This article accompanies the fable
Immortal Beloved


The Blue Flower of German Romanticism

Beethoven was influenced by - and played a major role in - German Romanticism, which is generally placed between 1770 and 1830. Its most representative literary symbol was Novalis' mysterious Blue Flower (Blaue Blume) that symbolized striving for the infinite and the unreachable.

While it echoes the red rose of medieval Christianity, for German Romantics it usually took the form of a longing for what was far away (like magical medieval castles in the forest, Oriental temples on lonely islands and mysterious Lorelei-like maidens), while at the same time expressing a longing for home and homeland (in an age when “Germany” was a patchwork quilt of kingdoms and intellectuals were frequently exiled).

Novalis created the symbol in his medieval romance Heinrich von Ofterdingen which, appropriately, was unfinished when it was published in 1802.  Its young hero says “I care not for wealth and riches; but that blue flower I do long to see; it haunts me and I can think and dream of nothing else.”  This made it ripe for satire, of course, but it cast a major shadow over 19th century German art, music and literature.

Also see:

The red rose in medieval Christianity
The red rose in Beauty & the Beast
Wagner's Tristan and Isolde
The Wartburg and the Venusberg of Tannhäuser