Schwetzingen - Schlösser-Magazin

et de son bon naturel...”. 9 By temperament
the Elector Palatine was quiet and often
melancholy. The French ambassador François
Bonaventure Tilly Marquis de Blaru (1701-
1775) wrote: “J’ai souvent besoin de l’amitié
que ce Prince a la bonté de me témoigner pour
le tiers de l’affreuse mélancholie où je l’ay
quelque fois vû plongé. … Le duc est dissimulé,
parle peu, et on ne peut guère savoir au juste
ce qu’il pense.” 10 Carl Theodor loved solitude
and liked to go for solitary rambles in his
Schwetzingen garden, by then open to the
public. This inclination was his very own trait,
while the tendency to retire into a more private
sphere was characteristic of his times. And so
Carl Theodor created a private refuge protected
by the walls and gates surrounding his
bathhouse. Here he could do as he pleased. The
manner of Carl Theodor’s using his bathhouse
becomes evident from the notes of the Swabian
poet and musician, Christian Friedrich Daniel
Schubart (1739-1791), who wrote in 1791: “In
the midst of these entertainments I received
orders to go to Schwetzingen immediately,
and play for the Elector – an order the more
pleasing to me as it was usually very difficult to
obtain a hearing with this prince. I drove there
with young Count Nesselrode and was called in
immediately. The Elector was in his bathhouse,
as he often is, a small but exceedingly tasteful
building in the garden; the Princes Gallian and
Isenburg were with him, Frau von Sturmfelder
and another couple of cavaliers. He had
dispensed with most of his splendour, the
mien of the sceptical ruler, and appeared to
be merely a good man and gracious host. His
appearance bespoke health and manly vigour.
The friendly glance he casts over strangers and
locals, soothes the fear inspired by his power
and fame. Looking at his serene face, one soon
forgets the star sparkling on his breast and
announcing his greatness. He received me so
graciously that my awkwardness soon gave
way to ease. After inquiring very kindly after
my circumstances, he himself played, almost
9 Stefan Mörz, Aufgeklärter Absolutismus in der Kurpfalz
während der Mannheimer Regierungszeit des Kurfürsten Karl
Theodor (1742-1777), Stuttgart 1991, p. 56.
10 Mörz 1991, p. 19.
III. Architectural Features
diffidently, a flute concert accompanied by two
Toeschi and the violoncellist Danzy. Afterwards
I played a number of pieces on the piano,
sang a Russian war song I had made, rose,
talked about literature and art and gained the
Elector’s full approval. “I will listen and talk to
you more often’, he said with the most pleasant
expression when I took my leave. This initial
success poured joy and hope into my heart.” 11
This is the only source telling us about the
uses the bathhouse was put to by its builder.
However, it is likely that Carl Theodor, who was
deeply interested in literature, music and the
natural sciences, gathered like-minded friends
in the bathhouse, thus making his refuge into a
place of inspiration and intellectual interchange.
Description and Function
Access and exterior
The bathhouse is a rectangular, one-storey
building with a central octagonal tambour.
The simple transverse rectangle is the most
common solution for ground plans of the early
Classicist era, particularly for country palaces
and townhouses. Two paths lead up to the
11 Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart, C. F. D. Schubart’s, des
Patrioten, gesammelte Schriften und Schicksal, Stuttgart 1839,
pp. 150 f.
III.
Fig. 6: Bathhouse vestibule/Oval
Hall (Photo: LAD Esslingen,
2006).
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