His entire life Goethe loved working at a standing desk. His study in Weimar also contains a similar, simple standing desk.

Among the many works created in the gable room in Frankfurt, possibly at the standing desk, was also the tragedy Clavigo, which Goethe wrote within a single week in May 1774. It was the first work published under his name; in 1773 Götz of Berlichingen had still appeared anonymously.

Under the influence of his love for the beautiful, capricious Lili Schönemann, with whom Goethe was briefly engaged in 1775, emerged the buoyant musical comedy Erwin und Elmire – which includes the poem A Violet in the Meadow Stood, which was given new life when it was set to music by Mozart.

A violet in the meadow grew,
With drooping head, whom no one knew;
It was a charming flower.
A shepherd maid was making her way
With sprightly step and spirits  gay
Along, along,
Across the filed with song.

Goethe, The Violet [ger.: Das Veilchen], from Erwin and Elmire, 1775