Heidelberg, Dresden, Berlin, Vienna

In the various permutations of German Romanticism from its beginnings in the 1790s, two factors remain constant: a penchant for collaborative, transdisciplinary work, and the formation of small circles—often in university towns—whose particular character often depended upon and contributed to the prevailing intellectual discourse of that locale. For the four cities highlighted in the chapter heading, one further factor needs to be considered: the impact of the Napoleonic reorganization of central Europe. The breakup and dispersal of the Jena Romantics coincided with the collapse of the moribund Holy Roman Empire, which officially ended in 1806 but whose final dissolution began with the Treaty of Lunéville in 1801. This chapter looks at the interplay between history and creative collaboration, literary innovation and political aspiration or restraint, as the main energies of German Romanticism relocate themselves in these different cities at different times.