The House of Wittgenstein: A Family at War

by Alexander Waugh

  Selig sind die Toten, die in dem Herrn sterben, von nun an. Ja der Geist spricbt, dab sie ruben von ibrer Arbeit; denn ibre Werke folgen ibnen nacb.

  (Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and their works do follow them.)

  Nobody came to the front to speak, no epicedium was read, no prayers. The needle arm was lifted and returned to its position of rest and, when the turntable had ceased its spinning, everyone filed out.

  The New York Times ran a long obituary highlighting the important incidents of Paul's career. In London Trevor Harvey praised his exceptional generosity, concluding his obituary in the Gramophone magazine: "As a personal friend Paul Wittgenstein will never be forgotten while those who knew him are alive; but long after his friends are no more, music lovers will have reason to remember him with gratitude for the music he caused to be written." Marga's tribute to her eccentric old friend appeared in the London Times, eleven days after his death: "Loyalty to his friends was part of his strong personality. Paul Wittgenstein has indeed added a distinguished page to the history of music."

  POSTSCRIPT

  Hilde Wittgenstein lived until March 2001, by which time she was completely blind and insensible from Alzheimer's disease. Thirty years earlier she had moved from Long Island, New York, to Newfoundland, Pennsylvania, where she lived in a house that she had designed using plastic Lego bricks. Paul's body was exhumed from its grave on Long Island and reinterred at the Pine Grove cemetery nearby. As the years passed she became increasingly suspicious of everyone around her and estranged herself from her staunchest allies: Karoline Rolly, Dorothy Lutz (the lady who looked after her), her son Paul Jr., and one of her daughters. Despite her suspicious nature she gave a large portion of her fortune to a cultish Pennsylvanian Christian group. For years she kept Paul's library of valuable manuscripts jealously locked in a room of her house, to which no one was permitted entry. After her death it was discovered to contain many treasures, including the long-lost manuscript of Hin-demith's Piano Music with Orchestra. After Hilde's death Paul's library, consisting of three and a half tons of books and manuscripts, was auctioned off at Sotheby's in London. It was bought by a Chinese entrepreneur called Ng, who had made his fortune by introducing the Big Mac burger to the people of Hong Kong.

  Elizabeth, Johanna and Paul (Jr.) Wittgenstein were brought up strictly by both their parents on Long Island. They remembered their father as "a stern, incomprehensible and a somewhat distant and imposing figure" who was exceptionally enthusiastic about Christmas. All three spoke English at home in Long Island and could not understand when their parents talked to one another in German. They were taught to play the piano by Paul's former pupil Erna Otten, but none of them was, or is, particularly musical. Elizabeth had no children. After school she gravitated toward the caring professions, but suffered from her father's nervous temperament and died in an accident, which has never been fully explained, at Flushing, Queens, in February 1974. Johanna, whose name was changed to Joan in childhood, married a Dane and has five children, the eldest of whom was born during Paul's lifetime. She is presently retired from the book trade and lives on her own in a remote house in the woods of Virginia. Paul Jr. suffered ill-health from his teens. He was a gifted mathematician and for a while worked as a computer programmer. In the early 1960s he learned how to paint at a psychiatric clinic, and soon after his discharge from the hospital moved permanently to Austria, where he has mounted several successful exhibitions of his paintings using the name Louis Wittgenstein.

  The Stonborough brothers, Thomas and Ji, were never on especially good terms. Thomas died in 1986, having sold off most of his inheritance, including Gretl's modernist dwelling on the Kundmanngasse, Klimt's famous painting of his mother and several Ludwig Wittgenstein manuscripts to which he had no proper title. Threatened for years with demolition, the Kundmanngasse Palais was eventually rescued by architectural enthusiasts and is presently the Viennese home of the Bulgarian Cultural Institute. Thomas's only surviving child, Pierre, works in private banking and has two daughters.

  Ji Stonborough died in 2002 at Glendon in Dorset. For some time he had been troubled by his obligations to the Lloyd's Insurance Company and was fitted in his last years with a pacemaker. His wife Veronica died shortly before him. They had three children but only one grandchild, who is a poetess. The Glendon estate was sold in 2007.

  The Salzer line has flourished numerically even though many of its members have been stricken by cancer. Most of Helene's descendants continue to live in Austria, where they share (in ever-decreasing apportionment) the ownership of the Wittgenstein summer retreat at Hochreit. Helene and Max's second son, Felix Salzer, the famous musicologist, died in 1986. Four years later his widow sold his manuscript collection for $1.85 million--it included the original manuscript of Beethoven's A major Cello Sonata, a letter by Schubert and a rondo by Mozart. In 1958 Felix had inherited the Palais at Neuwaldegg. He never lived there. For a while it became a convalescent home for 200 ethnic-German displaced persons. He later sold it for 23 million Austrian schillings. The land was divided up. Some of it was made into private housing estates, while a large slice of land passed into government ownership. In 2006 Paul's heirs succeeded in winning back a small portion of the Neuwaldegg estate through the Constitutional Court for Victims of National Socialism.

  This book could not have been written without the extraordinary kindness, willingness and enthusiasm of hundreds of people from all around the world. I am extremely grateful to everyone who helped and relieved that I got only two rebuffs. Most of all I wish to thank Joan Ripley, Paul Wittgenstein's daughter, who put all her papers at my disposal, allowed me to interview her for hours on end and never tried to censor anything. The British Academy gave me a generous grant without which I would not have been able to find such detail in so many countries.

  To the following and to countless numbers whose names do not appear below I give heartfelt thanks: Gillon Aitken (literary agent), Dr. Otto Biba (Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, Vienna), Richard Bidnick (for information on Paul Wittgenstein), Antonia von Boch (for translation and research), Tricia Boyd (Edinburgh University Library), Hans Brofeldt (expertise on left-handed piano music), Peter von Brucke (Wittgenstein cousin), Paula Byrne (advice on research grants), Julie Courtenay (Lady Margaret Hall Archive), Martin Cullingford (Gramophone magazine), Damian Dlaboha (translation and research), Michael Fishwick (publisher and editor), Charles Fitzroy (introductions in Vienna), Dr. Edwin Frederick Flindell (expert on Paul Wittgenstein), Alexander Fraser (Russian translation), Georg Gaugusch (for research in the Vienna archives), Colin Harris (Bodleian Library), Berkant Haydin (Joseph Marx Society), Monica Herren (Passionist Historical Archives, New Jersey), Dr. Thomas Hohne, of Hohne, In der Maur und Partner Rechtsanwalte (legal adviser in Vienna), Gerald Howard (American publisher), Peter James (copy editor), Peter Janus (Library of Congress, Washington), Glyn Jones (expert translator), Leonard Kastle (student and friend of Paul Wittgenstein), Johannes Koder (son of Rudolf Koder), Anne Marie Kollgaard (Danish translation), Sandy McGinnis (Paul Wittgenstein's granddaughter), Professor Brian McGuinness (expert on Ludwig Wittgenstein), David McKit-terick (Trinity College Library) and the Master and Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge, Fiona McKnight and Noelle Mann and the Prokofiev Archive at Goldsmiths' College, London, Dr. Deborah Mawer (Ravel expert at Lancaster University), James Miller (Sotheby's), Dr. Hans Mohnl (Central Institute of Meteorology and Geodynamics, Vienna), Rosemary Moravec (Austrian National Library, Vienna), Michael Nedo (Wittgenstein Archive, Cambridge), Professor Arbie Orenstein (Juilliard School of Music), Erna Otten (student of Paul Wittgenstein), Jesse Parker (Paul Wittgenstein student), Catherine Payne (Strad magazine), Wendy Perez (New York Public Library), Peter Phillips (Musical Times), Stephen Port-man (Paul Wittgenstein student), Ursula Prokop (biographer of Margaret Wittgenstein), Sally Riley (translation rights), Anna Sander (Balliol College Archives), Albert Sassmann (expert
on Paul Wittgenstein and left-hand piano repertoire), Ed Scarcelle (Scherman Music Library, New York), Professor Carl Schachter (music professor, friend of Felix Salzer), Erhard Schania (half-brother of Hilde Wittgenstein), Tony Simpson and the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation Ltd., Peter Stadlbauer (General Settlement for Victims of National Socialism, Vienna), Roberta Staples (Lady Margaret Hall Library), Glenn Stefanovics (expert on the eastern front, 1914-18), Maria Stracke (descendant of Helene Wittgenstein), Alan Tadiello (Balliol College Library), Dr. Bob Thompson (Universal Edition, New York), Mark Thomsen (Paul Wittgenstein's grandson), Frits van der Waa (correction to the first draft), Stephen Walsh (music professor at Cardiff University), Peter Ward-Jones (Bodleian Music Library), Eliza Waugh (proofreading and Italian translation), Christopher Wentworth-Stanley (archival research in Vienna) and Geoffrey Williams (University of Albany).

  ABBREVIATIONS

  BL Bodleian Library, Oxford

  BR Bertrand Russell

  GBW Gesamtbriefwechsel, digital database

  HW Hermine Wittgenstein

  HW1 Hermine Wittgenstein, "Familienerinnerungen"

  HW2 Hermine Wittgenstein, Aufzeichnungen "Ludwig sagt..."

  JSt John Stonborough ("Ji")

  KW Karl Wittgenstein

  LpW Leopoldine Wittgenstein (nee Kalmus)

  LW Ludwig Wittgenstein

  MD Marga Deneke

  MSt Margaret Stonborough ("Gretl")

  NYT New York Times

  ONB Austrian National Library, Vienna

  PA Prokofiev Archive

  pc private collection

  PW Paul Wittgenstein

  WMGA Wachtell, Manheim and Grouf Archive

  WP Washington Post

  1. VIENNESE DEBUT

  3 "The interiors of the houses are unspeakably squalid." Lansdale, p. 19.

  3 "A man who had been but a short time." Unsigned article, Harper's Magazine, 3/1898, quoted in ibid., p. 11.

  4 "Whereas in politics, in administration." Zweig, p. 19.

  5 "Quite apart from the price." PW to MD, 12/30/1936, BL.

  7 "he perpetually finds himself feeling contempt." David Pinsent, Diary, 9/24/1913, reprinted in Flowers, vol. 1, p. 225.

  7 "The feeling that I shall have to die." LW to BR, 9/20/1913, GBW.

  7 "He can't stand either of them." LWs aversion to his sister and brother-in-law is recorded by both Russell and Pinsent; see Flowers, vol.1, p. 226.

  7 "UNFORTUNATELY I have to go to Vienna." LW to BR, undated [12/1913], GBW.

  3. KARL'S GREAT REBELLION

  10 "1864 Advised to leave school." Quoted in HWI, p. 37.

  12 "Main activity was to distinguish between." Ibid.

  12 "I cannot write to my parents." KW to his sister Bertha, 9/29/1865, quoted in ibid., p. 39.

  12 "Mother's letter made me terribly happy." KW to his brother Louis, 10/30/1865, quoted in ibid., p. 38.

  13 "You may think that I am a rotten son." KW to his mother, 2/7/1866, quoted in full in ibid., p. 39.

  4. ENTREPRENEUR

  13 "If it is Father's urgent wish." KW to his brother Louis, 1/27/1866, quoted in HWi, p. 41.

  15 "Karl has a good heart but he left." Fanny Wittgenstein to LpW, undated (Sept. 1873), quoted in full in ibid., p. 52.

  16 "Well, they are all like that." Quoted in ibid., p. 53.

  16 "Dear Miss, My son Karl, unlike his brothers." Hermann Wittgenstein to LpW, 9/16/1873, quoted in full in ibid., p. 54.

  17 "To hell with you!" Quoted in ibid., p. 55.

  18 "An industrialist must take chances." KW, "Die Ursachen der Entwicklung der Industrie in Amerika," 1898; reprinted in KW, Politico-Economic Writings, p. 59. KWs gambling enthusiasms may be traced in Daily North Western, "The American Way--C. M. Schwab Gives Austrians Some Lessons," 1/28/1902, and American Heritage Magazine, "When the Headlines Said: Charlie Schwab Breaks the Bank," 4/1958, vol. 8, issue 3, in which he is confusingly referred to as "Dr. Griez Wittgenstein."

  18 "had been estimated at 200 million kronen." Karl Menger, Reminiscences of the Wittgenstein Family, reprinted in Flowers, vol. 1, p. III.

  5. MARRIAGE TO AN HEIRESS

  19 Jerome Steinberger was the son of a bankrupt kid-glove importer. The stories of Herman and Jacob Steinberger, M. J. Steinberger & Sons, Maurice Wertheimer & Co. and the death of Mrs. Wertheimer may be followed in: New York passenger lists; US census returns 1860, 1880, 1900; New York City Directories, and articles and notices in the New York Times including: "Important Business Failures," 6/13/1877; "Disappearance of Lady," 6/27/1878; "The Wertheimer Mystery," 6/28/1878; "Body Not Yet Discovered," 6/30/1878; "Mrs. Wertheimer Found Drowned," 7/2/1878; "Hebrew Fair," 12/13/1895; "Home for Aged Hebrews," 6/4/1897; "Failure of Glove Firm," 1/18/1898, p. 12; "Affairs of Wertheimer & Co.," 1/19/1898; "New Corporations," 1/22/1898; "Legal Notices," 2/17/1898; "Legal Notices," 4/7/1898; "In the Real Estate Field," 3/31/1900; "Bankruptcy Notices," 7/11/1900; "Deaths Reported; Manhattan and Bronx," 12/27/1900.

  19 His sister, Aimee, married William. "Weddings of the Day--Guggenheim--Steinberger," NYT, 10/18/1904. After Aimee Steinberger's marriage to William Guggenheim a previous wife took him to court for bigamy. See: "Says Her Divorce Isn't a Valid One," NYT, 1/19/1909, p. 5; judge's summing up quoted in Davis, The Guggenbeims, p. 281.

  20 "She possessed a 'rare' beauty." MD, "Memoirs," vol. 2, p. 78.

  6. THE DEATH OF RUDOLF WITTGENSTEIN

  21 "my perverted disposition." Magnus Hirschfeld in Jabrbucb fur sexuelle Zwiscbenstufen, vol. VI (1904), p. 724, quoted in Bartley, 3rd ed., p. 35, n. 16.

  22 "Forsaken, forsaken, forsaken am I!" Verlassen bin icb. Trans. Glyn Jones from a German version in Haseler, p. 6.

  7. THE TRAGEDY OF HANS

  23 "When my seven-year-old brother, Rudi." HW1, p. 96.

  25 "It was tragic that our parents." Ibid., p. 102.

  25 "Industrialist Karl Wittgenstein has suffered." Neues Wiener Tagblatt, 5/6/1902, quoted in Gaugusch, p. 14, n. 65.

  26 "My father's frequent joking." Die oft glubende Lustigkeit manes Vaters scbien mir nicbt lustig sondern nur gefabrlicb. MSt, Notebook, quoted in Prokop, p. 14.

  26 "known to be homosexual." See Bartley, Wittgenstein, 3rd ed., p. 36.

  26 "in 1903 the family was informed." Monk, p. 12.

  27 "Of course a man can take a pistol." JSt to Brian McGuinness, 6/18/1989, pc.

  27 "I believe that my gifts are such." Otto Weininger, Tascbenbucb, quoted in Abrahamsen, p. 97.

  8. AT HOME WITH THE WITTGENSTEINS

  30 "a uniform reminiscent of an Austrian hunting outfit." Erna Otten to E. Fred Flindell, 6/20/67, pc.

  30 "always festive occasions." HW1, p. 79.

  31 "Nothing more should be played now." Anecdote told by PW to his pupil Steve Portman in the late 1940s, who relayed it to the author, 5/2007.

  31 "Dear and esteemed and gracious lady." Eduard Hanslick to LpW, 4/11/1904, ONB.

  32 "Who is Dr. Stonborough?" Marquise de Fontenoy, "Buys Archduke's Palace," WP, 1/8/1914, p. 6.

  9. THE BOYS

  32 "Scbmarren!" Told to the author by PWs daughter Joan Ripley, 9/2006.

  33 "To my dear brother Paul for Christmas 1922." Meinem lieben Bruder Paul zu Weibnacbten 1922. Moge dieses Bucb, wenn es wertlos ist, bald spurlos verscbwinden. Inscription, pc.

  33 "mentally deranged, and quite a few." Hitler's disparaging remarks about his teachers may be found in Trevor-Roper, 3/3/1942, p. 288; 4/12/1942, pp. 347-9; 8/29/1942, pp. 547-8; and 9/7/1942, pp. 566-8.

  35 "Suicide is not a sign of courage but of cowardice." Otto Weininger to Moriz Rappaport, undated (8/1903), in Weininger, p. 157.

  35 "I know that to kill oneself is always a dirty thing." Icb weiss dass der Selbstmord immer eine Scbweinerei ist. LW to Paul Engelmann, 6/21/1920, GBW.

  36 "It seemed that I had sung so wonderfully." Somavilla, p. 73.

  36 "Does he have to pound the piano like that?" Man muss das Piano ja nicbt so

  bearbeiten. Quoted in Kross, p. 7.<
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  10. THEIR MOTHER

  37 "We simply could not understand her." Wir standen ibr eigentlicb verstdndnislos gegenuber, aber aucb sie batte kein wirklicbes Verstdndnis fur die acbt sonderbaren Kinder, die sie geboren batte, ja ba aller ibrer Menscbenliebe batte sie merkwurdigerweise kein wirklicbes Verstdndnis fur Menscben uberbaupt. HWi, p. 95.

  37 "My mother's devotion to duty made me." Die Pflicbttreue meiner Mutter war mir zsu unbequem und ibr erregtes Wesen war mir unertrdglicb. Meine Mutter lift an einer unaufborlicben Uberlastung der Nerven. MSt, Notebook, quoted in Prokop, p. 19.

  37 "From a very early stage we children had." Was wir Kinder vonjugend auf stark empfanden, war eine merkwurdige Erregtbeit in unserem Elternbaus, ein Mangel an Entspannbeit, der nicbt allein von der Aufgeregtbeit meines Vaters berrubrte. Aucb meine Mutter war sebr erregbar, wenn sie aucb ibrem Mann und ibrer Mutter gegenuber die freundlicbe Rube nie verier. HWi, p. 94.

  37 "I believe that our mother, as we knew her." Icb glaube, dass meine Mutter, wie wir sie kannten, nicbt vollig mebr sie selbst war ... Wir begriffen unter anderem nicbt, dass sie so wenig eigenen Willen und Bewusstsein batte, und bedacbten nicbt, wie unmoglicb es war, neben meinem Vater eigene Meinung und Willen zu bewabren. Ibid.

  38 "It would have been impossible." Ibid., p. 91.