The Danube Metropolis 91unknown to the young German. Berg took him to a number of excellent
restaurants which served the specialities of Austrian cuisine. ‘Berg lent
everyday things concerned with enjoyment an unassuming dignity.’^32
The sensuousness of Viennese life was only one side, albeit an
important one, of Adorno’s life in Vienna. If we go by the letters in
which he recorded his personal impressions during his months there,
what is striking is the regular, ordered life he seems to have led. Would
his family back in Frankfurt like to see this for themselves or to help
mitigate his homesickness? Scarcely had he started to familiarize him-
self with the new situation and the unknown city – two female acquaint-
ances tried to help him find his way around – than he received a visit
from his mother Maria and Aunt Agathe. He introduced them to Berg,
after which they resumed their journey onwards to Salzburg.
In the mornings, he busied himself with composition and played,
whenever he could, on the piano that had been placed at his disposal in
the boarding house.
In addition to his music studies with Berg and Steuermann, Adorno
spent his evenings reading and discussing philosophical texts. He also
devoted much time to his new acquaintances, friendships and loves. The
relationship with Anna von Tolnay, whom he was to accompany on a
trip to Marienbad and Prague, seems to have been of short duration.^33
There was also Lila, with whom he could discuss philosophical topics.
He broke the relationship off when it became apparent that the friend-
ship could not continue without developing into an erotic attachment.
In contrast, his friendship with Ellen Delp, who was ten years older
than him and lived in the same guest house in the Eisengasse, grew in
intensity. This was at the time when she was attempting to establish
herself as an actress. Later, she was to turn to writing.^34 Adorno took a
liking to her and thought she was talented and cultured and at the same
time childish in a lovable way, without ever showing off.
From Vienna, he travelled to Prague, where he was able to deepen
his friendship with Hermann Grab, with whom he could discuss music
and literature. The pretext for these holidays was that he had assumed
the role of a ‘postillon d’amour’. Berg had fallen passionately in love at
first sight with Hanna Fuchs-Robettin, the wife of an industrialist and
a sister of the writer Franz Werfel. He was busy arranging secret meet-
ings and exchanging letters with her.^35
Whenever there was an opportunity, Adorno accompanied Berg and
his wife to concerts and, of course, to the opera. On one occasion, they
heard Mahler’s Eighth Symphony conducted by Anton von Webern.
They became so excited about the music that they talked too loudly and
‘were almost thrown out for rowdiness’.^36 They also met for a theatre
visit for the premiere of Franz Werfel’s Juarez und Maximilian, as
Adorno recollected even decades later, perhaps because he detested its
author so intensely. For similar reasons he may have remembered a
visit to Alma Mahler. After an affair with Oskar Kokoschka, Alma