 Despite the emphasis the ‘Romantics’ laid on the individual artist, the figure of the genius, originality, and individuality in general (cf. Schulte-Sasse [1985] 1988: 136–137), the conceptualization of the Romantic Movement itself needs to be understood essentially as a collective process. And yet, as problematic as it may be to ascribe the original conception of the romantic aesthetical and philosophical precepts to one author alone, A.W. Schlegel’s influence in the conceptualization as well as the dissemination of some of the most characteristic and informing principles of German Romanticism—including the term ‘Romantic’ (romantisch) itself (cf. Ferber 2005)—is by no means trivial. Indeed, if the periodical Athenaeum (which A.W. Schlegel co-edited and co-created with his brother Friedrich) was to become the ‘organ’ of the Romantic Movement, it is undisputable that A.W. Schlegel’s popular lectures in Jena (1798), Berlin (1801–1804), and Vienna (1808–1812) “disseminated the aesthetics of German Romanticism across Europe” (Engel and Lehmann 2004: 84).