The German Genius

that was often distributed via the broadsheets and not infrequently written so as to be sung to popular tunes, especially in the workingmen’s clubs that sprang up at the time. The failure of the revolution of 1848 brought all this to a rapid end, with most writers fleeing abroad—to London or the United States, which saw a huge and influential influx of German refugees (see Chapter 15).
    T HE B IEDERMEIER P HENOMENON
     
    The immediate consequence of the post-1815 world was that, in an effort to avoid a repeat of the French Revolution, the reestablished monarchies of Europe kept a much firmer political grip on their subjects. There was not just strong censorship, as we have seen, but a widespread use of secret intelligence agencies to root out subversion. The restrictions in Austria were as bad as anywhere, with Prince Klemens von Metternich’s actions paralleling Napoleon’s—lodges, clubs, and societies were all closed down and “inconvenient” members imprisoned. This produced a medium-term reaction in that it forced people out of the public coffee houses and meeting halls and into the secluded world of their private homes. Raymond Erickson, in Schubert’s Vienna , tells us: “The world outside was politically dangerous, so private life, home, and social contacts were restricted to a circle of true and reliable friends.” 30
    This is the background to what eventually became known as Biedermeier culture, a decisive shift from—even a reaction against—high Romanticism (a “lull” before the storm of modernism in Thomas Nipperdey’s opinion). In the Romantic movement the focus had been on an individual’s own experience. The Biedermeier changed that to a focus on relationships. The private world of friendship took on a significance that had hitherto been neglected and this more intimate atmosphere was reflected in the arts of the time. Biedermeier culture lasted longer—well beyond 1848—in literature than in the other arts, but was even seen in architecture, where houses became drawn back from the street. In literature it can be seen in the quiet, intimate poetry of Annette von Droste-Hülshoff, Adelbert von Chamisso, Eduard Mörike, and Wilhelm Müller, the last two being set to music by Hugo Wolf and Franz Schubert. The growing urbanization and industrialization led to a new kind of audience: the early Lieder of Schubert could be performed at the piano without a substantial musical training, signifying a far more private existence than had occurred before. All this helped ensure that one of the main forms of Biedermeier culture was furniture—objects that decorated the private home. 31
    Biedermeier furniture is less aggressive than the Empire style; it has simpler, less ambitious lines, is made of cheaper, locally available woods, like cherry or walnut, rather than than the more expensive imported mahogany. It is “reliable,” “common-sensical,” even—according to one authority—“boring.” The very word “Biedermeier” is itself mocking. In 1848, the painter-poet Josef Victor von Scheffel published a number of sarcastic poems in the Viennese satirical magazine Fliegende Blätter ( Flying Leaves ), among them “Biedermann’s Evening Socialising” and “Bummelmeier’s Complaint.” These names were combined (satirically again) by Ludwig Eichrodt into the pseudonym Gottlieb Biedermeier. “ Bieder ” is a German word meaning “common, everyday, plain,” “boring but in an upright way,” and Meier, or Meyer, is a common German last name, like Smith.
    This surfeit of satire is a little unfair to the chief Biedermeier furniture designer, Josef Dannhauser, whose designs could be quite flamboyant. At its height, his factory in Vienna employed 350 workers, designing and manufacturing not just furniture but sculpture and devices for interior decoration. After the factory closed in 1838, several of his workmen traveled around Europe as far as Stockholm, St. Petersburg, and Budapest, where their skills were in demand, spreading Biedermeier ideas. 32
    As all this shows, Biedermeier culture was essentially a middle-class phenomenon, and a particularly German middle class at that. Unlike in France, the aristocracy and the administrative/middle classes in Germany rarely if ever mixed. The new furniture designs therefore enabled the newly enriched bourgeoisie to make their mark. It was all quite different from the worlds of Büchner, Keller, and Heine.
    The industrial revolution, delayed