Friedrich von Gentz | Archive of c.350 autograph letters and billets mostly to his mistress Countess Fuchs, c.1812-1831, apparently unpublished

Friedrich von Gentz.

Important archive of around 350 autograph letters and billets, signed ("Gentz"; "G"), mostly to his mistress Countess Eleonore Fuchs, CONCERNING EVENTS OF THE NAPOLEONIC WARS, THE CONGRESS OF VIENNA AND HIS PRIVATE LIFE, c.1812-1831, APPARENTLY UNPUBLISHED

many of the letters long and highly detailed, REFERRING TO EVENTS IN THE NAPOLEONIC WARS, discussing the Battles of Vitoria [21 June 1813] and Bautzen [20-21 May 1813], providing details of the campaign against Napoleon in 1814, describing Napoleon's defeat at the Battle of Laon [9-10 March 1814], giving her the latest news on the eve of the Congress of Vienna, relating that the opening has had to be delayed on account of Lord Castlereagh, who was unable to leave London, and noting that the Tsar has solemnly promised to be in Vienna by the end of September, commenting on the last days of the Congress, where he has had no time for himself, despite having got up at seven every day, explaining that he is looking forward to the end of the entertaining he has to do following the close of the Congress, when for him a beautiful time will begin, if this hope is not perhaps also a dream, mentioning many of the notable political and social personalities of the day, including Metternich, Talleyrand, Wellington, Wallmoden, and members of the Austrian nobility, such as Palffy, Dietrichstein, Woyna, Esterházy, Gallenberg, Lobkowitz, Zichy, Waldstein, Ficquelmont, Countess Fekete, and others, reporting the news of Kotzebue's murder, alluding to the Russo-Turkish War ("Ich bin zu froh, ein Paar Seiten schreiben zu können, ohne dieses fatale Thema zu berühren..."), referring to the painter [Sir Thomas] Lawrence and a portrait of himself, informing her that yesterday (2 May [1820]) was his birthday, adding that that was a secret that now no one else in the world knows, confiding matters of a private nature, making appointments, asking her advice, making arrangements for receptions and meetings, providing invitation lists, noting the current craze for all things Russian, describing his feelings for the singer Giuditta Pasta, assessing the character of the newly-elected Pope Leo XII [1823-1829], DISCUSSING IN A NUMBER OF LATE LETTERS THE LAST GREAT LOVE OF HIS LIFE, THE BALLERINA FANNY ELSSLER, praising Paris as the most beautiful city in the world, compared to which the 'physiognomy' of London appears like 'a richly decorated grave', describing the sights and sounds of the city, including the red frock coats of the English [gentlemen] and the barbaric grooming customs of the English women, asking her to send on some books of his, including a biography of Goethe, which he has read a third of, recounting social events at Princess (Eleonore) Metternich's, asking her advice regarding the guest-list for a dinner he is hosting, opening his heart to her ("Mein Vorsatz war, sie gestern zu besuchen, um Ihnen eine Erklärung (une déclaration) zu machen, weil ich vorgestern von Ihrer Sch[ö]nheit und Liebenswürdigkeit ganz ausser mir war..."), saying that he would like to see her every day, giving poetic expression to his feelings after an apparent rebuff from her by quoting a verse of Voltaire ("On meurt deux fois, je le [vois] bien, / Cesser d'aimer et d'etre aimable / C'est une mort insupportable..."), noting how beautiful his garden is, commiserating with her on her suffering, explaining that he too is basically unhappy, chained as he is to his writing desk, gossiping about social contacts ("Unter den sonderbaren Leuten, die bey diesem Diner war, findet sich auch ein gewisser Duc de Dalberg. Ob dieser nicht vielleicht dem Prinzen sehr zuwider ist, wage ich nicht zu bestimmen..."), lamenting his shortsightedness, which means he can no longer recognize people in a crowd, some late letters expressing his melancholy, revealing his low state of mind and bitterness concerning his current position ("Was man die Gesellschaft nennt, ist mir heute noch mehr zuwider, als in den Jahren meiner langen Abgeschiedenheit von der Welt...jetzt aber bin ich in einer Art von Kriegesstand mit mehrern meiner sogenannten Freunde..."), some letters originally enclosing gifts (books, flowers, etc.), one letter quoting from Shakespeare's Macbeth ("Ich bin ins Blut so tief gewatet..."), discussing the troubles of her brother, referring to volumes by Casanova, matters concerning the theatre, his travels, and many other topics

...es ist diese Nacht ein Courier der Staatskanzley mit...Nachrichten angekommen. Napoleon war am 9^ten bey Laon...geschlagen worden..., fast das ganze Corps von Marmont, mit Verlust vieler Menschen und Kanonen, gesprengt, Nap. am 11ten in grossem Gedränge auf dem Rückzug nach Soissens. St. Priest hatte Rheims mit Sturm genommen. Augereau wurde bey Macon geschlagen...Hier herrscht eine grosse Bestürzung über die Wendung, welche die sachen genommen haben...der Congress ist, weil Lord Castlereagh jetzt London nicht verlassen kann, auf 6 Wochen verschoben; der Kayser von Russland kommt für jetzt nich nach Wien, sondern geht über Berlin nach Petersburg zurück, hat aber aufs feyerlichste versprochen, sich zu Ende September in Wien einzufinden...Sie wissen, das die Abreise des F[ürst] M[etternich] und der übrigen Cabinets-Minister bis auf den Montag verschoben ist. Diese letzten Tage des Congresses sind nun für mich noch die härtesten, und ob ich gleich seit 8 Tagen jeden Morgen um 7 Uhr aufstehe, komme ich doch kaum einen Augenblick mehr zu mir selbst. Da aber das Ende sehr nah ist vertrage ich dies mit grosser Resignation......Stellen Sie sich vor, dass am 23ten v. Kotzebue zu Mannheim von einem mit der Post angekommenen Fanatiker, der ihm ein Papier überreichte, erstochen worden ist. Gleich darnach hat der Thäter sich selbst erstochen...Der neu-erwählte Pabst scheint, nach allem was ich bisher über ihn habe einsammeln können, ein sehr frommer, sehr gelehrter, dabey Welt-erfahrner, mit den Grossstädten und den fremden Ländern (er war 15 u. mehrere Jahre in Deutschland) sehr vertrauter, und überdies noch, wie man versichert, höchst liebenswürdiger Mann zu seyn. Er ist 62 Jahre alt, und von einer schönen Figur...Letzte Abend war die längst erwartete und ersehnte Copulation...Kommen Sie hübsch Samstag am halb 9 oder 9 Uhr zu mir, und gehen Sie nachher in die Kirche!...Ich bete Sie un Himmels Willen nur nicht auszugehen. Ich habe Ihnen die notwendigst[en] Dinge zu sagen. In einer kleinen halben Stunde...Ich habe gestern Abend mit einer Stummen (nicht von Portici, sondern von Wien) -- in ihren Augen mehr Beredsamkeit liegt, als im Munde vieler Coquetten --Ecarté gespielt...auch höre ich, dass Sie bey Albert Unterricht im Tanzen nehmen wollen. Ich sah den grossen Mann, und sein hässliches Töchterchen gestern Abend, Mir ist aber der kleine Zehe der Fanny Esler lieber als die ganze D^lle Albert...Ich sah Fanny nach dem Theater, und schöpfte aus ihren lieblichen Blicken und freundschaftlichem Reden und vernünftigen Ermahnungen, einiges Gegengift für meine tiefe Melancholie...

including: 6 AUTOGRAPH LETTERS SIGNED TO JOSEPH ANTON VON PILAT (1782-1865), the political writer and one-time private secretary to Metternich, mentioning Castlereagh, discussing matters of religion, including a dispute with Count Palffy concerning the church, mentioning disturbing events in Peru, the fall of Tripolitsa, and other matters, APPARENTLY UNPUBLISHED, 12 pages, one letter apparently 1821, another 1831; one autograph letter signedby Gentz to his one-time mistress Baroness Eybenberg, 2 pages, no date; AND AN AUTOGRAPH MANUSCRIPT OF A SHORT ESSAY ATTACKING NAPOLEON'S ONE-TIME SECRETARY DOMINIQUE-GEORGES-FRÉDÉRIC DUFOUR DE PRADT [Schlesier, v, pp.90ff.; final page of the manuscript apparently unpublished], 7 pages, 4to, ties, no place or date, first leaf becoming detached

around 650 pages in all, various sizes, many gilt-edged, a few letters with autograph address-panels, one in pencil, most letters in German, a few in French, c.7 in French addressed "ma chère Reine" etc., a few twentieth-century transcriptions, with an undated 1-page letter signed by Marie d'Agoult to an unnamed correspondent, Vienna, Paris, Carlsbad, Gastein, Pressburg, c.1812-1831, where indicated, browning to a few letters, a few with seal tears and remains of seal, a few letters splitting along folds, some creasing, a few small tears

PROBABLY THE MOST IMPORTANT COLLECTION OF LETTERS BY GENTZ EVER OFFERED AT AUCTION.

THE ARCHIVE WOULD APPEAR TO BE LARGELY UKNOWN AND UNPUBLISHED.

The statesman and political writer Friedrich von Gentz (1764-1832) is perhaps best-known today as the guiding force behind the Congress of Vienna (1814-1815), the highly consequential meeting of European great powers convened to reshape the continent after the turmoil of the Napoleonic Wars. Following eight years' service in the Prussian civil service, in the course of which he published widely on political and historical questions (earning the epithet from Napoleon of "wretched scribe"), as well as acquiring an invaluable proficiency in French and English, Gentz moved to Vienna, where in 1812 he became the Austrian chancellor Prince Metternich's right-hand man.

But the master diplomat and man of letters, as this correspondence shows, was very much also a creature of flesh and blood. Gentz's relations with women were complicated and numerous (he abandoned and divorced his wife on leaving Berlin), and often recorded in frank detail in his diaries to the discomfiture of later readers. The present letters are addressed to his long-term mistress Countess Maria Eleonora Fuchs, née von Gallenberg (1876-1842), the sister-in-law of Beethoven's former piano pupil Julie Guicciardi, for whom the composer had entertained amorous feelings around 1801-1802. Only occasionally indiscreet, they are the highly informative record of an important and long-lasting friendship. A number of the later letters here shed light on a late personal relationship between Gentz and the celebrated ballet dancer Fanny Elssler (1810-1884), forty-six years his junior, whom he had met in 1829. She became something of a consolation to him in his somewhat embittered final years, after his falling-out with Metternich in 1830, living with him in his palace in the Weinhaus district of Vienna until his death in June 1832.

A notable feature of some of the letters in this collection is the juxtaposition of Gentz's narration of world-changing events with homely tokens of affection for his correspondent. Thus in a letter from March 1814 Gentz relates the breathless details of a dispatch concerning Napoleon's defeat at Laon, only to sign off "this for breakfast from your admirer". And in a letter written on 19 June 1815, the day after the Battle of Waterloo resulted in the final defeat of Napoleon, amidst descriptions of attending and hosting social events for the great and the good, the event uppermost in the mind of the master diplomat was the shocking news that his correspondent had possibly broken her leg.

LITERATURE: Gustav Schlesier (ed.), Schriften von Friedrich von Gentz, v (1840), pp.90ff.; Karl Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, ed., Briefe von Friedrich Gentz an Pilat, i and ii (1868)