]. Herzen3 the most suitable. With the idealization of the little Köckert4 in Geneva you have achieved a lot! All praise and honor to you! But it is really doubtful; and wealth? —

Rohde should get the Wagner bust,5 I cannot think of anything else, my stupidity is terrible. So will you get this done quickly, with a little letter to Rohde?

I was invited to give a speech about Wagner in Frankfurt.6 — Frau Baumgartner's translation7 has been found not good by competent people. This in complete confidence.8

In old brotherhood your
Fritz
in future (if I am living still a
year from now) a Roman.

You will be spared the Bayreuth trouble;9 on which I actually congratulate you, for the responsibility is too great. Lulu10 and the governess are in charge. Poor Loldi11 has been taken to an orthopedic institution in Altenburg.

1. Naumburg, 04-17-1877: Letter from Elisabeth Nietzsche to Nietzsche in Sorrento.
2. Elise Bütow (1851-1937), a young Jewish admirer of Malwida von Meysenbug from Berlin whom she hoped to gain as a companion. In 1881, Bütow married the lawyer, Hans Sobernheim (1846-1905).
3. Natalie Herzen (1844-1936) was the older sister of Olga Herzen (1850-1953), and was considered as a possible wife for Nietzsche. Although they were the same age, he thought she was too old.
4. During his stay in Geneva in April 1876, Nietzsche was introduced to the Köckert family in Champel by the German conductor, Hugo von Senger (1835-1892). Adolph Köckert (1828-1911) was a violinist who left the music profession in 1876 and entered the banking business of his father-in-law after his marriage. Through correspondence, Nietzsche stayed in touch with his wife, Marie Köckert (née Haltenhoff, 1836-1923). On April 7th, Nietzsche gave her the unfinished manuscript of his Richard Wagner in Bayreuth, which he had brought along with him to read while in Geneva. The "Kl. K[öckert]" (little K[öckert]) girl Nietzsche dismissively refers to was apparently the Köckert's daughter. The Köckerts had three children: a son, Gustav Köckert (1860-1948), and two daughters. The eldest daughter was named Emma Köckert (1859-?), who married a professor of theoretical physics and historian of science, Emil Anton Cherbuliez (1837-1914); the youngest was Helene Charlotte Köckert (1864-1909), an accomplished singer who married Franz Wilhelm Ferdinand von Hessert (1856-1924).
5. For a wedding present, Nietzsche had Elisabeth send Erwin Rohde a bust of Wagner by Gustav Adolf Kietz (1824-1908).
6. Cf. Frankfurt/Main, 04-14-1877: Letter from Otto Eiser to Nietzsche in Sorrento. Eiser — on behalf of the members of a new Wagner Society in Frankfurt — asked Nietzsche to give a lecture for "a literary-musical evening" on Richard Wagner.
7. Marie Baumgartner's French translation (Richard Wagner à Bayreuth).
8. A 5-page list of Franz and Ida Overbeck's 77 corrections as well as Overbeck's copy of the book is online: HTML; PDF (120 MB).
9. In the summer of 1877, during a concert tour by Richard Wagner, Elisabeth Nietzsche was to manage the household while they were gone, as she had done in the spring of 1875 in Bayreuth.
10. Nickname of Daniela von Bülow (1860-1940).
11. Nickname of Isolde von Bülow (1865-1919).

Morte di Cleopatra (The Death of Cleopatra).
By: Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, a/k/a Guercino.
Oil on canvas, 1648.
Enhanced image The Nietzsche Channel.

Lugano, May 13, 1877:
Letter to Malwida von Meysenbug.

Most esteemed friend

Since I have found out, through reflection, that a postcard, although lighter than a letter, proceeds no faster than a letter, you must now put up with a lengthy account of my Odyssean wanderings up to the present. Human misery on a sea voyage is terrible and yet actually laughable, just about the way my headaches sometimes seem to me, when one may find oneself in a quite flourishing physical state — in short, I am today once more in the mood of "cheerful crippledom," whereas on the ship I had only the blackest thoughts and, as far as suicide was concerned, remained in doubt about where the sea was deepest, lest one would be immediately fished out again and, on top of that, have to pay one's rescuers a terrible mass of gold as a payment of gratitude. Incidentally, I knew the worst state of seasickness very well from the time when a severe stomach ailment tormented me in league with a headache: it was [a] "memory of times that had partly faded away."1 Only there was the added discomfort of having to change positions three times a minute — up to eight times, day and night, and then to have the smells and conversations of a dinner party in the immediate vicinity, which is nauseating beyond measure. It was nighttime in Livorno's port, it was raining, nevertheless I wanted to go out, but the captain's cold-blooded promises held me back. Everything in the ship rolled back and forth with a great deal of noise, the pots leapt about and came to life, the children screamed, the storm howled; eternal sleeplessness was my lot, [as] the poet would say. The disembarkation2 had new sufferings; quite fraught with my terrible headache, I still had the strongest glasses on my nose for hours and distrusted everyone. Customs went tolerably well, but I forgot the main thing, which was to register my luggage for the railroad. Then began a journey to the fabulous Hôtel National, with two rogues on the coachman's box, who wanted with all their might to drop me off at a miserable trattoria; my luggage was constantly in different hands, a man with my suitcase was always gasping in front of me. I got angry a few times and intimidated the driver, the other guy ran away. Do you know how I arrived at the Hôtel de Londres? I don't know, in short it was good, only the entrance was awful, because a whole retinue of scoundrels wanted to be paid. There I went straight to bed and very ailing! On Friday, in gloomy, rainy weather, I plucked up my courage at noon and went to the gallery of the Palazzo Brignole; and astonishingly, it was the sight of these family portraits that uplifted and inspired me; a Brignole on horseback, and the entire pride of this family put in the eye of this mighty charger — that was something for my depressed humanity! I personally esteem Van Dy[c]k and Rubens3 more than all painters in the world. The other pictures left me cold, except for a dying Cleopatra by Guercino.4

So I came back to life and sat quietly and resolutely in my hotel for the rest of the day. The next day there was another exhiliration. I made the entire journey from Genoa to Milan with a very pleasant young ballerina from a Milanese theater; Camilla era molto sympathica [sic],5 oh you should have heard my Italian. If I had been a pasha, I would have taken her to Pfäfers6 with me, where, by refusing intellectual pursuits, she could have danced something for me. I still get a little angry at myself from time to time for not having stayed for at least a few days in Milan for her sake.7 Now I was approaching Switzerland and for the first stretch took the Gotthard railway, which is now finished, from Como to Lugano. How did I end up in Lugano? I really didn't mean to, but here I am. As I was crossing the Swiss border, under heavy rain, there was a single flash of lightning and a loud thunderclap. I took it as a good omen, and I also won't deny that the closer I got to the mountains, the better I felt. In Chiasso my luggage was split up on two different trains, there was hopeless confusion, , and on top of that, customs. Even the two umbrellas took opposite tracks. Then a kind porter helped, he spoke the first Swiss German [I had heard]; [you should] know that I heard it with a certain emotion, I suddenly realized that I much prefer living among German-Swiss people than among Germans. The man took such good care of me, he ran back and forth so paternally — all fathers are a bit clumsy — that finally everything was together again and I moved on to Lugano. The coach from the Hôtel du Parc was waiting for me, and here a real joyful shout arose in me, everything is so good, I would say it is the best hotel in the world. I got somewhat involved with Mecklenburgian landed gentry, that's the kind of Germans who suit me; in the evening I watched an improvised ball of the most harmless sort; nothing but English people, everything was so funny. Afterwards I slept well and deeply for the first time; and this morning I see all my beloved mountains before me, all mountains of memory. It has been raining here for eight days. Today at the post office I will find out how things stand with the Alpine passes.

It suddenly occurs to me that I have not written such a long letter in years, and that you will not read it at all.

So just consider the fact of this letter a sign of my better health. If only you could decipher the end of the letter!

Several times every hour, I think of you with the most heartfelt love; a good deal of maternal spirit has been given to me, I will never forget it.

My best wishes to kind Trina.8

I am trusting more than ever in Pfäfers and the high mountains.

Farewell! Remain for me what you have been to me, I feel much more protected and secure; for sometimes I am so overcome with the feeling of solitude that I want to scream.

Your gratefully devoted
Friedrich Nietzsche.

Third report of
Odysseus.

How nicely the Seydlitzs9 brought me to the ship! I felt like an ideal piece of luggage from a better world.

1. Nietzsche suffered from intestinal problems ever since his service in the Franco-Prussian War in 1870.
2. On 05-10-1877 in Genoa.
3. Anthony van Dyck (1599-1641) and Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640): Flemish artists who painted portraits of the Italian aristocracy.
4. Morte di Cleopatra (1648), by the Italian artist Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, a/k/a Guercino (1591-1666).
5. "she was very simpatico."
6. Probably Bad Pfäfers near Ragaz, Switzerland, where Nietzsche sought treatment.
7. Cf. Sorrento, 05-16-1877: Letter from Reinhart von Seydlitz to Nietzsche in Ragaz.
8. Malwida von Meysenbug's maidservant in Sorrento.
9. Reinhart von Seydlitz and his wife Irene stayed in Sorrento from the end of March through the end of May 1877.

Reinhart von Seydlitz.
From b/w photo, ca. 1875.
Colorized and enhanced image ©The Nietzsche Channel.

Sorrento, May 16, 1877:
Letter from Reinhart von Seydlitz.

Herr Professor!

I retract everything I said in my letter1 yesterday. I sent it off before I knew anything about your long letter.2 I retract everything. I wasted my purest and most chaste heartfelt wishes on someone who does not — need them.

I wish you luck, and please just let me know how the guest performances in Pfäffers3 turned out. I own a pair of discarded flesh-colored leotards that still look quite good after the evening's wash; I shall enclose them. It's the last thing you can expect from me.

No kidding, dear friend, I sincerely wish you happiness in your easy and joyous courage. We are all delighted by the cheerful mood that brought laughter to us from your letter.

I am wondering where the path over the Alps will open up for you. It's good to be at the Hôtel du Parc,4 I consider it an excellent hotel.

Well enough for today, you reckless philosopher, and warm greetings from your

amazingly delighted
friend
Rinaldo.

Spa theater
in
Pfäffers
Preliminary advertisement
Signora Camilla
&
Signor Frederico

will have the honor to present their incomparable performances in the style of the pas de deux simpatetico molto to the astonished public in the next few days. Large numbers of tickets have already been ordered from Basel, Sorrento, Berlin and London.

Pfäffers May 16, 1877

1. Sorrent, 05-15-1877: Letter from Reinhart von Seydlitz to Nietzsche in Ragaz.
2. Lugano, 05-13-1877: Letter from Nietzsche to Malwida von Meysenbug in Sorrento.
3. Regarding Nietzsche's regret that he did not pursue a ballerina he met on the way to Milan: another piece of evidence refuting assumptions that Nietzsche was homosexual.
4. Where Nietzsche was staying in Lugano.

Erwin Rohde.
From b/w photo, ca. 1875.
Colorized and enhanced image ©The Nietzsche Channel.

Ragaz, ca. May 20, 1877:
Fragment of a letter to Erwin Rohde.

A signif[icant] worsening of my ailments, for which perhaps the spring climate of southern Italy bears some blame, compelled me to leave Sorrento in a hurry;1 now I need a cure in Ragaz, as the first but no longer the only spa guest. My loneliness is great, my prospects very gloomy, present time hated, intellectual activity of any kind forbidden, all kinds of qualms and worries on my mind — another time about all this; or why talk about it at all? It is nothing.

But now away from me and back to you dearest friend. Is it still true, as you wrote to me earlier,2 that your wedding is this Pentecost?3 Spring took a turn for the glorious today; I thought of you for a long time when I heard the birds singing and chirping in the brightest countryside, in the most invigorating air of blossoming trees. It occurred to me that Rée said there will seldom be a couple as beautiful as you and your bride, and I even think you will become more and more beautiful. We men, in particular, are ourselves in danger of becoming unpleasant from the impoverishment of our souls; and I well remember what you once said to me in Basel,4 that what you need most is a person who, through constant new proofs of love, through countless daily small and large sacrifices of self-will, would make your soul whole again. If I were healthy, I would have said this to you somewhat better in music. As it stands, I cannot even write anymore; but you know and feel that a true friend sends you his blessings with all his soul and that he is sad to be far away and unable to embrace you.5

1. Nietzsche left Sorrento on 05-08-1877 and arrived in Ragaz in mid-May 1877.
2. See Jena, 02-17-1877: Letter from Erwin Rohde to Nietzsche in Sorrento.
3. After their engagement in July 1876, Erwin Rohde and Valentine Framm (1859-1901), the daughter of a lawyer from Rostock, were married on 08-08-1877.
4. Possibly when Erwin Rohde visited Nietzsche in Basel from 08-31-1875 to 09-07-1875.
5. The rest of the letter is lost.

Paul Rée.
From b/w photo, ca. 1876-77.
Colorized and enhanced image ©The Nietzsche Channel.

Jena, first half of June 1877:
Letter from Paul Rée.

Dear friend!

I would like to entertain you a little; for, as I fear, Ragaz is not very amusing!!! But I do not have philosophy and other more interesting things on hand, — because I am now intensively occupied with philosophy in the same way that gold and silver workers are with their metal: they work on sales;1 other than that, the gold and silver in itself is irrelevant to them. Fie! Fie! this knowledge is of little use for its opposite. — So there is nothing left for me but — to gossip. Rohde's bride:2 an enchanting little creature, dainty, graceful, perhaps not stupid, and very lovestruck: we'll say no more. Rohde was almost called to Heidelberg.3 If I stay here4 (which is still very doubtful) I hope to be able to properly pump him out for my subject. The title is slightly different: Prologue to a History of Moral Consciousness.5 — But to continue in my capacity as a gossip: Kuno Fischer, on occasion of the fact that his house here was bought by a soap maker and Eu[c]ken is his successor, said in anger: my house has a soap maker and my lectern a glue maker!6 —

Yesterday a Herr Lippiner7 from Vienna came to see me. From him comes the recommended parcel, for which we waited in vain in Sorrento.8 Contents: der entfesselte Prometheus. "He hungers for you." But he is not an appetizing person. I have kept your address as vague as possible, but I am afraid you are not going to escape his ravenous appetite after all. He also knew the "Observations."9 He asked me if you and I were very different in our opinions. I think my answer was very good. I said that you had all the opinions that I had, but you also had a large number of opinions with which I had no involvement at all. Rohde and I want to take the liberty of visiting your family in the near future.10 I greet you warmly!

Your
Paul Rée

1. Paul Rée was trying to habilitate at Jena and get a position there.
2. After their engagement in July 1876, Erwin Rohde and Valentine Framm (1859-1901), the daughter of a lawyer from Rostock, were married on 08-08-1877.
3. In 1886 Erwin Rohde accepted a professorship at the University of Leipzig, but after just one semester, he went to the University of Heidelberg to replace Curt Wachsmuth (1837-1905).
4. That is, if he wanted to pursue his habilitation in Jena.
5. The work Rée was preparing was eventually published as Die Entstehung des Gewissens. Berlin: Heymons, 1885. See the entry for Rée in Nietzsche's Library.
6. In 1871, Rudolf Eucken (1846-1926) became Professor of Philosophy at the University of Basel, succeeding Gustav Teichmüller (1832-1888). He then moved to the University of Jena in 1874, where he succeeded Kuno Fischer (1824-1907) who had moved to Heidelberg to replace Eduard Zeller (1814-1908).
7. Siegfried Lipiner (born Salomo Lipiner, 1856-1911): Jewish Viennese writer. According to a lost letter from Franziska Nietzsche in Naumburg to Nietzsche in Sorrento, Lipiner, trying to meet Nietzsche, turned up in Naumburg sometime in the first third of July 1877. Lipiner was a member of the student organization at the University of Vienna, the "Leseverein der deutschen Studenten Wiens" (the group existed from 1872-1878). Amidst its members, he had assumed leadership of the "Pernerstorfer circle," or the so-called "Nietzsche Society." Earlier overtures by the group to Nietzsche were made in April and June 1876 by another member, Joseph Ehrlich. For more information on the "Pernerstorfer circle," see Aldo Venturelli, "Nietzsche in der Berggasse 19. Über die erste Nietzsche-Rezeption in Wien." In: Kunst, Wissenschaft und Geschichte bei Nietzsche. Berlin; New York: de Gruyter, 2003, 257-290 (also in Nietzsche-Studien, 13 (1984): 448-480). William J. McGrath, "Mahler and the Vienna Nietzsche Society." In: Jacob Golomb, ed., Nietzsche and Jewish Culture. London: Routledge, 1997, 218-232. Reinhard Gasser, "Kontakte mit Nietzsche-Verehrern in der Studentenzeit." In: Nietzsche und Freud. Berlin; New York: de Gruyter, 1997, 7-29. For more details on Lipiner, see Siegfried Mandel, "The Lipiner Interlude." In: Nietzsche & the Jews. Exaltation & Denigration. Amherst: Prometheus, 1998, 123-136. Cf. 04-02-1884 letter to Franz Overbeck.
8. Siegfried Lipiner, Der entfesselte Prometheus. Eine Dichtung in fünf Gesängen. Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1876. For his first attempt, Lipiner sent his book to Nietzsche's house in Naumburg. Nietzsche was in Sorrento at the time, and never received it, as the postal authorities failed to forward it. This second attempt was forwarded by his mother to Nietzsche in Rosenlaui.
9. Paul Rée's, Psychologische Beobachtungen. Aus dem Nachlaß von * * *. [Psychological Observations. From the Postumous Writings of * * *.] Berlin: Duncker, 1875. See the entry for Rée in Nietzsche's Library.
10. Erwin Rohde and Paul Rée never visited Naumburg together.

"ROSENLAUI // HOTEL, PENSION ET BAINS."
Lithography by F. Lips, Bern.1
© Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek, Klassik Stiftung Weimar.
Enhanced image The Nietzsche Channel.

Rosenlauibad, second half of June 1877:
Letter to Paul Rée.

I took 3 books to this place, which the little picture shows:2 something new by Mark Twain3 the American (I love his silliness more than German cleverness), then Plato's Laws4 — and you[rs],5 dear friend. So I am probably the first to read you near the glacier; and I can tell you this is the proper place to survey the human character6 with a kind of disdain and contempt (oneself very much included) mixed with pity for the various torments of life; and when read with this double resonance, your book has a very strong effect.

There is so much superfluous misery in life that one should really have enough of the pain. But then there's all the additional regret that opinions bring with them. —

Why does one feel so comfortable in the great outdoors? Because it has no opinion about us. —

Incidentally, I admire more and more how well-armed your presentation is from the logical side. Indeed, I cannot do something like that, at most sigh a little or sing — but you can prove that it's good in your mind, and that's a hundred times more important.

I let the paternity, which your all too kind dedication ascribes to me, pass with an incredulous smile, just as if — etc.7

Even after the cure in Ragaz and despite the wonderful high mountain air, my state of health is mediocre, worrisome — I don't really know what to do. A lot of exhaustion, but as a result of it a rotten inner state of mind. I was so grateful to you for the hilarious letter8 — and over a couple of times a day (even three times) I wish you were here, for I am all alone, and of all togethernesses, yours is one of the very dearest and most longed for.

Farewell, my good friend.

I am glad that you have Rohde in close personal contact, you have more in him, in every respect, than in me, believe and trust in me about this; after some time you will understand. — This between us.

The get-together in Aeschi on Lake Thun remains the same;9 Fr[äulein]. v[on]. M[eysenbug] — Monods,10 my sister, me. After the middle of July. Until then I will stay in Rosenlaui near Meiringen (C[an]t[on] Bern).

1. A picture at the top of the Rosenlaui Hotel stationery. For another example, see Rosenlauibad, 06-25-1877: Letter from Nietzsche to Elisabeth Nietzsche in Naumburg.
2. Ibid.
3. It's not certain to which book he is referring. Possibly Mark Twain, Moritz Busch (trans.), Die Abenteuer Tom Sawyers. Ins Deutsche übertragen von Moritz Busch. Leipzig: Grunow, 1876. [Series: Amerikanische Humoristen: 11.] See the entry for Twain in Nietzsche's Library.
4. It's not certain to which edition he is referring. See the entry for Plato in Nietzsche's Library.
5. Paul Rée, Der Ursprung der moralischen Empfindungen. Chemnitz: Schmeitzner, 1877. See the entry for Rée in Nietzsche's Library.
6. Wesen.
7. Paul Rée dedicated one copy of his book to Nietzsche, "Dem Vater dieser Schrift dankbarst deren Mütter" (To the father of this work most gratefully from its mother); and another copy to Elisabeth Nietzsche, "Fräulein Elisabeth Nietzsche mit herzlichem Gruß / Der Verfasser" (To Miss Elisabeth Nietzsche with kind regards / The author).
8. Cf. excerpt from Jena, ca. mid-June 1877: Letter from Paul Rée to Nietzsche in Rosenlauibad. "Doch um in meiner Eigenschaft als Klatscher fortzufahren: Kuno Fischer hat gelegentlich des Umstandes, daß sein Haus hier von einem Seifensieder gekauft wurde und Eu[c]ken sein Nachfolger ist, in Wuth gesagt: mein Haus hat ein Seifensieder und mein Katheder ein Leimsieder!" (But to continue in my capacity as a gossip: Kuno Fischer, on occasion of the fact that his house here was bought by a soap maker and Eu[c]ken is his successor, said in anger: my house has a soap maker and my lectern a glue maker!) Also see footnote 6 above: In 1871, Rudolf Eucken (1846-1926) became Professor of Philosophy at the University of Basel, succeeding Gustav Teichmüller (1832-1888). He then moved to the University of Jena in 1874, where he succeeded Kuno Fischer (1824-1907) who had moved to Heidelberg to replace Eduard Zeller (1814-1908).
9. The planned get-together of everyone in Aeschi never happened due to unforeseen circumstances.
10. The French historian Gabriel Monod (1844-1912), who was married to Malwida von Meysenbug's foster-daughter Olga Herzen (1851-1953).

Erwin Rohde.
From b/w photo, ca. 1875.
Colorized and enhanced image ©The Nietzsche Channel.

Addio, my beloved friend. If only I could be near you from time to time and be ennobled by your character and your words!

I love you, and remain bound to you in the most faithful friendship for all time.

your E. Rohde.

1. On 06-17-1877.
2. Paul Rée was in Jena from 05-10-1877 to 06-11-1877.
3. "In the meantime something will happen." See Terence, Andria: "interea fiet aliquid."
4. An allusion to the poem "Genialisch Treiben" (Genius Activities), by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832): "So wälz ich ohne Unterlaß, / Wie Sankt Diogenes, mein Faß." (So I roll my barrel incessantly, / Like Saint Diogenes.) In: Goethe's sämmtliche Werke in vierzig Bänden. Bd. 2. Stuttgart; Tübingen: J. G. Cotta, 1853, 245.
5. After their engagement in July 1876, Erwin Rohde and Valentine Framm (1859-1901), the daughter of a lawyer from Rostock, were married on 08-08-1877. They spent their honeymoon in Paris.
6. Paul Rée, Der Ursprung der moralischen Empfindungen. Chemnitz: Schmeitzner, 1877. See the entry for Rée in Nietzsche's Library.
7. Karl Julius Moritz Seebeck (1805-1884): classiscal philologist at Jena.
8. Rudolf Eucken (1846-1926): at the time, professor of philosophy at the University of Jena.
9. See Mid-June 1877: Letter to Paul Rée.
10. Erwin Rohde was hoping to obtain a position there. In 1886 Rohde accepted a professorship at the University of Leipzig, but after just one semester, he went to the University of Heidelberg to replace Curt Wachsmuth (1837-1905).
11. See Note 5 above.
12. Siegfried Lipiner (born Salomo Lipiner, 1856-1911): Jewish Viennese writer, and author of Der entfesselte Prometheus. Eine Dichtung in fünf Gesängen. Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1876. According to a lost letter from Franziska Nietzsche in Naumburg to Nietzsche in Sorrento, Lipiner, trying to meet Nietzsche, turned up in Naumburg sometime in the first third of July 1877. Lipiner was a member of the student organization at the University of Vienna, the "Leseverein der deutschen Studenten Wiens" (the group existed from 1872-1878). Amidst its members, he had assumed leadership of the "Pernerstorfer circle," or the so-called "Nietzsche Society." Earlier overtures by the group to Nietzsche were made in April and June 1876 by another member, Joseph Ehrlich. For more information on the "Pernerstorfer circle," see Aldo Venturelli, "Nietzsche in der Berggasse 19. Über die erste Nietzsche-Rezeption in Wien." In: Kunst, Wissenschaft und Geschichte bei Nietzsche. Berlin; New York: de Gruyter, 2003, 257-290 (also in Nietzsche-Studien, 13 (1984): 448-480). William J. McGrath, "Mahler and the Vienna Nietzsche Society." In: Jacob Golomb, ed., Nietzsche and Jewish Culture. London: Routledge, 1997, 218-232. Reinhard Gasser, "Kontakte mit Nietzsche-Verehrern in der Studentenzeit." In: Nietzsche und Freud. Berlin; New York: de Gruyter, 1997, 7-29. For more details on Lipiner, see Siegfried Mandel, "The Lipiner Interlude." In: Nietzsche & the Jews. Exaltation & Denigration. Amherst: Prometheus, 1998, 123-136. Cf. 04-02-1884 letter to Franz Overbeck.
13. Johannes Volkelt (1848-1930): at the time, a private docent of philosophy in Jena, and later (1883-1889) a professor in Basel.
14. Cf. Jena, 07-30-1877: Letter from Erwin Rohde to Valentine Framm. "Wahrscheinlich bringe ich einen neuen Hochzeitsgast mit: Herrn Lipiner, einen Studenten, c. 21 Jahre alt, von einer erstaunlichen Begabung für Philosophie und Verwandtes, einen Juden, entsetzlich jüdisch aussehend, aber von einer großen Liebenswürdigkeit des Herzens und des Temperamentes. Seit einigen Wochen hier, hat er mich, mir selbst überraschend, in sein Herz geschlossen, und ich selbst empfange dieses Geschenk umso lieber, weil er einer von den Menschen ist, wie ich sie liebe: nämlich mir entschieden überlegen." (I will probably bring a new wedding guest: Herr Lipiner, a student, c. 21 years old, with an astonishing aptitude for philosophy and the like, a Jew, horribly Jewish-looking but with a great kindness of heart and temperament. Here for a few weeks, he has taken me into his heart, surprising even me, and I myself am all the more happy to receive this gift because he is one of those people I love: namely decidedly superior to me.)
15. The Birth of Tragedy, and the four "Untimely Meditations."
16. Siegfried Lipiner, Der entfesselte Prometheus. Eine Dichtung in fünf Gesängen. Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1876.

Elisabeth Nietzsche (1846-1935).
From b/w photo, ca. 1882.
Colorized and enhanced image ©The Nietzsche Channel.

Rosenlauibad, June 29, 1877:
Letter to Elisabeth Nietzsche.

Dear, dear sister

The best thanks. Everything very well thought out. I can hardly wait for the time of our reunion,1 it still seems so far away.

A certain change in plans stems from Fr[äu]l[ein]. v[on]. M[eysenbug]'s words in her last card, "but we will have to take Nat[alie] totally off the list, she just happened to share with me her firm view on the relationship the other day."2 Incidentally, no one is coming to Aeschi except the Monods3 and Fr[äu]l[ein]. v[on]. M[eysenbug]. With the other "creatures"4 everything is fantasy and pipe dreams. Aeschi is really too low for me at the moment (lower than the Frohburg); I will limit myself to visiting there now that there are no greater reasons. — The Wagners are coming to Selisberg on Lake Lucerne in the near future, Fr[äu]l[ein]. v[on]. M[eysenbug] is going there until July 20, when Olga arrives in Aeschi. It makes no sense for me to go there either; for I must have only one goal now, to be able to work again by autumn. Wagner's close presence is not for the sick, as was also evident in Sorrento.5

By the way, I dread Basel, where I have to live as in a chrysalis and have become really nervous and melancholic. You appreciate me; but what do I have in common with them? What good can I do for them, what good can they do for me? — However, that cannot be changed for the time being. But we have to isolate ourselves even more, especially from the Germans[.] (Overbeck complained6 a lot about Immermann,7 his wife "gave" him "the right perspective"; the "shallow" Miaskow[s]kys8 are also back!!)

Imagine, I was thinking again of B[ertha] R[ohr]9 in Basel, in the end she fits best with my Basel self-defense situation. Please inquire immediately where to find her this summer.

I have a number of objections to the Geneva idea (li[ttle]. K[öckert]), I don't like the father, I think he's a somewhat disreputable businessman. And then — where's the fortune? Perhaps bankruptcy one day. Mother very stingy.10

Now, your birthday!11 It's about the same to me, Bern or Lucerne, I would like to link my future plans only to them. For I am not staying in Rosenl[auibad]12 in the long run, it's like you think, up and down.13 Otherwise very good. I use the St. Moritz water cure.

Say hello to our good mother and thank her very much for her letter.14 Do write to me before you leave. Also where I should write to you after Basel.

With faithfulness and love F.

1. Nietzsche met his sister in Lucerne on 07-10-1877 and then stayed with her at the Felsenegg Pension in Zug from 07-12-1877 to 07-19-1877.
2. Cf. Chiavenna, 06-25-1877: Postcard from Malwida von Meysenbug to Nietzsche in Rosenlauibad. Just like Elisabeth Nietzsche, Meysenbug tried to be a matchmaker for Nietzsche, and drew up a list of candidates on which Natalie Herzen (1844-1936) also figured. She was the older sister of Olga Herzen (1850-1953), and was considered as a possible wife for Nietzsche. Although they were the same age, he thought she was too old.
3. The French historian Gabriel Monod (1844-1912), who was married to Malwida von Meysenbug's foster-daughter Olga Herzen (1851-1953).
4. "Wesen". Nietzsche is refering to a couple of women who were marriage prospects. Cf. Sorrento, April 25, 1877: Letter to Elisabeth Nietzsche in Naumburg.
5. Cosima and Richard Wagner were in Sorrento from 10-05-1876 to 11-07-1876.
6. On 05-20-1877, Overbeck visited Nietzsche in Ragaz for two days.
7. Hermann (1838-1899) and Marie Immermann (née Diehl, 1847-1926). Hermann Immermann was a doctor and professor of pathology in Basel.
8. August von Miaskowski (1838-1899): professor of economics in Basel, and friend of Nietzsche. In 1876 he took a position at the Hohenheim Agricultural Academy (where Carl von Gersdorff was studying), but only stayed one year.
9. Bertha Rohr was a pretty friend of both Malwida von Meysenbug and Ida Overbeck, as well as an acquaintance of Nietzsche in Basel. They both belonged to the Basler Kunstverein. E.g., see the society's 1873 report. She was seen as a marriage prospect. In fact, Nietzsche was so attracted to her while on vacation in 1874 that he planned on proposing. Cf. Bergun, 07-22-1874: Letter to Elisabeth Nietzsche in St Romay. "Als Curiosum noch die Mittheilung, dass ich neulich Abends einmal fast entschlossen war, Fräulein Rohr zu heirathen; so gut hatte sie mir gefallen." (As a curiosity, there is also news that at one point the other night I almost decided to marry Fraulein Rohr; I liked her that much.) Elisabeth's response in a letter from the end of February 1877 is lost, but we can guess some of its contents from Nietzsche's 07-30-1874 reply, in which he toned down his remark about Rohr: "Meine Bemerkung über Fr[äulein]. R[ohr] sollte Dich nicht aufregen, ich theilte sie als Curiosum mit. Übrigens sind Deine Bedenken meine Bedenken. Nur weisst Du, dass der Augenblick gewöhnlich mehr kann als eine ganze Kette von Nach- und Vorblicken." (My remark about Fr[äulein]. R[ohr] should not upset you, I shared it as a curiosity. Anyway, your concerns are my concerns. Only you know that the moment can usually do more than an entire series of forethoughts and afterthoughts.)
10. During his stay in Geneva in April 1876, Nietzsche was introduced to the Köckert family in Champel by the German conductor, Hugo von Senger (1835-1892). Adolph Köckert (1828-1911) was a violinist who left the music profession in 1876 and entered the banking business of his father-in-law after his marriage. Through correspondence, Nietzsche stayed in touch with his wife, Marie Köckert (née Haltenhoff, 1836-1923). On April 7th, Nietzsche gave her the unfinished manuscript of his Richard Wagner in Bayreuth, which he had brought along with him to read while in Geneva. The "Kl. K[öckert]" (little K[öckert]) girl Nietzsche dismissively refers to was apparently the Köckert's daughter. The Köckerts had three children: a son, Gustav Köckert (1860-1948), and two daughters. The eldest daughter was named Emma Köckert (1859-), who married a professor of theoretical physics and historian of science, Emil Anton Cherbuliez (1837-1914); the youngest was Helene Charlotte Köckert (1864-1909), an accomplished singer who married Franz Wilhelm Ferdinand von Hessert (1856-1924).
11. July 10.
12. Nietzsche stayed in Rosenlaui until the end of August 1877.
13. That is, the state of his health.
14. Naumburg, 06-22-1877: Letter from Franziska Nietzsche to Nietzsche in Rosenlauibad.

Highly esteemed friend,

It has saddened me that my detailed itinerary regarding Splügen got to Florence too late, probably only one day too late. I did not think you would leave there so soon. (This ink is awful and I had it sent to me especially! But what they have provided is not real, all of life's provisions in the entire world are not genuine, and ink is really food for us!)1

Your counting of rhythmical beats is an important find of pure gold, out of which you will be able to mint a great deal of good coins. It reminded me that, when studying ancient rhythms in 1870, I was on the hunt for 5- and 7-beat phrases and counted through Die Meistersinger and Tristan: in the course of which I realized a few things about W[agner]'s rhythms.8 He is in fact so averse to the mathematical and the strictly symmetrical (as is shown on a small scale with his use of triplets, I actually mean the excessive use them) that he prefers to prolong 4-beat phrases into 5-beat ones, 6-beat ones into 7-beat ones (in Die Meistersinger, Act III, there is a waltz: see if it is not governed by seven-beat phrases). Sometimes — but perhaps this is a crimen laesae majestatis — it reminds me of the style of Bernini,9 who can also no longer tolerate simple columns but makes them, so he thinks, come alive with volutes from top to bottom. Among the dangerous consequences of W[agner], it seems to me that one of the worst is "wanting to make things come alive at any price": for in a flash, it becomes affectation, manipulation.

I've always wished that someone who was capable would one day simply describe Wagner's various methods throughout his art, and put it in a purely historical way how he does it here, how he does it there. It was then that the excellent scheme that your letter contains raised all my hopes: precisely in such a simple fashion should it be effectively described. Others who write about Wagner basically say nothing more than that they were greatly pleased and therefore wish to be grateful; we learn nothing. Wolzogen does not seem to be enough of a musician; and as a writer he is laughable, with his muddle of artistic and psychological language.10 Could one not, by the way, say "symbol" instead of the unclear word "motif"? That's what it is, after all. — When you write your "musical letters," use the terms of Schopenhauer's metaphysics as little as possible; for I think — forgive me! — I think I know that his metaphysics are wrong and that all writings that bear its stamp will soon be unintelligible. More about that later, but not in writing. — I would also like to tell you about some of my impressions of Bayreuth concerning fundamental aesthetic problems, so that you can, to some extent, reassure me. I look forward to your "letters" with such hungry anticipation that I cannot even decide whether I would prefer to have in hand your insights about Beethoven's style, rhythm, dynamics, etc. first or your instructive and guiding thread11 through the Distress of the Nibelungen12 (for distress sums up everything about the Nibelungen). Best of all would be to eat both at the same time, and then I would gladly lie down in the sun like a boa, to digest for a month in silence.

But now my eyes say: enough! Can you do without your pages for a while yet? Or is it better that I send them to you at once? I will be staying in Rosenlaui for another four weeks.

More than ever before

Title page.
Paul Deussen, Die elemente der metaphysik. Als Leitfaden zum Gebrauche bei Vorlesungen sowie zum Selbststudium zusammengestellt. Aachen: Mayer, 1877.
Enhanced image The Nietzsche Channel.

Rosenlauibad, Early August 1877:
Letter to Paul Deussen.

Dear friend, how late you are getting my thanks for the gift of your book!1 But my travels, and indirectly what also made the impermanence of this sojourn necessary, my health — for I have not been in Basel since October last year, but everywhere else (namely in southern Italy and the high Alps): these aforementioned circumstances caused your work to get into my hands only later. In the autumn I want to try the experiment of resuming my position in Basel as before: I do not have a lot of confidence. Considerable pain (as a result of a head neuralgia that had become chronic) was by then my lot, and enduring it was my main activity.

You have put your years to very good use: stricter will to learning, acquired clarity and decisive ability to communicate — which perhaps in oral presentation may still be on a higher level —: every page of your book speaks to this. You have put an excellent guide in the hands of all those who find it useful to get to know Schopenhauer, but especially those who want to check their own knowledge about him; moreover, every reader will find so many things in it about you for which he should be grateful (namely in the field of Indian studies that is difficult to access)[.]

I, just personally, have one thing that I really regret: that I did not receive a book like yours a number of years earlier! How much more grateful I would have been to you! But the way human thoughts are now taking their course, strangely enough, for me your book acts as a fortunate collection of everything that I no longer consider true. That is disappointing! And I do not want to say more about it, so as not to cause you pain with the difference in our judgments. Even as I was writing my short work on Sch[openhauer],2 I no longer held onto almost all dogmatic points; but I still believe now, as then, that for the time being it is extremely essential to go through Schopenhauer and use him as an educator. Only I no longer believe that he should educate one with Schopenhauerian philosophy. —

Farewell, dear friend, and forgive my eyes, which forbid me to write more.

Your F.

Send a copy to Dr. Romundt high school teacher in Osnabrück.3
To Prof. Dr. Heinze in Leipzig.4

I will be in Rosenlauibad near Meiringen in the Bernese Oberland until the end of August, from then on: in Basel.

1. Paul Deussen, Die elemente der metaphysik. Als Leitfaden zum Gebrauche bei Vorlesungen sowie zum Selbststudium zusammengestellt von Dr. Paul Deussen, Privat-Docenten an der Polytechnischen Schule zu Aachen. Aachen: Mayer, 1877.
2. Unzeitgemässe Betrachtungen, 3. Schopenhauer als Erzieher, (Untimely Meditations, 3. Schopenhauer as Educator). German Text.
3. Heinrich Romundt (1845-1919) was Nietzsche's and Erwin Rohde's friend, classmate, and member of the Classical Philology Club at the University of Leipzig. He wrote his initial doctoral thesis on Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason, and later earned another Ph.D on the theory of knowledge. In 1872, Romundt move to Basel where he was an unpaid lecturer in philosophy. In April 1873, he convinced his friend Paul Rée to attend Nietzsche's lectures in Basel. On 03-31-1874, Romundt became Nietzsche's and Franz Overbeck's housemate in Basel before leaving the city on 04-10-1875. He planned to become a Catholic priest but soon dropped that idea and became a high-school teacher in Oldenburg.
4. Max Heinze (1835-1909): Nietzsche's former teacher and tutor at Pforta, who in 1875 became professor of philosophy at Leipzig.

Title page:
Siegfried Lipiner, Der entfesselte Prometheus. Eine Dichtung in fünf Gesängen. Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1876.

Jena, August 3, 1877:
Letter from Siegfried Lipiner.1

So for the second time, highly esteemed man, I am sending you my Prometheus,2 which owes so much to you. Without pretense: it would make me downright happy if you could see in me at least the germ of something capable.

Tomorrow I am going to Rostock with Rohden.3 I don't know yet where to turn then. In any case, if you would like to delight me with a letter, please address it to: S. L. care of Miss Jessie Giles, Vienna, II. Praterstrasse, 48, 2nd landing, 3rd floor.

Forgive the stupid dedication.4 It is barbarism committed in childish ignorance.

May your precious health be restored very soon! Farewell and receive the sincere assurance that no one can adore you more dearly than your

Lipiner

1. Siegfried Lipiner (born Salomo Lipiner, 1856-1911): Jewish Viennese writer. According to a lost letter from Franziska Nietzsche in Naumburg to Nietzsche in Sorrento, Lipiner, trying to meet Nietzsche, turned up in Naumburg sometime in the first third of July 1877. Lipiner was a member of the student organization at the University of Vienna, the "Leseverein der deutschen Studenten Wiens" (the group existed from 1872-1878). Amidst its members, he had assumed leadership of the "Pernerstorfer circle," or the so-called "Nietzsche Society." Earlier overtures by the group to Nietzsche were made in April and June 1876 by another member, Joseph Ehrlich. For more information on the "Pernerstorfer circle," see Aldo Venturelli, "Nietzsche in der Berggasse 19. Über die erste Nietzsche-Rezeption in Wien." In: Kunst, Wissenschaft und Geschichte bei Nietzsche. Berlin; New York: de Gruyter, 2003, 257-290 (also in Nietzsche-Studien, 13 (1984): 448-480). William J. McGrath, "Mahler and the Vienna Nietzsche Society." In: Jacob Golomb, ed., Nietzsche and Jewish Culture. London: Routledge, 1997, 218-232. Reinhard Gasser, "Kontakte mit Nietzsche-Verehrern in der Studentenzeit." In: Nietzsche und Freud. Berlin; New York: de Gruyter, 1997, 7-29. For more details on Lipiner, see Siegfried Mandel, "The Lipiner Interlude." In: Nietzsche & the Jews. Exaltation & Denigration. Amherst: Prometheus, 1998, 123-136. Cf. 04-02-1884 letter to Franz Overbeck.
2. For his first attempt, Lipiner sent his book to Nietzsche's house in Naumburg. Nietzsche was in Sorrento at the time, and never received it, as the postal authorities failed to forward it. This second attempt was forwarded by his mother to Nietzsche in Rosenlaui.
3. For Erwin Rohde's wedding. In July 1877, Lipiner became acquainted with Erwin Rohde while in Jena.
4. Lipiner dedicated his book to Heinrich Laube (1806-1884): German dramatist who, at the time, was the director of the Vienna State Theater.

Portraits of Otto and Sophie Eiser.
© Hans Thoma, Städel Museum, Frankfurt.
Oil on board, 1877.
Enhanced image The Nietzsche Channel.

Rosenlauibad, August 7, 1877:
Postcard to Elisabeth Nietzsche.

Dear sister, sincere thanks for the good news. Doctor Eiser and his wife visited me here for 4 days,1 very pleasant ties to Frankfurt have developed, I had to promise to visit them sometime in the winter.2 Then an Englishman and his family became very close to me (Professor at the University of London Mr. Croom Robertson (in close contact with Darwin, Tylor, Spencer, all the philos[ophical] giants in England generally).3 Will visit us next summer in Basel.4 Then Emperor and Empress of Brazil were here in the house.5 A friend6 of Lipiner's7 has taken up residence here. Friday8 I stayed in bed. All in all, things are going well.

If only you were doing well! With all my heart.

1. Otto Eiser (1834-1898) and his wife Sophie visited Nietzsche in Rosenlauibad from 07-29-1877 to 08-01-1877. Eiser was a Frankfurt doctor, and admirer of Nietzsche and Richard Wagner. He examined Nietzsche in October 1877, and disclosed to him a letter from Richard Wagner opining on the cause of Nietzsche's poor health — namely, masturbation. According to a friend of Eiser, Eiser admitted that this was the real cause of Nietzsche's break with Wagner. See Sander L. Gilman, "Otto Eiser and Nietzsche's Illness: A Hitherto Unpublished Text." In: Nietzsche Studien (2009) 38:396-409. Dr. Eugen Kretzer. "Erinnerungen an Dr. Otto Eiser." (Memories of Dr. Otto Eiser.) Ca. 1912. Excerpt: "Auf meine Veranlassung hat die Witwe Dr. Eisers einem der Briefe Richard Wagners an ihren verstorbenen Gatten besondere Fürsorge zugewendet. Den Inhalt dieses Briefes kennt, wie sie mir sagte, außer mir nur Hr Geheimrat Dr. Henry Thode, sonst niemand. Sie hat ihn dem Hause Wahnfried übersandt, und dort ist und bleibt er fortan deponiert. Ich billige das durchaus. Er sollte der Öffentlichkeit stets vorenthalten werden. Richard Wagner schrieb diesen Brief, als er erfuhr, daß Dr. Eiser seinen jungen Freund kennen gelernt hatte und ärztlich beriet. In treu besorgter, wahrhaft väterlicher Weise teilt er darin dem gemeinsamen ärztlichen Freund seine Hypothese über die Ursache von Nietzsches Erkrankung mit. 'Warum Nietzsche von Wagners abfiel?,' meinte Eiser einst: – 'ich weiß es allein, denn in meinem Hause, in meiner Stube hat sich dieser Abfall vollzogen, als ich Nietzsche jenen Brief in wohlmeinendster Absicht mitteilte. Ein Ausbruch von Raserei war die Folge, Nietzsche war außer sich: – die Worte sind nicht wiederzugeben, die er für Wagner fand. – Seitdem war der Bruch besiegelt.'" (At my instigation, Dr. [Otto] Eiser's widow took special care of one of Richard Wagner's letters to her deceased husband. As she told me, "The contents of this letter are known only to me, privy councilor Dr. Henry Thode, no one else." She sent it to the Wahnfried house [Wagner's villa in Bayreuth], and it is and will be deposited there from now on. I absolutely approve of that. It should always be withheld from the public. Richard Wagner wrote this letter when he learned that Dr. Eiser had met his young friend [Nietzsche] and gave him medical advice. In a faithful, truly fatherly way, he shares his hypothesis about the cause [i.e., masturbation] of Nietzsche's illness with his mutual medical friend. "Why did Nietzsche break away from Wagner?" Eiser once said: – "I alone know, because this break took place in my house, in my [examining] room, when I informed Nietzsche about that letter with the best of intentions. The result was an outbreak of rage, Nietzsche was beside himself: – the words that he found for Wagner cannot be repeated. – At that moment the break was sealed.") Cf. Naumburg, Early January 1880: Letter to Otto Eiser in Frankfurt. In German. In English.
2. Nietzsche visited the Eisners in Frankfurt from 10-01-1877 to 10-07-1877.
3. George Croom Robertson (1842-1892): Scottish philosopher, and editor of Mind from 1876-1891.
4. The visit never happened.
5. Pedro II, Emperor of Brazil (1825-1891; r. 1831-1889); and his wife, Teresa Cristina delle Due Sicilie (1822-1889).
6. Ernst Vohsen (1853-1919).
7. Siegfried Lipiner (born Salomo Lipiner, 1856-1911): Jewish Viennese writer. According to a lost letter from Franziska Nietzsche in Naumburg to Nietzsche in Sorrento, Lipiner, trying to meet Nietzsche, turned up in Naumburg sometime in the first third of July 1877. Lipiner was a member of the student organization at the University of Vienna, the "Leseverein der deutschen Studenten Wiens" (the group existed from 1872-1878). Amidst its members, he had assumed leadership of the "Pernerstorfer circle," or the so-called "Nietzsche Society." Earlier overtures by the group to Nietzsche were made in April and June 1876 by another member, Joseph Ehrlich. For more information on the "Pernerstorfer circle," see Aldo Venturelli, "Nietzsche in der Berggasse 19. Über die erste Nietzsche-Rezeption in Wien." In: Kunst, Wissenschaft und Geschichte bei Nietzsche. Berlin; New York: de Gruyter, 2003, 257-290 (also in Nietzsche-Studien, 13 (1984): 448-480). William J. McGrath, "Mahler and the Vienna Nietzsche Society." In: Jacob Golomb, ed., Nietzsche and Jewish Culture. London: Routledge, 1997, 218-232. Reinhard Gasser, "Kontakte mit Nietzsche-Verehrern in der Studentenzeit." In: Nietzsche und Freud. Berlin; New York: de Gruyter, 1997, 7-29. For more details on Lipiner, see Siegfried Mandel, "The Lipiner Interlude." In: Nietzsche & the Jews. Exaltation & Denigration. Amherst: Prometheus, 1998, 123-136. Cf. 04-02-1884 letter to Franz Overbeck.
8. August 3, 1877.

George Croom Robertson.
From b/w photo, ca. late 1880s.
Colorized and enhanced image ©The Nietzsche Channel.

Rosenlauibad, August 10, 1877:
Postcard to Franziska Nietzsche.

Sincere thanks, indeed, who can write such entertain[ing] letters!1 Or should! For my eyes are getting worse and worse. The ointment is not for me (I have tried it), it may be good for those who are suffering from something completely different (my eyes are in fact healthy, only the eye nerve is afflicted, in connection with all adjacent nerves)[.] Friday2 I stayed in bed. On the whole, however, the high mountains do me good. Visit of a doctor and his wife for 4 days.3 Then a visit from Prof. Monod and Olga.4 Then very pleasant dealings with an English scholar.5 Then the Emperor of Brazil6 was here in the house with a 17-man retinue. It is always completely full. (V[on]. Seydlitz and his wife have announced their visit.7 A friend of Lipiner's8 was also here, Mr. Vohsen9 from Mainz. May you be well, quite well!

Your F

1. Naumburg, 08-02-1877: Letter from Franziska Nietzsche to Nietzsche in Rosenlauibad.
2. August 3, 1877.
3. Otto Eiser (1834-1898) and his wife Sophie visited Nietzsche in Rosenlauibad from 07-29-1877 to 08-01-1877. Eiser was a Frankfurt doctor, and admirer of Nietzsche and Richard Wagner. He examined Nietzsche in October 1877, and disclosed to him a letter from Richard Wagner opining on the cause of Nietzsche's poor health — namely, masturbation. According to a friend of Eiser, Eiser admitted that this was the real cause of Nietzsche's break with Wagner. See Sander L. Gilman, "Otto Eiser and Nietzsche's Illness: A Hitherto Unpublished Text." In: Nietzsche Studien (2009) 38:396-409. Dr. Eugen Kretzer. "Erinnerungen an Dr. Otto Eiser." (Memories of Dr. Otto Eiser.) Ca. 1912. Excerpt: "Auf meine Veranlassung hat die Witwe Dr. Eisers einem der Briefe Richard Wagners an ihren verstorbenen Gatten besondere Fürsorge zugewendet. Den Inhalt dieses Briefes kennt, wie sie mir sagte, außer mir nur Hr Geheimrat Dr. Henry Thode, sonst niemand. Sie hat ihn dem Hause Wahnfried übersandt, und dort ist und bleibt er fortan deponiert. Ich billige das durchaus. Er sollte der Öffentlichkeit stets vorenthalten werden. Richard Wagner schrieb diesen Brief, als er erfuhr, daß Dr. Eiser seinen jungen Freund kennen gelernt hatte und ärztlich beriet. In treu besorgter, wahrhaft väterlicher Weise teilt er darin dem gemeinsamen ärztlichen Freund seine Hypothese über die Ursache von Nietzsches Erkrankung mit. 'Warum Nietzsche von Wagners abfiel?,' meinte Eiser einst: – 'ich weiß es allein, denn in meinem Hause, in meiner Stube hat sich dieser Abfall vollzogen, als ich Nietzsche jenen Brief in wohlmeinendster Absicht mitteilte. Ein Ausbruch von Raserei war die Folge, Nietzsche war außer sich: – die Worte sind nicht wiederzugeben, die er für Wagner fand. – Seitdem war der Bruch besiegelt.'" (At my instigation, Dr. [Otto] Eiser's widow took special care of one of Richard Wagner's letters to her deceased husband. As she told me, "The contents of this letter are known only to me, privy councilor Dr. Henry Thode, no one else." She sent it to the Wahnfried house [Wagner's villa in Bayreuth], and it is and will be deposited there from now on. I absolutely approve of that. It should always be withheld from the public. Richard Wagner wrote this letter when he learned that Dr. Eiser had met his young friend [Nietzsche] and gave him medical advice. In a faithful, truly fatherly way, he shares his hypothesis about the cause [i.e., masturbation] of Nietzsche's illness with his mutual medical friend. "Why did Nietzsche break away from Wagner?" Eiser once said: – "I alone know, because this break took place in my house, in my [examining] room, when I informed Nietzsche about that letter with the best of intentions. The result was an outbreak of rage, Nietzsche was beside himself: – the words that he found for Wagner cannot be repeated. – At that moment the break was sealed.") Cf. Naumburg, Early January 1880: Letter to Otto Eiser in Frankfurt. In German. In English.
4. The French historian Gabriel Monod (1844-1912), who was married to Malwida von Meysenbug's foster-daughter Olga Herzen (1851-1953).
5. George Croom Robertson (1842-1892): Scottish philosopher, and editor of Mind from 1876-1891.
6. Pedro II, Emperor of Brazil (1825-1891; r. 1831-1889).
7. Reinhart von Seydlitz and his wife Irene visited Nietzsche in Rosenlauibad in mid-August 1877.
8. Siegfried Lipiner (born Salomo Lipiner, 1856-1911): Jewish Viennese writer. According to a lost letter from Franziska Nietzsche in Naumburg to Nietzsche in Sorrento, Lipiner, trying to meet Nietzsche, turned up in Naumburg sometime in the first third of July 1877. Lipiner was a member of the student organization at the University of Vienna, the "Leseverein der deutschen Studenten Wiens" (the group existed from 1872-1878). Amidst its members, he had assumed leadership of the "Pernerstorfer circle," or the so-called "Nietzsche Society." Earlier overtures by the group to Nietzsche were made in April and June 1876 by another member, Joseph Ehrlich. For more information on the "Pernerstorfer circle," see Aldo Venturelli, "Nietzsche in der Berggasse 19. Über die erste Nietzsche-Rezeption in Wien." In: Kunst, Wissenschaft und Geschichte bei Nietzsche. Berlin; New York: de Gruyter, 2003, 257-290 (also in Nietzsche-Studien, 13 (1984): 448-480). William J. McGrath, "Mahler and the Vienna Nietzsche Society." In: Jacob Golomb, ed., Nietzsche and Jewish Culture. London: Routledge, 1997, 218-232. Reinhard Gasser, "Kontakte mit Nietzsche-Verehrern in der Studentenzeit." In: Nietzsche und Freud. Berlin; New York: de Gruyter, 1997, 7-29. For more details on Lipiner, see Siegfried Mandel, "The Lipiner Interlude." In: Nietzsche & the Jews. Exaltation & Denigration. Amherst: Prometheus, 1998, 123-136. Cf. 04-02-1884 letter to Franz Overbeck.
9. Ernst Vohsen (1853-1919).

Pedro II, Emperor of Brazil.
Detail from photo by Ludwig Angerer (1827-1879).
Vienna, 1875.
Colorized and enhanced image ©The Nietzsche Channel.

Rosenlauibad, August 10, 1877:
Postcard to Elisabeth Nietzsche.

Dear Lisbeth, meanwhile Dr. Eiser with his wife visited for 4 days, very pleasant!1 Likewise, Monod and Olga were here;2 I got a wonderfully beautiful picture3 of the 2 children for you. Seydlitzs are in Faulensee and then will come here.4 Emperor and Empress of Brazil were here in the house.5 Also a friend6 of Lipiner.7 Very good weather. Nothing is as good for me as high mountains. Stayed in bed one day. Overall much better than in Felsenegg.8 Long letter from our mother.9 I'm staying here until the end of August10 (but I will still need money!) Farewell my dear love!

Your B[rother].

1. Otto Eiser (1834-1898) and his wife Sophie visited Nietzsche in Rosenlauibad from 07-29-1877 to 08-01-1877. Eiser was a Frankfurt doctor, and admirer of Nietzsche and Richard Wagner. He examined Nietzsche in October 1877, and disclosed to him a letter from Richard Wagner opining on the cause of Nietzsche's poor health — namely, masturbation. According to a friend of Eiser, Eiser admitted that this was the real cause of Nietzsche's break with Wagner. See Sander L. Gilman, "Otto Eiser and Nietzsche's Illness: A Hitherto Unpublished Text." In: Nietzsche Studien (2009) 38:396-409. Dr. Eugen Kretzer. "Erinnerungen an Dr. Otto Eiser." (Memories of Dr. Otto Eiser.) Ca. 1912. Excerpt: "Auf meine Veranlassung hat die Witwe Dr. Eisers einem der Briefe Richard Wagners an ihren verstorbenen Gatten besondere Fürsorge zugewendet. Den Inhalt dieses Briefes kennt, wie sie mir sagte, außer mir nur Hr Geheimrat Dr. Henry Thode, sonst niemand. Sie hat ihn dem Hause Wahnfried übersandt, und dort ist und bleibt er fortan deponiert. Ich billige das durchaus. Er sollte der Öffentlichkeit stets vorenthalten werden. Richard Wagner schrieb diesen Brief, als er erfuhr, daß Dr. Eiser seinen jungen Freund kennen gelernt hatte und ärztlich beriet. In treu besorgter, wahrhaft väterlicher Weise teilt er darin dem gemeinsamen ärztlichen Freund seine Hypothese über die Ursache von Nietzsches Erkrankung mit. 'Warum Nietzsche von Wagners abfiel?,' meinte Eiser einst: – 'ich weiß es allein, denn in meinem Hause, in meiner Stube hat sich dieser Abfall vollzogen, als ich Nietzsche jenen Brief in wohlmeinendster Absicht mitteilte. Ein Ausbruch von Raserei war die Folge, Nietzsche war außer sich: – die Worte sind nicht wiederzugeben, die er für Wagner fand. – Seitdem war der Bruch besiegelt.'" (At my instigation, Dr. [Otto] Eiser's widow took special care of one of Richard Wagner's letters to her deceased husband. As she told me, "The contents of this letter are known only to me, privy councilor Dr. Henry Thode, no one else." She sent it to the Wahnfried house [Wagner's villa in Bayreuth], and it is and will be deposited there from now on. I absolutely approve of that. It should always be withheld from the public. Richard Wagner wrote this letter when he learned that Dr. Eiser had met his young friend [Nietzsche] and gave him medical advice. In a faithful, truly fatherly way, he shares his hypothesis about the cause [i.e., masturbation] of Nietzsche's illness with his mutual medical friend. "Why did Nietzsche break away from Wagner?" Eiser once said: – "I alone know, because this break took place in my house, in my [examining] room, when I informed Nietzsche about that letter with the best of intentions. The result was an outbreak of rage, Nietzsche was beside himself: – the words that he found for Wagner cannot be repeated. – At that moment the break was sealed.") Cf. Naumburg, Early January 1880: Letter to Otto Eiser in Frankfurt. In German. In English.
2. The French historian Gabriel Monod (1844-1912), who was married to Malwida von Meysenbug's foster-daughter Olga Herzen (1851-1953).
3. A photograph of Germaine and Edouard Monod is in GSA 101/297.
4. Reinhart von Seydlitz and his wife Irene visited Nietzsche in Rosenlauibad in mid-August 1877.
5. Pedro II, Emperor of Brazil (1825-1891; r. 1831-1889); and his wife, Teresa Cristina delle Due Sicilie (1822-1889).
6. Ernst Vohsen (1853-1919).
7. Siegfried Lipiner (born Salomo Lipiner, 1856-1911): Jewish Viennese writer. According to a lost letter from Franziska Nietzsche in Naumburg to Nietzsche in Sorrento, Lipiner, trying to meet Nietzsche, turned up in Naumburg sometime in the first third of July 1877. Lipiner was a member of the student organization at the University of Vienna, the "Leseverein der deutschen Studenten Wiens" (the group existed from 1872-1878). Amidst its members, he had assumed leadership of the "Pernerstorfer circle," or the so-called "Nietzsche Society." Earlier overtures by the group to Nietzsche were made in April and June 1876 by another member, Joseph Ehrlich. For more information on the "Pernerstorfer circle," see Aldo Venturelli, "Nietzsche in der Berggasse 19. Über die erste Nietzsche-Rezeption in Wien." In: Kunst, Wissenschaft und Geschichte bei Nietzsche. Berlin; New York: de Gruyter, 2003, 257-290 (also in Nietzsche-Studien, 13 (1984): 448-480). William J. McGrath, "Mahler and the Vienna Nietzsche Society." In: Jacob Golomb, ed., Nietzsche and Jewish Culture. London: Routledge, 1997, 218-232. Reinhard Gasser, "Kontakte mit Nietzsche-Verehrern in der Studentenzeit." In: Nietzsche und Freud. Berlin; New York: de Gruyter, 1997, 7-29. For more details on Lipiner, see Siegfried Mandel, "The Lipiner Interlude." In: Nietzsche & the Jews. Exaltation & Denigration. Amherst: Prometheus, 1998, 123-136. Cf. 04-02-1884 letter to Franz Overbeck.
8. Nietzsche met his sister in Lucerne on 07-10-1877 and then stayed with her at the Felsenegg Pension in Zug from 07-12-1877 to 07-19-1877.
9. Naumburg, 08-02-1877: Letter from Franziska Nietzsche to Nietzsche in Rosenlauibad.
10. Nietzsche returned to Basel on 08-31-1877.

Siegfried Lipiner.
From b/w photo.
Colorized and enhanced image ©The Nietzsche Channel.

Rosenlauibad, August 24, 1877:
Fragment of a letter1 to Siegfried Lipiner.2

[+ + +] Therefore: from now on I believe that a poet exists.3 [+ + +] tell me then quite frankly whether you stand, with respect to ancestry, in some relation to the Jews.4 In fact, I have recently had so many experiences that have aroused in me a very great expectation precisely from young people of this ancestry.5 [+ + +] only when my book6 is published, would I desire, but then also quite urgently a personal encounter with you: Before that too many preliminaries would be necessary in order to avoid being misunderstood — and I have very little time. — [+ + +]

1. The letter is lost. This fragment comes from a description in a 1934 autograph shop catalog in Vienna: V.A. Heck (today: Antiquariat Heck) no. 58, lot 58. Described as a four-page letter (signed "Friedrich Nietzsche"), it is briefly outlined with partial quotations, and mentions that Nietzsche discussed Human, All Too Human. The letter remained unsold, and was subsequently returned in 1936 to its unknown owner.
2. Siegfried Lipiner (born Salomo Lipiner, 1856-1911): Jewish Viennese writer. According to a lost letter from Franziska Nietzsche in Naumburg to Nietzsche in Sorrento, Lipiner, trying to meet Nietzsche, turned up in Naumburg sometime in the first third of July 1877. Lipiner was a member of the student organization at the University of Vienna, the "Leseverein der deutschen Studenten Wiens" (the group existed from 1872-1878). Amidst its members, he had assumed leadership of the "Pernerstorfer circle," or the so-called "Nietzsche Society." Earlier overtures by the group to Nietzsche were made in April and June 1876 by another member, Joseph Ehrlich. For more information on the "Pernerstorfer circle," see Aldo Venturelli, "Nietzsche in der Berggasse 19. Über die erste Nietzsche-Rezeption in Wien." In: Kunst, Wissenschaft und Geschichte bei Nietzsche. Berlin; New York: de Gruyter, 2003, 257-290 (also in Nietzsche-Studien, 13 (1984): 448-480). William J. McGrath, "Mahler and the Vienna Nietzsche Society." In: Jacob Golomb, ed., Nietzsche and Jewish Culture. London: Routledge, 1997, 218-232. Reinhard Gasser, "Kontakte mit Nietzsche-Verehrern in der Studentenzeit." In: Nietzsche und Freud. Berlin; New York: de Gruyter, 1997, 7-29. For more details on Lipiner, see Siegfried Mandel, "The Lipiner Interlude." In: Nietzsche & the Jews. Exaltation & Denigration. Amherst: Prometheus, 1998, 123-136. Cf. 04-02-1884 letter to Franz Overbeck.
3. An allusion to Lipiner's Der entfesselte Prometheus. Eine Dichtung in fünf Gesängen. Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1876.
4. Lipiner was Jewish.
5. An allusion to his friendship with Paul Rée, who was of Jewish descent.
6. Menschliches, Allzumenschliches (Human, All Too Human).

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

Rosenlauibad, August 25, 1877:
Postcard to Franziska Nietzsche.

Many thanks for the parcel.1 I got an indescribable joy from L[ipiner]'s2 poetry, it is of the first rank, he himself is a real poet, his youth purely wonderful in all of this. Now that you tell me that he is also endearing as a person, then, all of a sudden, I have indeed acquired a bountiful asset.

This in brief Your F

1. Franziska Nietzsche forwarded to Nietzsche a book by Siegfried Lipiner, Der entfesselte Prometheus. Eine Dichtung in fünf Gesängen. Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1876. Lipiner had initially sent his book to Nietzsche's house in Naumburg.
2. Siegfried Lipiner (born Salomo Lipiner, 1856-1911): Jewish Viennese writer. According to a lost letter from Franziska Nietzsche in Naumburg to Nietzsche in Sorrento, Lipiner, trying to meet Nietzsche, turned up in Naumburg sometime in the first third of July 1877. Lipiner was a member of the student organization at the University of Vienna, the "Leseverein der deutschen Studenten Wiens" (the group existed from 1872-1878). Amidst its members, he had assumed leadership of the "Pernerstorfer circle," or the so-called "Nietzsche Society." Earlier overtures by the group to Nietzsche were made in April and June 1876 by another member, Joseph Ehrlich. For more information on the "Pernerstorfer circle," see Aldo Venturelli, "Nietzsche in der Berggasse 19. Über die erste Nietzsche-Rezeption in Wien." In: Kunst, Wissenschaft und Geschichte bei Nietzsche. Berlin; New York: de Gruyter, 2003, 257-290 (also in Nietzsche-Studien, 13 (1984): 448-480). William J. McGrath, "Mahler and the Vienna Nietzsche Society." In: Jacob Golomb, ed., Nietzsche and Jewish Culture. London: Routledge, 1997, 218-232. Reinhard Gasser, "Kontakte mit Nietzsche-Verehrern in der Studentenzeit." In: Nietzsche und Freud. Berlin; New York: de Gruyter, 1997, 7-29. For more details on Lipiner, see Siegfried Mandel, "The Lipiner Interlude." In: Nietzsche & the Jews. Exaltation & Denigration. Amherst: Prometheus, 1998, 123-136. Cf. 04-02-1884 letter to Franz Overbeck.

Obelisk marking the tomb of Erwin and Valentine Rohde.
Heidelberg Bergfriedhof.
Enhanced image The Nietzsche Channel.

Rosenlauibad, August 28, 1877:
Letter to Erwin Rohde.

Dear, dear friend,

How shall I describe it — whenever I think of you, I am overcome with emotion; and when someone recently wrote to me, "Rohde's young wife is an extremely lovely creature, whose noble soul shines forth in every feature,"1 I even shed tears, I know no tenable reason at all to specify why. Let us ask the psychologists one day; in the end they will say that it is envy that I begrudge you your happiness or my anger that someone has abducted my friend and is now holding him captive God knows where in the world, on the Rhine or in Paris,2 and refuses to release him! The other day, as I was singing in my mind my Hymn to Loneliness,3 I suddenly felt as if you did not like my music at all and were absolutely demanding a song about twosomeness; the following evening I played one too, as well as I was able, and I was successful: so that all the angels could have listened with pleasure, especially the human angels. But it was in a dark room and nobody heard it: so I have to swallow inside me happiness and tears and everything.

Shall I tell you about myself? How I am always on the go, 2 hours before the sun comes over the mountains, and then especially in the long shadows of the afternoon and evening? How I have come up with all sorts of things and feel so rich in myself, now that this year has finally allowed me to lift away the old mossy layer of the daily compulsion to think and teach? So with the way I am living here, I endure things even with all the pain, which of course has also followed me into the heights — but between times there are so many happy exaltations of thought and feeling. Just recently I spent a veritable day of consecration with "Prometheus Unbound":4 if the poet is not a real "genius," then I no longer know what a genius is: everything is wonderful, and I feel as if I were encountering my exalted and celestial self within it. I bow down to someone who can experience and express such things.

In three days I return to Basel. My sister is already busy getting things ready there.5 The faithful musician Köselitz is moving into my lodgings and will take over the duties of a helpful secretary-friend.6 I somewhat dread this winter; things must change. A person who has only a little time to spend each day on his most important matters and almost all his time and energy on duties that others can take care of as well as he can — such a person is not harmonious, is in conflict with himself — he will eventually become ill. If I have influence on young people, I owe it to my writings,7 and these to my stolen hours, indeed to the interim periods seized by illness, between profession and profession.8 — Well, things will change: si male nunc, non olim sic erit.9 In the meantime, may the happiness of my friend grow and blossom, it always does my heart good to think of you, my beloved friend (I see you now beside a lake surrounded by roses and a beautiful white swan swimming towards you)[.]

In brotherly love, Your F.

1. The quoted passage is found verbatim in a letter from Siegfried Lipiner to Franziska Nietzsche dated August 20, 1877. See GSA 100/618.
2. Erwin and Valentine Rohde (née Framm, 1859-1901) spent their honeymoon in Paris. They are buried in a tomb marked with a black granite obelisk in Section N of the Heidelberg Bergfriedhof.
3. Nietzsche's 1875 musical composition is lost.
4. Siegfried Lipiner (born Salomo Lipiner, 1856-1911): Jewish Viennese writer, and author of Der entfesselte Prometheus. Eine Dichtung in fünf Gesängen. Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1876. According to a lost letter from Franziska Nietzsche in Naumburg to Nietzsche in Sorrento, Lipiner, trying to meet Nietzsche, turned up in Naumburg sometime in the first third of July 1877. Lipiner was a member of the student organization at the University of Vienna, the "Leseverein der deutschen Studenten Wiens" (the group existed from 1872-1878). Amidst its members, he had assumed leadership of the "Pernerstorfer circle," or the so-called "Nietzsche Society." Earlier overtures by the group to Nietzsche were made in April and June 1876 by another member, Joseph Ehrlich. For more information on the "Pernerstorfer circle," see Aldo Venturelli, "Nietzsche in der Berggasse 19. Über die erste Nietzsche-Rezeption in Wien." In: Kunst, Wissenschaft und Geschichte bei Nietzsche. Berlin; New York: de Gruyter, 2003, 257-290 (also in Nietzsche-Studien, 13 (1984): 448-480). William J. McGrath, "Mahler and the Vienna Nietzsche Society." In: Jacob Golomb, ed., Nietzsche and Jewish Culture. London: Routledge, 1997, 218-232. Reinhard Gasser, "Kontakte mit Nietzsche-Verehrern in der Studentenzeit." In: Nietzsche und Freud. Berlin; New York: de Gruyter, 1997, 7-29. For more details on Lipiner, see Siegfried Mandel, "The Lipiner Interlude." In: Nietzsche & the Jews. Exaltation & Denigration. Amherst: Prometheus, 1998, 123-136. Cf. 04-02-1884 letter to Franz Overbeck.
5. Nietzsche and his sister rented an apartment at Gellertstrasse 22 in Basel, where they both lived until June 1878.
6. Heinrich Köselitz temporarily lived with the Nietzsches in the winter of 1877/78.
7. The Birth of Tragedy, and the four "Untimely Meditations."
8. Nietzsche's professional duties included teaching philology at the university as well as Greek at the pedagogium.
9. Horace, Odes, 2, 10, lines 17f.: "Things may be bad now, but one day they will not be so."

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

Rosenlauibad, August 28, 1877:
Postcard to Franziska Nietzsche.

Writing and thanking right away for the b[ook] and m[oney]1 — but writing on tiny postcards is useless!2 Just got up from my sickbed, sore eyes, yet 6 letters and cards to be done this morning. I am always angry when I think about it: correspondence with 30 or more people, in addition to the incidentals: No. 2 glasses as well; blindness inevitable at some point; daily eye pain; no more than 1½ hours a day of reading and writing (for my duties and most important matters!) I believe you think it's not all bad. — Wrote to Lip[iner] in Vienna.3 Saturday [going back] to Basel.4 If only I could stay here in the heights! The winter will be bad. — So see you at my place in the spring?5

Adieu my dear mother. F.

Insufficient postage, 65 ct. paid.

1. Franziska Nietzsche sent him 100 Marks (cf. Basel, 08-28-1877: Letter from Elisabeth Nietzsche to Nietzsche in Rosenlauibad). The book referred to is probably Siegfried Lipiner, Der entfesselte Prometheus. Eine Dichtung in fünf Gesängen. Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1876.
2. Nietzsche is alluding to his eye troubles.
3. The letter is lost; only a fragment exists.
4. Nietzsche returned to Basel on 08-31-1877.
5. She did not go to Basel; Nietzsche visited her in Naumburg in April 1878.

Louise Ott.
From tinted photograph by M. Vollenweider.1
Strasbourg, France, 1876.
Colorized and enhanced image ©The Nietzsche Channel.

Rosenlauibad, August 29, 1877:
Letter to Louise Ott.

(oh! the day after tomorrow I have to leave; back to old Basel again!)

Dear, dear friend

I don't want to abandon my mountain solitude without once again writing to tell you how fond I am of you.2 How useless to say this, to write this, isn't it? But my feeling of friendship for someone sticks in me like a thorn and is at times annoying as a thorn, not easy to get rid of it. So just put up with this useless irritating little letter!

I have been told that you — well, that you are expecting, hoping, wishing;3 I heard it with most intimate concern and [am] wishing with you. One more new good and beautiful human being in the world, that is something, that is a lot! Since you absolutely refuse to immortalize yourself in novels, then do it this way; we must all be very grateful to you for it (especially since, as I am told, it is much more distressing than even writing novels)[.] —

The other day I suddenly saw your eyes in the dark. Why does no human being look at me with such eyes, I cried out quite bitterly. Oh it is terrible! —

Why have I never heard you sing? — Do you know, although I have heard all kinds of celebrated singers, a female voice has never had a profound impact on me. But I believe that there is a voice for me in the world, I am searching for it. Where on earth is it? —

Farewell, may all good spirits be around you.

Faithfully
Your
Friedrich Nietzsche.

1. Moritz Emil Vollenweider (?-1899): Swiss photographer, with studios in Bern, Strasbourg, and later Algiers. Vollenweider and his four sons were something of a dynasty in the world of 19th-century Swiss photography. He was a founding member, and the first president of the Schweizerischer Photographen-Verein (Swiss Photographers Association) from 1886-1888.
2. wie gut ich Ihnen bin.
3. It's not known who told Nietzsche about Ott's pregnancy; her son Fernand was born in Paris on 10-27-1877. See the birth announcement.

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

Naumburg, August 31, 1877:
Letter from Franziska Nietzsche.

My heart's son,1 I have just received your kind letter2 and am so sincerely grateful to you for it. How inexpressibly sorry I am that you are still suffering. In every letter, Lieschen rejoices over the good news she has from you, and so in my mind I was happy too. But would it not be better, my heart's child,3 if you still stayed up in your Rosenlaui,4 at least until the end of September? I was not in favor of September 1 from the start, for it is better you go into work feeling refreshed, and the autumn is more suitable for that than the summer. Regarding the costs, they will probably be the same, for Lieschen will still stay with the kind Vischers,5 or with Ros[alie] Vischer,6 who, when the Prof[essor's] little child shall arrive,7 will be finished with her scarlet child,8 and yet the girl that Laubscher sent,9 what to do about her? who knows if she just cannot come later. Well, at any rate, do not let that deter you if you still want to enjoy the beautiful September for about three weeks.

Well, my good, my dear son, I also wanted to tell you that you should not worry so much about your future. Should you fall victim to your eyes, my house, my arms, and my mother's heart will be open to you, oh doubly open, for why else does family life exist if not to want to give each other help with all the needs of the body and the soul. In our house there are still all kinds of rooms and chambers that we could borrow for this. I cannot, however, get rid of the thought that if you yourself were married, your suffering would be relieved; you have more Oehler blood and Edmund10 suffered in the same way. Sidonchen11 said the pupils of his eyes were often so large that he feared the worst from headaches and moodiness, so that he absolutely wanted to leave his religious office, etc., and now he is the healthiest man there is on God's earth and his veins do not hurt; he was just like you, such a full-blooded person too. My heart's son, take some advice from your mother, who unfortunately also has to represent the father in this.12 Come to me, I know a lovely little wife13 for you, extremely lovable, shy, pretty, wealthy and at the same time very simple and nice. Yesterday I went with her from the train station to the city and once again found her pleasant, and the mother is also a very elegant woman, who has difficulty hearing, but she has such an intrinsically affectionate spirit; I do not know the father yet and during our conversations yesterday, the young girl longed to see Switzerland, and loves the company of professors and society; and moreover longed to go back to Halle, "it has something so stimulating," she said, and envied Lieschen and her life with you, for "she thought it would be so nice to have an older brother and it would have always been her wish, and she had only two little siblings." Her father is the appellate councilor here. I tell you, when I saw the mother and daughter for the first time, I thought: that could be a little bride for your Fritz. If only I could conjure her up for you, my heart's child, because you would have received from God as it says in the Bible [about faithful wives]: "And the heart of a husband can rely on you."14 She is still very young and has hardly entered much into society, but she has so much tact and something so dignified, which one can also infer from the girls with whom she associates here, that this would now be my greatest wish. Lieschen also liked her so much, although she only saw her for a few moments. Of course, Lieschen also said to me: "Are you not going somewhere in the summer so that you can see Fritz." Well, I have surely said enough about it, my heart's son, if only it were not just a pipe dream! If you wrote that you wanted to come,15 I would immediately write to you in Blassenbach16 and your stay here shall not cost you anything, only the journey. I know Frau von Münchow and [her] daughter,17 with whom we are very friendly, just let me see to it here that you shall see and talk to them, indeed there are parties, concerts, etc., where this can be accomplished; as rarely as I actually take care of such things by forceful means,18 I will, however, manage to do it if it has to be done, especially when it is for the happiness of my beloved children. When I just met her at the train station with her mother, a former acquaintance19 from Halle, a young major (for we have had the city full for 2 days on account of the military exercises), paid his respects, so I always think it is somewhat urgent before she is snatched away by someone else. I was at the station and met there by the good old Sup[erintendent] Wilkens, who came from Friedrichsroda and drove home, it was a splendid reunion. In the afternoon I shall go to the funeral of good old Wachsmuth,20 who had a stroke for the third time. All his children21 have been there for eight days with their wives, as has the professor22 from Heidelberg. I just sent a big splendid bouquet with a terrific holder and a white moirée bow on it, it was sent in white and green and was 1 small cubit in circumference, it looked really thoughtful and heartfelt. Today military exercises are at Altflemingen. Everyone wants to see me again before I leave, I was supposed to go to the Grohmanns23 for lunch today, but I turned it down, so they want to send me some chicken soup. The Krugs likewise invited me for lunch today, for Gustav24 is there with his little wife25 and magnificent little boy,26 but I still have too much to accomplish and will not leave before you write to me whether or not you can come. So write immediately my Fritz of my heart27!

Ehrenberg,28 the district judge, and Pinder29 were at the Krugs for dinner on Sunday. I saw Ehrenberg at the corner of the market when he was talking to someone and greeted me almost on the spot. I went to Pähler30 in his shop, who soon came up to me and the good Ehrenberg, and he had something so good and inquired about you so sympathetically and warmly commended you. Do not let the letter be read there and seal it. I am just reading through what I have written and the particulars are probably too forced and I would ultimately have to become better acquainted with them, I just do not have the time right now and I am afraid she will be snatched away, so write right away. Did you specify what the postage due was for? I have to talk to the post office, because the book31 came to 2 silver groschen and I was asked for 5 silver groschen and 5 pfennigs;32 so say what it was for.

With heartfelt love, your mother[.]

1. mein Herzenssohn. Franziska Nietzsche's diminutives for her son included: mein Herzenssohn; mein Herzenskind; and mein Herzensfritz. Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche infamously used the latter in 1888 when she tried to get him to buy a plot of land in Paraguay. See Nueva Germania, 09-06-1888: Letter from Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche to Nietzsche in Sils-Maria.
2. Rosenlauibad, 08-28-1877: Letter from Nietzsche to Franziska Nietzsche in Naumburg.
3. mein Herzenskind.
4. Nietzsche returned to Basel on 08-31-1877.
5. Sophie Vischer-Heussler (1839-1915), and her husband Wilhelm Vischer-Heussler (1833-1886): Basel historian and politician.
6. Rosalie Vischer-Sarasin (1849-1915), wife of Adolf Vischer-Sarasin (1839-1902). Elisabeth Nietzsche was a close friend of Rosalie.
7. The Vischer-Heussler's sixth child, Andreas, was born on 09-18-1877.
8. Felix Adolf Vischer-Sarasin (1872-1879), the son of Rosalie and Adolf Vischer-Sarasin, contracted scarlet fever.
9. Susette Laubscher (1811-?), a friend of Franziska Nietzsche, offered to find a maid to take care of Nietzsche's apartment in Basel.
10. Edmund Oehler (1832-1891): Nietzsche's uncle and pastor in Gorenzen, and later Thondorf.
11. Sidonie Knieling. (1819-?): Nietzsche's maternal aunt in Halle.
12. Nietzsche's father, Karl Ludwig Nietzsche (1813-1849).
13. The names of an appellate judge in Naumburg and his daughter are unknown.
14. Proverbs 31, 11: "The heart of her husband safely trusts her; so he will have no lack of gain."
15. Nietzsche visited her in Naumburg in April 1878.
16. Franziska Nietzsche traveled to Blassenbach in early October 1877 in order to help her youngest brother Oscar (1839-1901) and his wife Auguste (née Forst, 1827-1940) move to Heckholzhausen. Her parents, David (1787-1859) and Wilhelmine (née Hahn, 1794–1876) Oehler had eleven children: Adele (1813-1853), Cecilie (1818-1870), Sidonie (1819-1860), Detlev (1821-?), Feodor (1823-1888), Franziska (1826-1897), Theobald (1828-1881), Adalbert (1830-1902), Edmund (1832-1891), Ida (1833-?), and Oscar (1839-1901).
17. The widowed Marie von Münchow (1832-?) and her daughter.
18. Parforskur. Probably a pun on Parforcetour.
19. An unknown acquaintance of Franziska Nietzsche.
20. Julius Wachsmuth (1803-1877) died on 08-29-1877.
21. Julius Wachsmuth was the father of the historian, philologist, and fellow-Naumburgian, Curt Wachsmuth (1837-1905).
22. At the time, Curt Wachsmuth was a philology professor in Heidelberg.
23. Johanna Grohmann (1795-1878) a pastor's widow, and her elderly daughter, Antonie Caroline Grohmann (1828-?).
24. Gustav Krug (1844-1902): Nietzsche's friend since childhood.
25. Therese Krug (née Brummer, 1853-1930).
26. Walther Krug (1875-1955).
27. mein Herzensfritz. Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche infamously used this diminutive in 1888 when she tried to get Nietzsche to buy a plot of land in Paraguay. See Nueva Germania, 09-06-1888: Letter from Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche to Nietzsche in Sils-Maria.
28. Paul Ehrenberg is listed in the Naumburg address book of 1879 as an assistant public prosecutor.
29. Wilhelm Pinder (1844-1928): Nietzsche's friend since childhood.
30. A "W. Päßler" is listed in the 1872 Naumburg address book and business directory as the owner of a fancy goods store.
31. Probably Siegfried Lipiner, Der entfesselte Prometheus. Eine Dichtung in fünf Gesängen. Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1876.
32. Franziska Nietzsche sent him 100 Marks (cf. Basel, 08-28-1877: Letter from Elisabeth Nietzsche to Nietzsche in Rosenlauibad).

Portraits of Otto and Sophie Eiser.
© Hans Thoma, Städel Museum, Frankfurt.
Oil on board, 1877.
Enhanced image The Nietzsche Channel.

Frankfurt, September 1, 1877:
Letter from Otto Eiser.

Dear Herr Professor!

I had scarcely sent my greetings to you in Basel when your friendly lines from Rosenlauibad reached me and confirmed to my wife and my great joy that we had correctly guessed your arrival time in Basel.1 On the other hand, the information that your painful days are returning every week despite the potassium bromide is quite unpleasant. At most, the harmlessness of the remedy could be given in favor of continued use, after such a long and consistent experiment. I would be more in favor of not using it. But I dare not decide on this or on many other very important points of your condition before I have seen, examined, particularly ophthalmoscopically, and here I am back to my ceterum censeo: You must come to Frankfurt!2 — My wife still fears that I have described the conditions of our little household so gloomily that you would not want to get into closer contact with them, but at the same time it is doubly important to her to refute my slanders and to establish her good reputation as a housewife. Therefore she combines her heartfelt requests with mine and, while she happily replies to your friendly greetings, looks forward to your coming no less impatiently than your faithful Otto Eiser.

1. Otto Eiser (1834-1898) and his wife Sophie visited Nietzsche in Rosenlauibad from 07-29-1877 to 08-01-1877. Eiser was a Frankfurt doctor, and admirer of Nietzsche and Richard Wagner. He examined Nietzsche in October 1877, and disclosed to him a letter from Richard Wagner opining on the cause of Nietzsche's poor health — namely, masturbation. According to a friend of Eiser, Eiser admitted that this was the real cause of Nietzsche's break with Wagner. See Sander L. Gilman, "Otto Eiser and Nietzsche's Illness: A Hitherto Unpublished Text." In: Nietzsche Studien (2009) 38:396-409. Dr. Eugen Kretzer. "Erinnerungen an Dr. Otto Eiser." (Memories of Dr. Otto Eiser.) Ca. 1912. Excerpt: "Auf meine Veranlassung hat die Witwe Dr. Eisers einem der Briefe Richard Wagners an ihren verstorbenen Gatten besondere Fürsorge zugewendet. Den Inhalt dieses Briefes kennt, wie sie mir sagte, außer mir nur Hr Geheimrat Dr. Henry Thode, sonst niemand. Sie hat ihn dem Hause Wahnfried übersandt, und dort ist und bleibt er fortan deponiert. Ich billige das durchaus. Er sollte der Öffentlichkeit stets vorenthalten werden. Richard Wagner schrieb diesen Brief, als er erfuhr, daß Dr. Eiser seinen jungen Freund kennen gelernt hatte und ärztlich beriet. In treu besorgter, wahrhaft väterlicher Weise teilt er darin dem gemeinsamen ärztlichen Freund seine Hypothese über die Ursache von Nietzsches Erkrankung mit. 'Warum Nietzsche von Wagners abfiel?,' meinte Eiser einst: – 'ich weiß es allein, denn in meinem Hause, in meiner Stube hat sich dieser Abfall vollzogen, als ich Nietzsche jenen Brief in wohlmeinendster Absicht mitteilte. Ein Ausbruch von Raserei war die Folge, Nietzsche war außer sich: – die Worte sind nicht wiederzugeben, die er für Wagner fand. – Seitdem war der Bruch besiegelt.'" (At my instigation, Dr. [Otto] Eiser's widow took special care of one of Richard Wagner's letters to her deceased husband. As she told me, "The contents of this letter are known only to me, privy councilor Dr. Henry Thode, no one else." She sent it to the Wahnfried house [Wagner's villa in Bayreuth], and it is and will be deposited there from now on. I absolutely approve of that. It should always be withheld from the public. Richard Wagner wrote this letter when he learned that Dr. Eiser had met his young friend [Nietzsche] and gave him medical advice. In a faithful, truly fatherly way, he shares his hypothesis about the cause [i.e., masturbation] of Nietzsche's illness with his mutual medical friend. "Why did Nietzsche break away from Wagner?" Eiser once said: – "I alone know, because this break took place in my house, in my [examining] room, when I informed Nietzsche about that letter with the best of intentions. The result was an outbreak of rage, Nietzsche was beside himself: – the words that he found for Wagner cannot be repeated. – At that moment the break was sealed.") Cf. Naumburg, Early January 1880: Letter to Otto Eiser in Frankfurt. In German. In English.
2. Nietzsche visited the Eisners in Frankfurt from 10-01-1877 to 10-07-1877.

Montmorency, Rue de Paris.
By: A. Thiriat and H. Basuyau, Toulouse.
From a blue-tinted picture postcard, ca. 1904.
Colorized and enhanced image ©The Nietzsche Channel.

Montmorency, September 1, 1877:
Letter from Louise Ott.

My friend shall find his little lady friend1 "in old Basel"2 — she wants to give him a warm welcome and sincerely wishes that his awful pains shall not come back! I would spoil my friend with each and every happiness, and if I could do something for him — I would gladly do it! he is dear to me!

Laugh at me — but I well know why you saw my eyes: I thought so much about the past year that you had to feel it. I lived it all over again and found myself rich — so rich — since you gave me your heart.

Your letter3 is not "useless,"4 my friend: it is a refreshing drop of dew upon my soul — how few of them there are in life! Come to Paris this winter, you shall hear my voice, but my dear teacher Franz Stockhausen5 used to tell me that it is only good for mere church singing! I don't think it makes much of an impression. The wishes that you send to the new little creature6 shall bring him happiness — I wish he were better than me!

A heartfelt greeting, friend, from your L.

1. Freundin.
2. A quote from Nietzsche's 08-29-1877 letter to her.
3. Rosenlauibad, 08-29-1877: Letter from Nietzsche to Louise Ott in Paris.
4. Another quote from Nietzsche's 08-29-1877 letter to her.
5. Franz Stockhausen (1839-1926): German choral conductor. On 09-04-1871, he was appointed director of the Conservatory of Strasbourg. For more information on Stockhausen, see Myriam Geyer, La vie musicale à Strasbourg sous l'empire allemand, 1871-1918. Strasbourg; Paris: École nationale des chartes, 1999, 41ff.
6. Louise Ott's son Fernand was born in Paris on 10-27-1877. See the birth announcement.

Basel, September 3, 1877:
Letter1 to Malwida von Meysenbug.

Esteemed, dear friend

How glad we are that we shall see you here, how sorry we are that the M[onod]s2 will only partake of Basel on the way through! In any event, we would like to be at the station — so when? Presumably at five o'clock? —

— Well here I am, the last days in Rosenlaui were bad for me; I left there at 4 o'clock in the early morning, alone, in the darkness, with a violent headache. —

Apartment, surroundings and my good sister3 — I find everything around me charming, stimulating, stabilizing. — But many a worm of anxiety crawls within me.

For 2 nights, I slept so well, so well!

There were also nice letters4 from Overbeck, Frau Ott and Dr. Eiser,5 who as my doctor demands that I come to Frankfurt soon for a new consultation.

The things you say about Sorrento! Recently, in Rosenlaui, I spent a sleepless night reveling in lovely pictures of nature and wondering whether I could somehow live up on Anacapri. But I always sigh at the realization that Italy discourages me, renders me powerless (what a person you discovered in me this May!6 I am ashamed; I have never been like that!)

In Switzerland I am more myself, and since I base ethics on the greatest possible manifestation of the "self" and not on its vaporization,7 then — — — — — — — —

I am invincible in the Alps, especially when I am alone and have no enemy other than myself.

I have undertaken my studies on Greek literature8 — who knows what will come of it?

Farewell. Did you find the little female fairy who will free me from the pillar to which I am chained?9

1. The first letter from Nietzsche's new apartment at Gellertstrasse 22 in Basel.
2. The French historian Gabriel Monod (1844-1912), who was married to Malwida von Meysenbug's foster-daughter Olga Herzen (1851-1953). The "we" presumably means Nietzsche and his sister.
3. Nietzsche and his sister rented an apartment at Gellertstrasse 22 in Basel, where they both lived until June 1878.
4. See: Frankfurt, 09-01-1877 letter from Otto Eiser to Nietzsche in Basel; Zürich, 09-01-1877 letter from Franz Overbeck to Nietzsche in Basel; and Montmorency, 09-01-1877 letter from Louise Ott to Nietzsche in Basel.
5. Otto Eiser (1834-1898) was a Frankfurt doctor, and admirer of Nietzsche and Richard Wagner. He examined Nietzsche in October 1877, and disclosed to him a letter from Richard Wagner opining on the cause of Nietzsche's poor health — namely, masturbation. According to a friend of Eiser, Eiser admitted that this was the real cause of Nietzsche's break with Wagner. See Sander L. Gilman, "Otto Eiser and Nietzsche's Illness: A Hitherto Unpublished Text." In: Nietzsche Studien (2009) 38:396-409. Dr. Eugen Kretzer. "Erinnerungen an Dr. Otto Eiser." (Memories of Dr. Otto Eiser.) Ca. 1912. Excerpt: "Auf meine Veranlassung hat die Witwe Dr. Eisers einem der Briefe Richard Wagners an ihren verstorbenen Gatten besondere Fürsorge zugewendet. Den Inhalt dieses Briefes kennt, wie sie mir sagte, außer mir nur Hr Geheimrat Dr. Henry Thode, sonst niemand. Sie hat ihn dem Hause Wahnfried übersandt, und dort ist und bleibt er fortan deponiert. Ich billige das durchaus. Er sollte der Öffentlichkeit stets vorenthalten werden. Richard Wagner schrieb diesen Brief, als er erfuhr, daß Dr. Eiser seinen jungen Freund kennen gelernt hatte und ärztlich beriet. In treu besorgter, wahrhaft väterlicher Weise teilt er darin dem gemeinsamen ärztlichen Freund seine Hypothese über die Ursache von Nietzsches Erkrankung mit. 'Warum Nietzsche von Wagners abfiel?,' meinte Eiser einst: – 'ich weiß es allein, denn in meinem Hause, in meiner Stube hat sich dieser Abfall vollzogen, als ich Nietzsche jenen Brief in wohlmeinendster Absicht mitteilte. Ein Ausbruch von Raserei war die Folge, Nietzsche war außer sich: – die Worte sind nicht wiederzugeben, die er für Wagner fand. – Seitdem war der Bruch besiegelt.'" (At my instigation, Dr. [Otto] Eiser's widow took special care of one of Richard Wagner's letters to her deceased husband. As she told me, "The contents of this letter are known only to me, privy councilor Dr. Henry Thode, no one else." She sent it to the Wahnfried house [Wagner's villa in Bayreuth], and it is and will be deposited there from now on. I absolutely approve of that. It should always be withheld from the public. Richard Wagner wrote this letter when he learned that Dr. Eiser had met his young friend [Nietzsche] and gave him medical advice. In a faithful, truly fatherly way, he shares his hypothesis about the cause [i.e., masturbation] of Nietzsche's illness with his mutual medical friend. "Why did Nietzsche break away from Wagner?" Eiser once said: – "I alone know, because this break took place in my house, in my [examining] room, when I informed Nietzsche about that letter with the best of intentions. The result was an outbreak of rage, Nietzsche was beside himself: – the words that he found for Wagner cannot be repeated. – At that moment the break was sealed.") Cf. Naumburg, Early January 1880: Letter to Otto Eiser in Frankfurt. In German. In English.
6. Nietzsche left Sorrento quickly after attributing his increasing headaces to the hot climate.
7. An allusion to oppressively hot weather, which Nietzsche could not stand.
8. In WS1877-78, Nietzsche lectured on the "Religiöse Altertümer der Griechen" (Religious Antiquities of the Greeks) — to only six students. He also held a seminar on the Choephori of Aeschylus.
9. Feenweibchen: little female fairy. That is, only a magical being, as opposed to a usual wife, would be able to free him from his isolating work — which he saw as his higher purpose — and peripatetic existence. For six months, Malwida von Meysenbug had been searching for a wife for Nietzsche with no success — but in her reply to this letter, she states that she found one. See Spiez, 09-04-1877: Letter from Malwida von Meysenbug to Nietzsche in Basel. "Auch für das Feenweibchen habe ich eine Adresse." (I also have an address for the little female fairy.)

Siegfried Lipiner.
From b/w photo.
Colorized and enhanced image ©The Nietzsche Channel.

Baden bei Wien, September 10, 1877:
Letter from Siegfried Lipiner.1

Nietzsche, my cherished Nietzsche, how can I find words to thank you?2

You call yourself powerless? If you had only seen me as I returned home from a long crazy hiking trip, gloomy, tired, needy beyond all expression, sitting there and reflecting on a principle newly acquired through experience, the fact that inner turmoil cannot be warded off by an outer one, as my sweet lady friend3 then approached me and handed me your letter (which due to my frequent change of location could not be forwarded), how I then read and re-read and with teary eyes lingered on those prophetic words of your caring love, how I was then awakened "from wild weaving fear,"4 strengthened and encouraged, cradled by the blessed thought that perhaps I was now no longer alien and indifferent to the heart of my Nietzsche — you would have truly praised your power, not regretted your powerlessness.

What you fear is already — overcome. Do not scoff! O, I well know that someone not yet 21 years old has not triumphed. But I was in a heated battle and looked terror in the eye, without being turned to stone. So what can still happen to me? I can — I will suffer, bleed, doubt; I will never ever perish.

I speak of my inner enemy: it has tortured me terribly in the last half-year. But it can do no more than drag me before the invincible one, and humble myself, the proud one. I will tolerate that, albeit grudgingly; for I know that I have to conquer much of the conquerable and for this I will take revenge for another. — What else? It can spoil every joy for me, can shorten my youth, can, like a nightmare, be an unremovable weight upon my soul, can, while I express joy from the depths of my being, rise up like a ghost, confuse my speech and make my voice tremble and chastise and benumb my heart so that it has no share in the speech from my mouth — here I have mentioned to you a phenomenon described more as one that torments me day after day — it's what it can do: but I have one powerful weapon against this ghost. I look straight in its face, and behold! as animated by the fire of my own eye, the creature glows and its cheeks redden and on the hard tablet of its face strange symbols appear: deep breaths, at once gentle and relentless, however, what it wants is love and sacrifice for love, and I cannot help: I have to love it even though it humbled me, the arrogant mortal; because it is beautiful, like a long-suffering goddess, and if it kills, that life was surely not worth living. But it does not kill. Its face becomes more and more gentle, more and more beautiful, and my love becomes more and more ardent. Finally, at the zenith of my desire, I have to clearly laugh out loud in childish mirth; for the terrible specter stands before me as a well-known gorgeous woman, whom I have beheld in my first childhood dreams; and all the agony is forgotten, she is captivating before my joyful gaze, I before hers; and I call her by many names, for I do not know her real one. Then she says to me: Echo — and so that's also what my poem is called, the one I am working on.5

Do not be angry, my friend, do not be discouraged! It must be, my soul will not find rest until it itself sees. You do not know how I have suffered and still suffer. I have the demons that summon life, that give life. I cannot resist. Please, do not be discouraged! It would hurt me. I am like one who cannot sleep, and tire myself with strenuous work in order to then find sleep. — When "Echo" is written, I will rest, rest for a long time. I have indeed slept the winter's sleep; alas! unfortunately the summer's sleep too. With extreme anger I felt — I might even say heard — my temples throbbing. But now I must get healthy. "Echo" will tell you everything that can be said, but what is incommunicable about the war story of my soul, you will guess, indeed understand better than I. — I have read to Rohden the first 5 songs [of "Echo"] that I had written in Elgersburg; he found them and the whole concept "quite splendid," but I have tossed the writings into the fire and started all over again. They no longer pleased me.6

My surrounding area is a friendly one; yet I do not actually have a friend; I hike my path in solitude. Sometimes I will feel bad and my desire will be overwhelming. From below the sound of kind voices rises up to me, yet there is no one to see. — My Jessie is a splendid woman. But to be happy without making happy — I am unable to do that. Yes, if I could only love without being loved! I would be better off. What can I, the homeless one, offer her, the bright-eyed child's soul?

You asked about my "security in life." I have not had any, not since my 14th year. — I have nothing and am alone. I have to give lessons, which shall be extremely difficult for me in the coming winter, since I have an awful lot to work on and I'm not well. Only special circumstances of fortune have made it possible this summer for me to cast off my chains. In a few weeks it will be the same old story again. Even if I merely give lessons!

I am a Jew. — Why? You have nothing against L.?7 Do you also know how he now associates with us?

My longing for your book8 is indescribable. When it is published, I will devour it immediately. And then I will besiege you; for we must see each other soon, quite soon. I have loved you ever since I first took a look at your "Strauss."9 And I can think of nothing that could now make me happier than your love. Will your book be published possibly before Christmas? — Do you know that I practically consort with you as with one who is present, to which the photograph10 that your kind mother gave me much contributes?

Write to me from time to time, even if only two lines: especially about your health. — Can I not get the proofsheets for your book to you? I would be deliriousy delighted if you permitted it. Schmeitzner should only send them to me at the above address. So your eyes and I would be better off. Okay?

Your
Siegfried Lipiner

1. Siegfried Lipiner (born Salomo Lipiner, 1856-1911): Jewish Viennese writer, and author of Der entfesselte Prometheus. Eine Dichtung in fünf Gesängen. Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1876. According to a lost letter from Franziska Nietzsche in Naumburg to Nietzsche in Sorrento, Lipiner, trying to meet Nietzsche, turned up in Naumburg sometime in the first third of July 1877. Lipiner was a member of the student organization at the University of Vienna, the "Leseverein der deutschen Studenten Wiens" (the group existed from 1872-1878). Amidst its members, he had assumed leadership of the "Pernerstorfer circle," or the so-called "Nietzsche Society." Earlier overtures by the group to Nietzsche were made in April and June 1876 by another member, Joseph Ehrlich. For more information on the "Pernerstorfer circle," see Aldo Venturelli, "Nietzsche in der Berggasse 19. Über die erste Nietzsche-Rezeption in Wien." In: Kunst, Wissenschaft und Geschichte bei Nietzsche. Berlin; New York: de Gruyter, 2003, 257-290 (also in Nietzsche-Studien, 13 (1984): 448-480). William J. McGrath, "Mahler and the Vienna Nietzsche Society." In: Jacob Golomb, ed., Nietzsche and Jewish Culture. London: Routledge, 1997, 218-232. Reinhard Gasser, "Kontakte mit Nietzsche-Verehrern in der Studentenzeit." In: Nietzsche und Freud. Berlin; New York: de Gruyter, 1997, 7-29. For more details on Lipiner, see Siegfried Mandel, "The Lipiner Interlude." In: Nietzsche & the Jews. Exaltation & Denigration. Amherst: Prometheus, 1998, 123-136. Cf. 04-02-1884 letter to Franz Overbeck.
2. Lipiner was replying to a letter from Nietzsche. Unfortunately, only a fragment of the letter exists, so we can only guess at its full contents. See Rosenlauibad, August 24, 1877: Fragment of a letter to Siegfried Lipiner in Jena.
3. Jessie Giles.
4. "amid wild weaving fear." Cf. Richard Wagner, Die Walküre, 3, 3.
5. A poem written by Lipiner when he was still a student in 1874. See Siegfried Lipiner, Echo. Eine Dichtung. (Abschrift aus ca. 1874.) Graz: 2009.
6. Lipiner met Erwin Rohde in Jena in July 1877.
7. A reference to a missing part of Nietzsche's letter above, possibly referring to the notorious anti-Semite, Paul de Lagarde (1827-1891), whom Nietzsche grew to despise.
8. Menschliches, Allzumenschliches.
9. Unzeitgemäße Betrachtungen I. David Strauss. Der Bekenner und der Schriftsteller.
10. Lipiner visited Nietzsche's mother sometime in July 1877. It's not known to which photograph he is referring.

"Pollice Verso."
By: Norman Lindsay.1
Pen and ink, 1904.2
Enhanced image The Nietzsche Channel.

Munich, September 26, 1877:
Letter from Baroness von Seydliz.

Dear Herr Professor and very dear friend of my son, please adjudicate a dispute which has recently arisen among acquaintances.3

Does "verso pollice" for the fallen gladiator mean his outright death or a sign of mercy. I have browsed through various books without finding anything certain. Would you be kind enough to tell my son about it,4 I'm staying here for just three days.

With best regards and wishes for your health.
Baroness von Seydlitz
b. von Gumperts

2. Norman Lindsay (1879-1969): Australian artist. In 1898, Lindsay reportedly became acquainted with Nietzsche by reading: Friedrich Nietzsche, Alexander Tille (trans.), Thus Spake Zarathustra. New York: Macmillan, 1896. Series: The Works of Friedrich Nietzsche. Vol. VIII. Friedrich Nietzsche, Thomas Common (trans.), The Case of Wagner. Nietzsche contra Wagner. The Twilight of the Idols. The Antichrist. London: Henry and Co., 1896. Series: The Works of Friedrich Nietzsche. Vol. XI. Lindsay and his family, friends, and acolytes were rife with anti-Semitism. The 1904 drawing was used as an illustration for The Antichrist of Nietzsche. A new version in English by P. R. Stephensen. With illustrations by Norman Lindsay. London: The Fanfrolico Press, [1928].
2. View Lindsay's work and further information in: The Nietzsche Channel, Nietzsche in the Arts: 1890-Present. Forthcoming.
3. The letter was attached to a 09-26-1877 letter from Reinhart von Seydlitz.
4. See Nietzsche's 09-28-1877 reply.

Reinhart von Seydlitz.
From b/w photo, ca. 1875.
Colorized and enhanced image ©The Nietzsche Channel.

[Basel, September 28, 1877]:
Postcard to Reinhardt von Seydlitz.1

Did you get my card, dear friend? Don't blame me if no letter arrives from me today. Most sincere thanks to your esteemed mother, that she affords me an opportunity to be a philologist (sometimes I forget).2 pollice verso means: "thumb pointed toward the chest": the gesture by which the people demanded the killing of the gl[adiator]; pollicem premere literally "to press one's thumb": i.e. "make a fist and hide one's thumb" is the same as our "Jemandem den Daumen halten,"3 as a sign of goodwill. By raising the index finger the gl[adiator] pleaded for the mercy of the people; the granting thereof by the said gesture was called missio.4 Warm greetings from the two of us5 to the three of you.6

 

1. The original postcard was sold at auction in October 2014 for $31,409.
2. See 09-26-1877 letter from Baroness von Seydlitz.
3. Literally, "to press one's thumb for someone," i.e., "to keep one's fingers crossed for someone."
4. Reprieve.
5. Nietzsche's sister was living with him at the time.
6. Seydlitz, his wife, and his mother.

Portrait of Otto Eiser.
Oil on canvas, 1877.
© Hans Thoma. Städel Museum. Frankfurt.
Enhanced image The Nietzsche Channel.

Frankfurt, October 6, 1877:
Letter from Otto Eiser.1

1) The ophthalmoscope shows the products of central chorioretinitis in both eyes,2 in the right eye much more than in the left.

2) This finding, together with extreme myopia3 and the attendant insufficiency of the musculi recti interni,4 etc., etc., makes a causal connection of the cephalalgic attacks to the eye disease almost doubtless — at least the disease of the eyes will certainly serve as one factor explaining the headaches, even if, as the other, there must be a predisposition in the irritability of the central organ,5 which almost inevitably results from the excessive mental activity of the patient.

3) Therefore, if the causal connection between eye and head condition is almost beyond question — with the fact that the eye malady appears as the primary one and the headache as its consequence — the question about the more detailed modus of this causal connection must still remain open for the time being. Based on the patient's anamnestic information, it cannot be decided whether the stimulation of the sensitive central sphere is effected directly through the eye or through the middle segment of the sympathetic nerve. — Exact observation of the cephalalgic paroxysm,6 in particular of any difference between the injection (bloating, redness, temperature) of the painful and the initially painless half of the forehead and face, any differences in the color and temperature of both ears during the prodromal stages characterized by the patient's local sensation of cold — then, at the time of the attack itself, any pulsation of the large neck vessels and difference on one side of them etc. etc. will be the most important material for deciding the above questions.

4) Should the connection of the pain attacks with the function of the sympathetic nerve become probable, then the careful application of a weakly constant galvanic current to the nerve area in question should be tried as a therapeutic method.7

5) I would strongly advise against all therapeutic interventions of any heroic kind, such as those that might be undertaken to eliminate absorption or to stimulate all secretion and excretion apparatuses. On the other hand, it seems to me that the attempt at palliative measures based on the course and duration of the individual pain attacks with narcotics, quinine or the like, subcutaneously or internally, seems to be very appropriate.8

6) The local extraction of blood prescribed by Krüger9 (Harrteloub's10 at five days intervals with a two-day stay in a dark room, repeated 3-5 times) seems to me appropriate not only for the disease process in the eyes but also for the effect upon deep-lying organs.

7) By far the most important part of therapy and prophylaxis is dietary behavior in the broadest sense. At this point belongs:

	a) Absolute avoidance of reading and writing for several years, especially abstaining from the use of concave lenses.
	b) Prevention of all strong light stimuli, for which purpose Dr. Krüger recommends blue spectacles (tint No 3 and No 5) are to be used at all times.
	c) Avoidance of any extreme physical and intellectual exertion. Methodical alternation between work and rest.
	d) Careful monitoring of the state of digestion, so that special care is taken to ensure regular bowel movements, then the consumption of hard-to-digest, spicy foods, especially excitatory drinks (such as strong coffee and tea, strong wines, etc.) is avoided.
	e) It also follows from the above that all so-called toughening up, be it due to excessively light clothing or covering, be it due to excessively low room temperature, excessive walking exercises or even hydrotherapeutic experiments are to be carefully avoided.

Dr. O. Eiser

1. Otto Eiser (1834-1898) and his wife Sophie visited Nietzsche in Rosenlauibad from 07-29-1877 to 08-01-1877. Eiser was a Frankfurt doctor, and admirer of Nietzsche and Richard Wagner. Nietzsche visited the Eisers in Frankfurt from 10-01-1877 to 10-07-1877. Otto Eiser examined Nietzsche and disclosed to him a letter from Richard Wagner opining on the cause of Nietzsche's poor health — namely, masturbation. According to a friend of Eiser, Eiser admitted that this was the real cause of Nietzsche's break with Wagner. See Sander L. Gilman, "Otto Eiser and Nietzsche's Illness: A Hitherto Unpublished Text." In: Nietzsche Studien (2009) 38:396-409. Dr. Eugen Kretzer. "Erinnerungen an Dr. Otto Eiser." (Memories of Dr. Otto Eiser.) Ca. 1912. Excerpt: "Auf meine Veranlassung hat die Witwe Dr. Eisers einem der Briefe Richard Wagners an ihren verstorbenen Gatten besondere Fürsorge zugewendet. Den Inhalt dieses Briefes kennt, wie sie mir sagte, außer mir nur Hr Geheimrat Dr. Henry Thode, sonst niemand. Sie hat ihn dem Hause Wahnfried übersandt, und dort ist und bleibt er fortan deponiert. Ich billige das durchaus. Er sollte der Öffentlichkeit stets vorenthalten werden. Richard Wagner schrieb diesen Brief, als er erfuhr, daß Dr. Eiser seinen jungen Freund kennen gelernt hatte und ärztlich beriet. In treu besorgter, wahrhaft väterlicher Weise teilt er darin dem gemeinsamen ärztlichen Freund seine Hypothese über die Ursache von Nietzsches Erkrankung mit. 'Warum Nietzsche von Wagners abfiel?,' meinte Eiser einst: – 'ich weiß es allein, denn in meinem Hause, in meiner Stube hat sich dieser Abfall vollzogen, als ich Nietzsche jenen Brief in wohlmeinendster Absicht mitteilte. Ein Ausbruch von Raserei war die Folge, Nietzsche war außer sich: – die Worte sind nicht wiederzugeben, die er für Wagner fand. – Seitdem war der Bruch besiegelt.'" (At my instigation, Dr. [Otto] Eiser's widow took special care of one of Richard Wagner's letters to her deceased husband. As she told me, "The contents of this letter are known only to me, privy councilor Dr. Henry Thode, no one else." She sent it to the Wahnfried house [Wagner's villa in Bayreuth], and it is and will be deposited there from now on. I absolutely approve of that. It should always be withheld from the public. Richard Wagner wrote this letter when he learned that Dr. Eiser had met his young friend [Nietzsche] and gave him medical advice. In a faithful, truly fatherly way, he shares his hypothesis about the cause [i.e., masturbation] of Nietzsche's illness with his mutual medical friend. "Why did Nietzsche break away from Wagner?" Eiser once said: – "I alone know, because this break took place in my house, in my [examining] room, when I informed Nietzsche about that letter with the best of intentions. The result was an outbreak of rage, Nietzsche was beside himself: – the words that he found for Wagner cannot be repeated. – At that moment the break was sealed.") Cf. Naumburg, Early January 1880: Letter to Otto Eiser in Frankfurt. In German. In English.
2. Chorioretinitis: inflammation of the retina causing lesions. The ophthalmoscope, invented in 1851, allowed doctors to inspect the back of the eyeball up to the equator for the first time.
3. Extreme myopia starts at about 12 diopters.
4. Musculi recti interni: medial rectus muscle that moves the eyeball to the convergent position required for reading.
5. By "central organ," Eiser means the brain: in 1877, neither the localization of vision in the brain, nor the termination of other afferents, nor the localization of a pain center were known.
6. Attacks of headaches.
7. The theory of Eiser's or Krüger's diagnosis is: the headaches are explained as an excitation of the brain, which is caused by tedious visual work via the optic nerve or via the sympathetic nervous system, and which, if it were a migraine, could be abated with galvanism, i. e. direct current from batteries, a harmless and from today's point of view completely ineffective application, which was considered a modern therapy method at the time.
8. The only analgesics available at the time were morphine and codeine.
9. Dr. Gustav Krüger (1859-1917). Krüger, who recommended blue-lensed spectacles for Nietzsche, was an ophthalmologist of some repute with an office at 26 Höchststrasse in Frankfurt. In 1871, he published a study on the myopia of schoolchildren in Frankfurt. See "Untersuchung der Augen der Schüler des Frankfurter Gymnasiums. Ein Beitrag zur Entwicklungsgeschichte der Kurzsichtigkeit." In: Jahresbericht über die Verwaltung des Medicinalwesens, die Krankenanstalten und die öffentlichen Gesundheitsverhältnisse der Stadt Frankfurt a. M., herausgegeben vom Ärztlichen Verein. 15. Jahrgang. Frankfurt a. M.: 1871, 84.
10. Charles Louis Heurteloup (1793-1864): French physician who invented an artificial leeching device that was named after him. These were often used to bleed sensitive areas around the eyes or temples.

Cosima Wagner.
Ca. 1877.
From b/w photo by Elliott and Fry.
Colorized and enhanced image ©The Nietzsche Channel.

Basel, October 10, 1877:
Letter to Cosima Wagner.

Highly esteemed Frau!

A very estimable friend1 recently read me an essay on the "Ring of the Nibelung," which seems to me so sympathetic and insightful that I dare to recommend it to you and the master for an evening of reading.2 This friend is quite unliterary in nature and his work is suited for the very narrowest audience; I do not believe that it has been read by anyone except his wife, and two or three people. Perhaps you will put in the margins a decisive yes or no to some of the hypotheses; in particular, I would like this for the question of how Wotan lost his eye and why he wakes Wala from her sleep.3

Here and there I, too, the recluse, received news about everything that is going on in Bayreuth; and some things, such as the truly Wagnerian idea of the Bayreuth school,4 I think I understand so well that every written word seems indiscreet to me. May the glorious promise of Parcival5 provide solace to us in all matters when we require solace.

Almost all of my acquaintances, of whom I am thinking at the moment, have their worms that can bite them: so I want to speak unabashedly about my worms. After a year of trying every possible way to regain my health,6 in the last few weeks I have submitted to a careful and constant examination by three excellent doctors.7 The result is as depressing as possible: the eyes are almost undoubtedly seen as the source of my suffering, namely my terrible headaches, two inflammatory processes are confirmed in them, and the prospect of blindness is seen as inevitable — if I do not submit to the strict requirements of all the doctors: absolutely no reading or writing for several years. In this case perhaps the faint glimmer of eyesight that I have now can still be retained. Thus is approaching a somber time full of painful decisions for me. Up to now I have not lacked courage; I think I have learned something from Wagner in this. Devoted to him and to you with all my heart, in good times and in bad,

F. N.

1. Otto Eiser (1834-1898) and his wife Sophie visited Nietzsche in Rosenlauibad from 07-29-1877 to 08-01-1877. Eiser was a Frankfurt doctor, and admirer of Nietzsche and Richard Wagner. Nietzsche visited the Eisers in Frankfurt from 10-01-1877 to 10-07-1877. Otto Eiser examined Nietzsche and disclosed to him a letter from Richard Wagner opining on the cause of Nietzsche's poor health — namely, masturbation. According to a friend of Eiser, Eiser admitted that this was the real cause of Nietzsche's break with Wagner. See Sander L. Gilman, "Otto Eiser and Nietzsche's Illness: A Hitherto Unpublished Text." In: Nietzsche Studien (2009) 38:396-409. Dr. Eugen Kretzer. "Erinnerungen an Dr. Otto Eiser." (Memories of Dr. Otto Eiser.) Ca. 1912. Excerpt: "Auf meine Veranlassung hat die Witwe Dr. Eisers einem der Briefe Richard Wagners an ihren verstorbenen Gatten besondere Fürsorge zugewendet. Den Inhalt dieses Briefes kennt, wie sie mir sagte, außer mir nur Hr Geheimrat Dr. Henry Thode, sonst niemand. Sie hat ihn dem Hause Wahnfried übersandt, und dort ist und bleibt er fortan deponiert. Ich billige das durchaus. Er sollte der Öffentlichkeit stets vorenthalten werden. Richard Wagner schrieb diesen Brief, als er erfuhr, daß Dr. Eiser seinen jungen Freund kennen gelernt hatte und ärztlich beriet. In treu besorgter, wahrhaft väterlicher Weise teilt er darin dem gemeinsamen ärztlichen Freund seine Hypothese über die Ursache von Nietzsches Erkrankung mit. 'Warum Nietzsche von Wagners abfiel?,' meinte Eiser einst: – 'ich weiß es allein, denn in meinem Hause, in meiner Stube hat sich dieser Abfall vollzogen, als ich Nietzsche jenen Brief in wohlmeinendster Absicht mitteilte. Ein Ausbruch von Raserei war die Folge, Nietzsche war außer sich: – die Worte sind nicht wiederzugeben, die er für Wagner fand. – Seitdem war der Bruch besiegelt.'" (At my instigation, Dr. [Otto] Eiser's widow took special care of one of Richard Wagner's letters to her deceased husband. As she told me, "The contents of this letter are known only to me, privy councilor Dr. Henry Thode, no one else." She sent it to the Wahnfried house [Wagner's villa in Bayreuth], and it is and will be deposited there from now on. I absolutely approve of that. It should always be withheld from the public. Richard Wagner wrote this letter when he learned that Dr. Eiser had met his young friend [Nietzsche] and gave him medical advice. In a faithful, truly fatherly way, he shares his hypothesis about the cause [i.e., masturbation] of Nietzsche's illness with his mutual medical friend. "Why did Nietzsche break away from Wagner?" Eiser once said: – "I alone know, because this break took place in my house, in my [examining] room, when I informed Nietzsche about that letter with the best of intentions. The result was an outbreak of rage, Nietzsche was beside himself: – the words that he found for Wagner cannot be repeated. – At that moment the break was sealed.") Cf. Naumburg, Early January 1880: Letter to Otto Eiser in Frankfurt. In German. In English.
2. Otto Eiser, "Richard Wagners, 'Der Ring des Nibelungen.' Ein exegetischer Versuch." Subsequently published in: Bayreuther Blätter. Bd. 1. (Nov. 1878), I: 309-317; II: 352-361; III: 361-366.
3. In Wagner's Ring cycle, "Wotan" is ruler of the Gods; "Wala" is another name for Erda, the earth goddess. See "Siegfried," 3:1.
4. At the time, Wagner was planning to found a school for "dramatic musical performance" in Bayreuth, where singers, musicians and conductors would be trained according to the specific requirements of Wagner's stage works.
5. In September 1877, Wagner started working on the music for his opera Parsifal.
6. At the time, Nietzsche's sabbatical was coming to an end. From October 1876 to October 1877, Nietzsche had been released from all teaching duties at the university and the pedagogium, mainly to restore his ailing health. The educational authorities in Basel officially relieved him of his duties at the pedagogium on 11-05-1877. See 10-17-1877: letter to Carl Burckhardt; 11-05-1877: letter from the Board of Trustees in Basel.
7. Dr. Otto Eiser and his colleague Dr. Gustav Krüger (1859-1917). On 10-06-1870, Eiser sent Nietzsche his examination report. Krüger, who recommended blue-lensed spectacles for Nietzsche, was an ophthalmologist of some repute with an office at 26 Höchststrasse in Frankfurt. In 1871, he published a study on the myopia of schoolchildren in Frankfurt. See "Untersuchung der Augen der Schüler des Frankfurter Gymnasiums. Ein Beitrag zur Entwicklungsgeschichte der Kurzsichtigkeit." In: Jahresbericht über die Verwaltung des Medicinalwesens, die Krankenanstalten und die öffentlichen Gesundheitsverhältnisse der Stadt Frankfurt a. M., herausgegeben vom Ärztlichen Verein. 15. Jahrgang 1871, 84. The third doctor was Nietzsche's opthalmologist and colleague at Basel, Johann Heinrich Schieß-Gemuseus (1833-1914). Cf. Sorrento, 02-18-1877: letter to Franziska Nietzsche.

Siegfried Lipiner.
As an older man.
From b/w photo.
Colorized and enhanced image ©The Nietzsche Channel.

Baden near Vienna, October 15, 1877:
Letter from Siegfried Lipiner1 et al.2

Highly esteemed Herr Professor!

A small band of young men,3 who have long wished for an opportunity to offer up to you their expression of sincere admiration and heartfelt gratitude, approach you today, on your birthday, with respectful regards and cordial congratulations. We believe we are proceeding entirely in accordance with your wishes, when, instead of trying to describe in words how much your writings4 have moved us, we rather give you the assurance that this emotion has strengthened in each of us the solemn resolve to follow you as our illuminating and captivating model, and — as far as our abilities will suffice — to strive, like you, with the most powerful will, selflessly and honestly, for the realization of that ideal which you have delineated to us in your writings, especially in your "Schopenhauer as Educator."5 We say this, fully aware of the heavy responsibility which we thereby impose upon ourselves, for none of us could bear the thought of any desire or deed that would make us ashamed before a role model who, as you do, lives within us as a mighty presence.

For the example that you have given us, for the courage with which you have inspired us, for the abundance of sublime thoughts that you have imparted to us, please receive, noble-minded man, our warm thanks. For your birthday celebration, however, we wish that it may be granted to you for a long time to create with full force and effect, and that your creativity and work bear living and magnificent fruits for you and others to enjoy. This we wish for you and for ourselves.

Siegfried Lipiner
Max Gruber
Victor Adler
Sigmund Adler
Heinrich Braun
Engelbert Pernerstorfer

On behalf of: Seraphin Bondi6

48, Praterstr. Vienna. October 15, 1877

My august friend!

Today is your birthday. In Vienna we think about this perhaps more than yourself. I had arranged this with several friends a long time ago, which has now been done, and have co-signed as a member of our band. But in addition, I would still like to say how much I, so to speak, personally love you, how faithfully my heart adores you and I hope that this loyalty will be fruitful not merely within the limits of the personal. Become and remain healthy, my cherished one, and may your heroically-composed soul be spared from small pains, and thus — if possible! — also have your great pain abated or at least relieved; I, that is, our people, wish health for your greater self. —

And remain good to me! I suffer a lot and need you. If I merely knew that you, from time to time, were thinking of me, then it would do my innermost soul good. That I would really soon see you, that I might really get closer to you! that all the barriers between us would really fall! Ah! That would be something great — to attain what is most personal by means of what is most suprapersonal! — I thank you very much for your efforts, my good man.7 A job as an educator would be very nice for me, if I had the chance to be able to be somewhat effective, I mean, if the pupil would not be miserably unalterable. Then I would devote all my strength to such an activity with heartfelt joy. I have some confidence in that too since I have really achieved a lot and actually, due to an inner necessity, have always sought and studied educational subjects, mostly without further interest. I could give lessons on all high school subjects, not only in descriptive natural sciences. The favorite one for me, if I were to have any young people — or if she were a girl — would be able to rouse and take action philosophically. That would be wonderful! Because I would be at home. (Incidentally, I was always quite a splendid student and have always taught since I was 14 years old.)

Only of course I would have to have time left over for doing and learning a vast number of things. But I leave that entirely to you, to whom I do not even need to recommend such things. If it could be in Basel or in Italy, then I would be happy: of course — for now — in Basel.

I did not know the "Mem[oirs] o[f an] Id[ealist]."8 I purchased it right away and have now read it so eagerly, when "Echo"9 permits me. It is splendid! One actually feels ashamed before this woman. When I am done, I will write to Fräulein von Meysenbug. — Please, still send regards to Herrn Prof. Overbeck on my behalf, most respectfully and cordially. I have read his Pamphlet of Polemics and Peace10 and am delighted. I still have to reflect on the last part. Sincere thanks to the author!

Well, my dear middle-Hegelian, read the enclosed essay11 on my P[rometheus]. What do you think? — This Volkelt12 is actually an incredibly estimable man: a very gifted mind, an open heart, a clear mind. Unfortunately he's fallen into Hegelry.13 What he says about our agreement with Hegel is indeed quite correct, as long as it refers to that which not only Hegel, but also Heraclitus has said.14 In contrast, the absurd world logic — recreated in Hegel's textbook15 — and especially the main blight, the flat conception of time — V[olkelt] has not gotten rid of, and that's bad for him in general. I have been working a lot on him and will continue to do so. It is worth the trouble. He is very honest. — What he says16 about your opinion of the song is based on a simple misunderstanding. — He is not musical and barely knows Wagner.

Here, 5 songs of my "Echo" are now finished. I am now satisfied. While writing, I speak the verses aloud to myself and imagine you are listening. Everything you do not approve of is changed. I am now working on the 6th song. But I pay for every hour of work with a 3-hour headache. It is misery!

How are you and your eyes doing? When will your book17 be published? Will you let me proofread it? You wrote nothing about that.18 — You have little time, but now and then will you still get a postcard and write on it: "I am well" and send it to me. Okay?

Does the collective letter really please you? It is intended very seriously. We could have had a lot more signatures if we had taken it less strictly.

I can hardly wait for your book. Please, what is your opinion of F. A. Lange? ("Hist[ory] o[f] Materialism." "Labor Question.")19 I admire him greatly.

Now fare you quite sincerely well, my dear cherished Nietzsche, and write soon. With your eye troubles, you should not deal with the proofsheets yourself. I will do it quite well.

With love and devotion
Siegfried Lipiner

1. Siegfried Lipiner (born Salomo Lipiner, 1856-1911): Jewish Viennese writer, and author of Der entfesselte Prometheus. Eine Dichtung in fünf Gesängen. Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1876. According to a lost letter from Franziska Nietzsche in Naumburg to Nietzsche in Sorrento, Lipiner, trying to meet Nietzsche, turned up in Naumburg sometime in the first third of July 1877. Lipiner was a member of the student organization at the University of Vienna, the "Leseverein der deutschen Studenten Wiens" (the group existed from 1872-1878). Amidst its members, he had assumed leadership of the "Pernerstorfer circle," or the so-called "Nietzsche Society." Earlier overtures by the group to Nietzsche were made in April and June 1876 by another member, Joseph Ehrlich. For more information on the "Pernerstorfer circle," see Aldo Venturelli, "Nietzsche in der Berggasse 19. Über die erste Nietzsche-Rezeption in Wien." In: Kunst, Wissenschaft und Geschichte bei Nietzsche. Berlin; New York: de Gruyter, 2003, 257-290 (also in Nietzsche-Studien, 13 (1984): 448-480). William J. McGrath, "Mahler and the Vienna Nietzsche Society." In: Jacob Golomb, ed., Nietzsche and Jewish Culture. London: Routledge, 1997, 218-232. Reinhard Gasser, "Kontakte mit Nietzsche-Verehrern in der Studentenzeit." In: Nietzsche und Freud. Berlin; New York: de Gruyter, 1997, 7-29. For more details on Lipiner, see Siegfried Mandel, "The Lipiner Interlude." In: Nietzsche & the Jews. Exaltation & Denigration. Amherst: Prometheus, 1998, 123-136. Cf. 04-02-1884 letter to Franz Overbeck.
2. Max Gruber (1853-1927); Victor Adler (1852-1918); Sigmund Adler (1853-1920); Heinrich Braun (1854-1927); Engelbert Pernerstorfer (1850-1918); and Seraphin Bondi (1854-1896).
3. The members of the "Pernerstorfer circle," or the so-called "Nietzsche Society" at the University of Vienna.
4. Nietzsche's writings before Menschliches, Allzumenschliches, i.e., The Birth of Tragedy, and the four "Untimely Meditations."
5. Unzeitgemässe Betrachtungen, 3. Schopenhauer als Erzieher, (Untimely Meditations, 3. Schopenhauer as Educator). German Text.
6. See Note 2 above.
7. A reference to a missing part of Nietzsche's letter above. Nietzsche might have offered assistance with Lipiner's living arrangements in Basel.
8. Malwida von Meysenbug, Memoiren einer Idealistin. Stuttgart: Auerbach, 1876.
9. A poem written by Lipiner when he was still a student in 1874. See Siegfried Lipiner, Echo. Eine Dichtung. (Abschrift aus ca. 1874.) Graz: 2009. Cf. Baden bei Wien, 09-10-1877: Letter from Siegfried Lipiner to Nietzsche in Basel.
10. See Franz Overbeck, Ueber die Christlichkeit unserer heutigen Theologie. Streit- und Friedensschrift. [On the Christianity of Our Present Theology. A Pamphlet of Polemics and Peace.] Leipzig: Fritzsch, 1873.
11. Johannes Volkelt, "Der entfesselte Prometheus." In: Die Wage. Wochenblatt für Politik und Literatur. Herausgegeben von Dr. Guido Weiß. 5. Jahrgang. Nr. 38. Berlin: Selbstverlag, 1877, 602-607; 617-24.
12. Johannes Volkelt (1848-1930): at the time, a private docent of philosophy in Jena, and later (1883-1889) a professor in Basel.
13. Hegelry. Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) likened adherents of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831) to "intellectually castrated" people "full of the most ludicrous presumption." See "Ueber die Universitäts-Philosophie." In: Parerga and Paralipomena, 1. Leipzig: Brockhaus, 1874, 179. "Mit Einem Worte, steht nicht die am Brütofen der Hegelei herangereifte Jugend da, als am Geiste kastrirte Männer, unfähig zu denken und voll der lächerlichsten Präsumtion?" (In short, are not the youths who have grown to maturity in the incubator of Hegelry like men intellectually castrated, incapable of thinking and full of the most ludicrous presumption?)
14. Cf. G. F. Hegel, "Geschichte der Griechischen Philosophie. D. Philosophie des Heraklit." In: Vorlesungen über die Geschichte der Philosophie. Berlin: Duncker und Humblot, 1840, 300-321.
15. G. F. Hegel, "Die Logik." In: Encyklopädie der philosophischen Wissenschaften im Grundrisse. Berlin: Duncker und Humblot, 1840.
16. Unknown reference, though Volkelt refers to Nietzsche in his Lipiner review, op. cit., 607.
17. Menschliches, Allzumenschliches.
18. In his 09-10-1877 letter, Lipiner offered to proofread for Nietzsche. Unfortunately, only a fragment of Nietzsche's reply exists, so we can only guess at its full contents. See Rosenlauibad, August 24, 1877: Fragment of a letter to Siegfried Lipiner in Jena.
19. Friedrich Albert Lange, Geschichte des Materialismus und Kritik seiner Bedeutung in der Gegenwart. Iserlohn: Baedeker, 1866. Die Arbeiterfrage. Ihre Bedeutung für Gegenwart und Zukunft. 3. Aufl. Winterthur: Bleuler-Hausheer, 1875.

Carl Burckhardt.
From tinted photograph, undated.
© Universität Basel.
Colorized and enhanced image The Nietzsche Channel.

Basel, October 17, 1877:
Letter to Carl Burckhardt.1

Highly esteemed Herr Governing Councilor!

After having spent a year2 — thanks to the favor which was shown to me by the granted vacation — striving to regain my health through every conceivable form of rest and treatment, I must unfortunately admit that at the end of this respite I have absolutely not achieved this goal; indeed, a recent thorough examination made by three doctors3 gave me the unfortunate certainty that much more serious dangers were looming, especially with regard to my eyesight, and that I would have to decide on even more drastic measures. The doctors unanimously required that I should absolutely abstain from reading and writing for several years; in this regard, I refer to the enclosed memorandum4 which was drawn up for me by Dr. Eiser in Frankfurt am Main, after joint consultation with the three doctors mentioned. If I also add the fact that my headaches rob me of one or two days a week, I see myself compelled, in order to be able to fulfill my academic duties this winter to some extent, to submit a request to the high educational authorities for a permanent release from my teaching post at the at the Pedagogium;5 subject to the fact that I will most likely be forced to make further decisions about all of my teaching activities here. — You will believe me, highly esteemed Governing Councilor, that I am leaving with regret an institution in whose prosperity I have been involved with genuine interest for almost nine years, as well as believe that I am with devotion

Yours[,]
sincerely obliged to you and the local authorities[,]
Dr[.] Friedrich Nietzsche, professor and teacher at the Pedagogium[.]

1. Carl Burckhardt (1831-1901), President of Basel University's board of trustees (1874-1890).
2. From October 1876 to October 1877, Nietzsche had been released from all teaching duties at the university and the pedagogium, mainly to restore his ailing health.
3. Dr. Otto Eiser (1834-1898) and his colleague Dr. Gustav Krüger (1859-1917). On 10-06-1870, Eiser sent Nietzsche his examination report, which Nietzsche attached to this letter. Krüger, who recommended blue-lensed spectacles for Nietzsche, was an ophthalmologist of some repute with an office at 26 Höchststrasse in Frankfurt. In 1871, he published a study on the myopia of schoolchildren in Frankfurt. See "Untersuchung der Augen der Schüler des Frankfurter Gymnasiums. Ein Beitrag zur Entwicklungsgeschichte der Kurzsichtigkeit." In: Jahresbericht über die Verwaltung des Medicinalwesens, die Krankenanstalten und die öffentlichen Gesundheitsverhältnisse der Stadt Frankfurt a. M., herausgegeben vom Ärztlichen Verein. 15. Jahrgang 1871, 84. The third doctor was Nietzsche's opthalmologist and colleague at Basel, Johann Heinrich Schieß-Gemuseus (1833-1914). Cf. Sorrento, 02-18-1877: letter to Franziska Nietzsche.
4. See Frankfurt a. M., 10-06-1870: Letter/examination report from Otto Eiser to Nietzsche in Basel.
5. The educational authorities in Basel officially relieved him of his duties at the pedagogium on 11-05-1877. See Basel, 11-05-1877: Letter from the Board of Trustees in Basel.

Title page.
Bayreuther Blätter. Bd. 1. (Nov. 1878).
Enhanced image The Nietzsche Channel.

Bayreuth, October 22, 1877:
Letter from Cosima Wagner.

I am extremely obliged to you, dear friend, for sending me Dr[.] Eyser's [sic] work;1 I read it with great interest and I am pleased that the author has erected the edifice of his commentary on such a correct foundation as that of Schopenhauerian philosophy. But it is quite difficult for me to say yes or no to the hypotheses, and even "a decisive one."2 For me everything is a mythical event; Wotan sacrificed his eye to win Fricka and says to Siegfried,3 with my left eye, which I do not have, you can see my right one, that is enough for me, and I do not ask any further: "What did the poet want to say by that," for I take what he says literally and sensorily. But move on. Someone with such a profound interpretation as your friend, I like to listen to and willingly follow, and if I cannot say he is right, because that would rule out other interpretations, I will still say: he feels correctly and interprets beautifully. You know my naive susceptibility to art; I read the second part of Faust,4 indeed even the Divina Commedia5 without commentary, devoting myself solely to the creative power of the poet, and so in my youth I got to know and love the Ring of the Nibelung, without even having a clue about the German mythology. I only informed myself afterwards, and I welcomed all meaningful interpretations and explanations as beautiful productivity stimulated by the poetry and not required for it. And among these works I welcome with particular respect and satisfaction the writing which you were kind enough to send me. But how happily I would have welcomed it if you had at the same time told me something comforting about the state of your health!6 But the "worm" of existence, as you call it,7 does not vanish. To whom could one look without at the same time thinking of the trial that is imposed on him? Our friend Overbeck, who really pleased me with his letter8 and the description of his marital happiness, seems to have been all but spared. — We now have Herr von Wolzogen9 with us, he will most likely settle down here with his wife, which is agreeable to us in every respect.

Now I think of Wotan's10 eye again, the sun that is reflected in the sea, the will that strives to recognize itself as something else, and the whole series of images and profound interpretations which are linked to the poet's figures, and the scenes which he presents us.

Our friend Malwida is now in Rome,11 it was certainly odd that she could not be there the only year [in] which we came. Farewell, best friend, how much patience you must exercise now! It hurts me to think this!

C. W.12

1. Otto Eiser (1834-1898) and his wife Sophie visited Nietzsche in Rosenlauibad from 07-29-1877 to 08-01-1877. Eiser was a Frankfurt doctor, and admirer of Nietzsche and Richard Wagner. Nietzsche visited the Eisers in Frankfurt from 10-01-1877 to 10-07-1877. Otto Eiser examined Nietzsche and disclosed to him a letter from Richard Wagner opining on the cause of Nietzsche's poor health — namely, masturbation. According to a friend of Eiser, Eiser admitted that this was the real cause of Nietzsche's break with Wagner. See Sander L. Gilman, "Otto Eiser and Nietzsche's Illness: A Hitherto Unpublished Text." In: Nietzsche Studien (2009) 38:396-409. Dr. Eugen Kretzer. "Erinnerungen an Dr. Otto Eiser." (Memories of Dr. Otto Eiser.) Ca. 1912. Excerpt: "Auf meine Veranlassung hat die Witwe Dr. Eisers einem der Briefe Richard Wagners an ihren verstorbenen Gatten besondere Fürsorge zugewendet. Den Inhalt dieses Briefes kennt, wie sie mir sagte, außer mir nur Hr Geheimrat Dr. Henry Thode, sonst niemand. Sie hat ihn dem Hause Wahnfried übersandt, und dort ist und bleibt er fortan deponiert. Ich billige das durchaus. Er sollte der Öffentlichkeit stets vorenthalten werden. Richard Wagner schrieb diesen Brief, als er erfuhr, daß Dr. Eiser seinen jungen Freund kennen gelernt hatte und ärztlich beriet. In treu besorgter, wahrhaft väterlicher Weise teilt er darin dem gemeinsamen ärztlichen Freund seine Hypothese über die Ursache von Nietzsches Erkrankung mit. 'Warum Nietzsche von Wagners abfiel?,' meinte Eiser einst: – 'ich weiß es allein, denn in meinem Hause, in meiner Stube hat sich dieser Abfall vollzogen, als ich Nietzsche jenen Brief in wohlmeinendster Absicht mitteilte. Ein Ausbruch von Raserei war die Folge, Nietzsche war außer sich: – die Worte sind nicht wiederzugeben, die er für Wagner fand. – Seitdem war der Bruch besiegelt.'" (At my instigation, Dr. [Otto] Eiser's widow took special care of one of Richard Wagner's letters to her deceased husband. As she told me, "The contents of this letter are known only to me, privy councilor Dr. Henry Thode, no one else." She sent it to the Wahnfried house [Wagner's villa in Bayreuth], and it is and will be deposited there from now on. I absolutely approve of that. It should always be withheld from the public. Richard Wagner wrote this letter when he learned that Dr. Eiser had met his young friend [Nietzsche] and gave him medical advice. In a faithful, truly fatherly way, he shares his hypothesis about the cause [i.e., masturbation] of Nietzsche's illness with his mutual medical friend. "Why did Nietzsche break away from Wagner?" Eiser once said: – "I alone know, because this break took place in my house, in my [examining] room, when I informed Nietzsche about that letter with the best of intentions. The result was an outbreak of rage, Nietzsche was beside himself: – the words that he found for Wagner cannot be repeated. – At that moment the break was sealed.") Cf. Naumburg, Early January 1880: Letter to Otto Eiser in Frankfurt. In German. In English. For the referenced writing, see Otto Eiser, "Richard Wagners, 'Der Ring des Nibelungen.' Ein exegetischer Versuch." In: Bayreuther Blätter. Bd. 1. (Nov. 1878), I: 309-317; II: 352-361; III: 361-366.
2. See Basel, 10-10-1877: letter to Cosima Wagner.
3. See "Siegfried," 3:2. "Mit dem Auge, / das als andres mir fehlt, / erblickst du selber das eine, / das mir zum Sehen verblieb." (With an eye, / like the one that I lack / you yourself look upon the other eye / that is left me for sight.)
4. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), Faust, Zweiter Teil. Published posthumously in 1832. See, e.g., the 1856 edition, which Nietzsche owned.
5. Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), La divina commedia, completed in 1320.
6. From October 1876 to October 1877, Nietzsche had been released from all teaching duties at the university and the pedagogium, mainly to restore his ailing health.
7. See Basel, 10-10-1877: letter to Cosima Wagner. "Fast alle meine Bekannten, an welche ich augenblicklich denke, haben ihren Wurm, der an ihnen tüchtig herumbeißt: so will ich denn ungescheut von meinem Wurme reden. Nachdem ich ein Jahr lang auf alle Weise gesucht habe, meine Gesundheit wiederzufinden, unterwarf ich mich in den letzten Wochen einer sorgfältigen und andauernden Untersuchung durch drei ausgezeichnete Ärzte." (Almost all of my acquaintances, of whom I am thinking at the moment, have their worms that can bite them: so I want to speak unabashedly about my worms. After a year of trying every possible way to regain my health, in the last few weeks I have submitted to a careful and constant examination by three excellent doctors.)
8. The letter is lost.
9. Hans von Wolzogen (1848-1938), whom Richard Wagner invited to Bayreuth in 1877 to edit the Bayreuther Blätter.
10. In Wagner's Ring cycle, "Wotan" is ruler of the Gods.
11. When the Wagners spent a few weeks in Rome on their trip to Italy in November 1876, Meysenbug — who had settled in Rome — was in Sorrento with Nietzsche, Albert Brenner and Paul Rée.
12. This was the final letter Cosima Wagner wrote to Nietzsche (she wrote him 95 letters from 1869 to 1877). Cf. Note 1 above.

Vienna.
By: Oscar Kramer (1835-1892).
From tinted photo, ca. 1870-1880.
Colorized and enhanced image © The Nietzsche Channel.

Vienna, October 23, 1877:
Letter from Irma Regner von Bleyleben.1

Dear Professor!

Forgive me that I, being a complete stranger, am so bold as to write to you. I hesitated for a long time with this, for it took a big decision to step out of myself and at the same time to commit an indiscretion. But I can no longer rest, I have to tell you at last that your words2 have shaken me to the core, that you have conjured up a violent storm. I do not know what will become of it. The path, which I have to take, I do not see clearly before me. Would you like to show it to me? That's what I am asking you.

You may wonder why I am now bothering you; I can only say one thing to that: if I entrust myself to the guidance of another person for a higher intellectual existence, even if it were only for the shortest path, I must be convinced that my guide possesses the requisite intellectual strength and an equally necessary nobility of character; that one cannot acquire this conviction from innumerable people whom one meets in life is a fact of which one becomes aware early on. You will object that you do not know me. If I tell you something of my life, you will get to know me well enough. You will excuse me if I bore you with such information, but if you want to help me you may find it necessary to know what I am about to tell you.

I did not experience so-called vicissitudes. Outwardly everything went smoothly. I scraped by until I was ten years old, then I went to a monastic educational institution. There I failed, but only partially; I gazed and marveled at everything, did not understand myself, others even less. Only one thing was clear to me: a violent aversion to the educational routine, to which I saw myself falling victim. Far too shy to dare to be overtly indignant, I limited myself to passive resistance. With the desperation of a drowning person, I clung to the salvation of my individuality; I stubbornly went my own way, despising all direct educational influence. The only thing I could not escape from was the direct influence of a shining example: every noble, sublime phenomenon carried me away. The second educational factor was literature; I felt more at home in the world of fairy tales than in the real one. My studies did not go according to plan. My teachers were surprised at my low intelligence, they said I was mentally retarded. When I left the institution four years later, my teacher3 declared that I was not suitable for an institutional education; I am like a plant put into strange soil in which it threatens to wither. And yet I ended up in a second institution. Why? I supposedly became hungry. A new struggle awaited me, I had to rescue my nationality; I succeeded: I am an enthusiastic German. I would enter the world at the age of sixteen. I knew that I would not feel at home there, for I had always had the feeling that I was destined for another star, and only came to this earth by mistake. But it turned out to be worse than I thought. I can find no expression for the feeling of dread, of terror, which the stale, hollow, material bustle of public life inspired in me. A morbid aversion toward everything ugly and ignoble increased my discontent to the utmost. I felt infinitely unhappy. What I could not understand at all was the pomposity for the most trivial events and a complete disregard for all higher intellectual interests. At first I thought such people clinging to their shell were insane, but when, almost without exception, I encountered this mindless behavior, I completely lost my standards and wondered if I were not mentally ill and everyone else were sane.

In this chaos of terrible feelings, religion came to me. It saved me from despair, it guided and comforted me. The ideal of Christianity had to delight me, in accordance with the basic features of my character: always wanting only the highest. Where could there be anything higher than the Christian ideal? And despite my enthusiasm, I did not attain it. Did the laziness of which that traveler speaks4 prevent me? Because I failed to attain it, I sought knowledge. All of a sudden, I was seized by a learning fever with such force that I learned everything chaotically without rest or peace. I even read books I did not understand a word of! At the same time I fell into a second error; I thought it wrong to be different from everyone else, so I tried to prostrate myself, but I played my part badly. When I first heard a work of art by Richard Wagner, I became fully aware of the complete unnaturalness and absurdity of my actions. Was it magic, was it power? I felt captivated. Richard Wagner, the great spirit who dared to face the world as something unique, revived my cowardly, weak courage and I became myself again. The genius of Richard Wagner taught me that art is something great and sublime. All the magical beauty of the fairytale world that I wove around me in my childhood days resonates within me in his music. He has spread a glorious veil over the ugly world. How I thank him, how I love him for it. That you recognize him, that you raise him up so high, how that delights me; if anything could have increased my confidence in you, it would have been your hymn to Richard Wagner.5 Each of your works made a profound impression on me. You have provoked a struggle, the struggle of my individuality with Christianity. I am caught up in a web of opposing aspirations, tell me what to do and I will break free. I am now twenty-five years old and a teacher in a private school. I love my job and never want to give it up, but my inner job comes before this outer job: to become a whole, great person. Do you want to help me? Would you be so kind as to deal with me?

If I have been too long-winded in my communications, forgive me; it is so hard to draw the line between what is necessary and what is superfluous. Perhaps it is too trivial for you to direct your attention to the small world of ideas of a complete stranger, or you have no time to write to me; should you be in any way uneasy about dealing with me — then pardon my indiscretion, and consider my letter unwritten.

Irma Regner von Bleyleben.
Wien, Landstraße Ungargasse Nro 3.

1. Irma Regner von Bleyleben (1852-?). Daughter of Theodor Anton Wenzel Regner Ritter von Bleyleben (1822-?) and Anna Regner von Bleyleben (?-?). According to Nietzsche's 04-07-1884 letter to Franz Overbeck, Bleyleben was a friend of Resa von Schirnhofer (1855-1948). Bleyleben studied at the Ursuline school in Prague for six years, finishing her pedagogical studies in Vienna. New research shows that she became a teacher in Chile. See "Boletin de instruccion pública." In: Anales de la Universidad de Chile. Vol. 66. Santiago: Impresta nacional, 1884, 1072. "La señorita Irma Regner von Bleyleben, contratada como profesora de jeografía, cosmografía, historia i caligrafía, frecuentó el curso completo de seis años del Instituto Normal de las Ursulinas en Praga, i ademas el colejio de Veszprim, pero terminó sus estudios pedagójicos en Viena; i despues de haber practicado la enseñanza durante algunos años, obtuvo un diploma de maestra, previas las pruebas finales, en el Instituto normal de Santa Ana." (Miss Irma Regner von Bleyleben, hired as a teacher of geography, cosmography, history and calligraphy, attended the full six-year course of the Ursuline Normal Institute in Prague, and also the Veszprim school, but finished her pedagogical studies in Vienna; after having practiced teaching for a few years, she obtained a teacher's diploma after passing final exams at the Normal Institute of Santa Ana.) Nietzsche replied to Bleyleben and gave her some advice. Unfortunately, we can only glean his exact advice from her surviving replies. Bleyleben's move to Chile was apparently either unknown to Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche, or she died there, so that Nietzsche's replies to her are lost.
2. Die Geburt der Tragödie, and the four Unzeitgemässe Betrachtungen.
3. Unknown person.
4. Unzeitgemässe Betrachtungen, 3: Schopenhauer als Erzieher, §1 (Untimely Meditations, 3: Schopenhauer as Educator, §1). "Jener Reisende, der viel Länder und Völker und mehrere Erdtheile gesehn hatte und gefragt wurde, welche Eigenschaft der Menschen er überall wiedergefunden habe, sagte: sie haben einen Hang zur Faulheit. Manchen wird es dünken, er hätte richtiger und gültiger gesagt: sie sind alle furchtsam. Sie verstecken sich unter Sitten und Meinungen." (A traveler who had seen many countries and peoples and several continents and was asked what characteristic in people he had found everywhere said: they have a propensity for laziness. It will seem to many that he should have said more accurately and validly: they are all fearful. They hide themselves behind customs and opinions.)
5. Unzeitgemässe Betrachtungen, 4. Richard Wagner in Bayreuth.

Birth Announcement from Alfred & Louise Ott.
© Klassik Stiftung Weimar, Goethe- und Schiller-Archiv.1
Enhanced image The Nietzsche Channel.

Paris, October 27, 1877:
Birth Announcement from
Monsieur & Madame Alfred Ott.

Mr. & Mrs.

Alfred Ott have the honor

to inform you of the

birth of their son

Fernand.

Paris, October 27, 1877.

1. GSA 71/230,1. Nietzsche used the reverse side of the birth announcement for a fair copy of Menschliches, Allzumenschliches, §425 (Human, All Too Human, §425). See Mp XIV 1, 406.

 

 

 

Siegfried Lipiner.
From b/w photo.
Colorized and enhanced image ©The Nietzsche Channel.

Baden bei Wien, November 3, 1877:
Letter from Siegfried Lipiner.1

48, Praterstr[asse]. Vienna, November 3, 1877.

Never have I thought of you so much than in the last few days, my dear friend, and yet I have committed a grave sin of omission against you just now. Ah, if you were with me, you would forgive me! The day before yesterday I sent "Echo"2 to Leipzig.3 Grueling work, the excited state of my incessantly brooding mind, constantly reviewing and improving what I have accomplished, the unspeakable exhaustion from the work and even more from what one experiences during such a work, the great increase in physical suffering: none of this would have stopped me from writing to you. No, really! I could not have compelled the dissonances of my poem to reconcile, could not have written the last parts of my poetry with all my soul, if I had sighed with fright from time to time, if, having expressed my pain, I had fully and consciously abandoned my feelings with which your last letter4 filled me.

My cherished one, I really mean what I say when I tell you that while reading your letter I felt as if what was threatening to happen to you would happen to me. Threaten! For God's sake, if at all possible, let me know it no longer threatens! I suffer tremendously along with you — !

First and foremost, — before I continue to write: I do not know to whom you dictated the last letter. But I sincerely and urgently request this person, in the name of caring friendship, give me news about you and your condition, if possible today, after receiving this letter and generally as often as possible — even if only with a few lines, but so that I know how things stand. I hope that this request will be granted and thank you from the bottom of my heart.

My friends5 were very upset. I could see how deeply hurt they felt knowing that you were so tormented. Thank you very much for your beautiful words, which touched and strengthened us all.

I think my "Echo" was a complete success. After "Prom[etheus]" I had pangs of conscience, now I do not have any. I am enclosing a copy of a passage from the eighth canto,6 the one that, relatively, most easily stands out from the entire thing. — How happy I would be with my work if all my thoughts were not with you now!

Now a question: — But I urgently ask you, my cherished Nietzsche, to answer it conscientiously and in detail and without regard to me: could I be of any use to you if I came to Basel now?7 I would make your work easier, perhaps do something for you, read to you, write for you, would deal with editing your book8 — in short, I would devote myself entirely to you; and if it could only last 4 weeks, would probably still be of some use. I could get enough for my travel and necessities here for just about a month or more. You wrote to me that your book was finished; why does it have to remain unavailable for sale until the middle of next year? I can and would be well able to proofread it — I would prosper in the joy of being able to serve you: certainly you would do me good if you wanted to make use of my offer. Please, an honest answer! I can be with you next week if you allow it. Don't worry about me! I would be happy, morally supportive, even recuperative — and I am good for many things.

I have not yet written to Frl. von Meysenbug. But it will happen soon. Is she permanently in Rome? Is the given address still valid? She is a great soul!

Farewell to you, my good, my dearly beloved friend. What I wish for you — how do I say it? — Please do not take my comfort into account! Someone else cannot be found, and that would be insulting. So — see you soon in Basel?

I hunger for news of you — may it be a pleasant report!

With sincerest devotion your
Lipiner

(The coffin of the enchanted Echo is guarded by a mighty serpent, with whose poison all the evil spirits of the world nourish themselves and fulfill their being. Whoever has felt its bite suffers in his bosom all the torments of the earth together as one great torment. Dion, the hero and singer, has slain the serpent; but stung by its venom, his whole body is transformed with tremendous pain. In one moment, the mighty young man becomes a wounded old man. Dion, to whom Echo once appeared in a dream, bestowed the gift of song, who then lost that gift, cursing his goddess in the torment of doubt; then Dion, by the dictate of fate, receives it again. He begs for a sign of regained mercy — looks up — sees in the darkness a gleaming eye and grabs the harp quickly:)

[What comes before and after would be too tedious to tell. Just one thing: After singing the following song, Dion awakens the goddess by giving her his own life — and then, a resurrected man marries the risen one.] But the song reads:

"Who are you? You shine with divine splendor —
O do you appear to me as a god?
A ring of ghosts nestles at your feet,
Ready to serve you humbly!
A purple robe envelops your body,
Your shimmering hand beckons commandingly —
As the throng that lifts you up,
             trembles with joy!

Disperse, you clouds! Reveal him to me! —
How his face looks in the dark!
So proud, so noble, like no god ever appeared;
How he rises up to the heavens!
Brown locks — that totally calm eye —
Ha, do I know you? What do I call you? Is it you? You? —
An earth-born man greets you and says,
             Dion, chosen one!

He draws near — the last cloud dissolves —
What a luminous, floating entrance!
O Dion, my trembling spirit beholds
How blessed gods bow down to you!
The gods who never bled in the battle,
They bow to your bloody suffering,
And to you, who in holy love
             remains victorious!

There, far below you, lie creature upon creature,
Crouched in furious impotence;
Now they creep up, hunched and doubled up —
You beckon: How they shudder with horror!
How they fall so suddenly! How they howl and flee!
And from above can be heard: Sink down! Sink down!
For all living pains
             are borne deep in his heart!

O can you carry in your breast
The torturous torments of the universe?
And might your so knowingly victorious face,
Shine like the morning that smiles?
And if you can bear the endless suffering:
How do you bear the endless bliss?
And must not the most delighted victor,
              succumb to the flames?

You are smiling? All the swords that struck you,
Were each forged by hell's companions, —
And you smile? And softly like clear crystal,
Peace shines in your eyes?
Ha, whatever is turning in your conniving brain,
Did not even rob you of your own smile?
And the embers that tried to consume you,
              can only transfigure?

And pleasure tells you, and pain announces to you:
Hell's struggle is vanity!
Your courage is like a diamond, your longing like bronze,
Your crown rises up to the stars!
Your eye is like the sun, your echo like thunder, —
Your mind will grasp the universe;
And more than the workings of the universe
              grasp your love!

You prince of love — where is your reward?
What do you wish to embrace blissfully?
Where is your crown and where is your throne?
Where does your loving desire rest?
Listen, listen! It rushes in the divine ranks,
They bow, entwine, enclose you —
And busily embracing you tightly
              the congregation cheers!

And they roaringly ring out: The dawn blazes up!
Yes, let it dawn a thousand times!
Let us with buzzing wingbeats
Carry the groom to the bride!
The most glorious bridegroom, loving and trusting,
To the most glorious bride that the universe has ever beheld;
Up, let us wed in song the
              noblest of souls!

As it burns in the west — and shines in the south,
And the east and the north blaze up,—
And in a single sea of fire glows
All light roaringly together;
Then it sings — without a word — like a jubilant child —
The soul becomes drunk, the eye becomes blind —
And far through the workings of the universe
             joy blares out!"

1. Siegfried Lipiner (born Salomo Lipiner, 1856-1911): Jewish Viennese writer, and author of Der entfesselte Prometheus. Eine Dichtung in fünf Gesängen. Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1876. According to a lost letter from Franziska Nietzsche in Naumburg to Nietzsche in Sorrento, Lipiner, trying to meet Nietzsche, turned up in Naumburg sometime in the first third of July 1877. Lipiner was a member of the student organization at the University of Vienna, the "Leseverein der deutschen Studenten Wiens" (the group existed from 1872-1878). Amidst its members, he had assumed leadership of the "Pernerstorfer circle," or the so-called "Nietzsche Society." Earlier overtures by the group to Nietzsche were made in April and June 1876 by another member, Joseph Ehrlich. For more information on the "Pernerstorfer circle," see Aldo Venturelli, "Nietzsche in der Berggasse 19. Über die erste Nietzsche-Rezeption in Wien." In: Kunst, Wissenschaft und Geschichte bei Nietzsche. Berlin; New York: de Gruyter, 2003, 257-290 (also in Nietzsche-Studien, 13 (1984): 448-480). William J. McGrath, "Mahler and the Vienna Nietzsche Society." In: Jacob Golomb, ed., Nietzsche and Jewish Culture. London: Routledge, 1997, 218-232. Reinhard Gasser, "Kontakte mit Nietzsche-Verehrern in der Studentenzeit." In: Nietzsche und Freud. Berlin; New York: de Gruyter, 1997, 7-29. For more details on Lipiner, see Siegfried Mandel, "The Lipiner Interlude." In: Nietzsche & the Jews. Exaltation & Denigration. Amherst: Prometheus, 1998, 123-136. Cf. 04-02-1884 letter to Franz Overbeck.
2. A poem first written by Lipiner when he was still a student in 1874. See Siegfried Lipiner, Echo. Eine Dichtung. (Abschrift aus ca. 1874.) Graz: 2009.
3. A reference to Breitkopf & Härtel, his publisher in Leipzig.
4. A lost letter from Nietzsche.
5. His fellow students at the University of Vienna who co-signed his 10-15-1877 letter to Nietzsche.
6. Translated below. For a fine recent summary and analysis of the Narcissus/Echo fable, see the sub-chapter "Echo and Narcissus: the deception of the reflection." In: Gianpiero Rosati, Narcissus and Pygmalion. Illusion and Spectacle in Ovid's Metamorphoses. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 2022, 38-55. For Lipiner's poetic influence on Nietzsche, cf., e.g., "Ecce Homo" in Die fröhliche Wissenschaft, "Scherz, List und Rache": Vorspiel in deutschen Reimen, Nr. 62; Also sprach Zarathustra, 3, "Von alten und neuen Tafeln," §13.
7. He never went to Basel.
8. Menschliches Allzumenschliches (Human, All Too Human), German Text.

Basel.
Cathedral and gardens.
Picture postcard, 1907.
Enhanced image © The Nietzsche Channel.

Basel, November 5, 1877:
Letter from the Board of Trustees of the University and of the Pedagogium of Basel.1

Highly esteemed sir,

I have the honor to inform you that, according to the resolution of the Board of the Educational Council of November 1st, the same has granted your request to be relieved of the Greek lessons for the 3rd class of the Pedagogium and has granted the necessary credit for the appointment of a substitute. In the current winter semester, these lessons will be taught by Dr. Ach[illes] Burckhardt.2

The submitted medical report is attached.3

Receive, Herr Professor, with the best wishes for the restoration of your health, the assurance of our sincere esteem.