A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z
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Life and Works: Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller was a German poet, philosopher, historian, and dramatist, one of the greatest of German literary figures. The poets of German romanticism were strongly influenced by Schiller, and he ranks as one of the founders of modern German literature, second only to Goethe. During the last several years of his life (1788–1805), Schiller struck a productive, if complicated, friendship with already famous and influential Johann Wolfgang Goethe, with whom he greatly discussed issues concerning aesthetics, encouraging Goethe to finish works he left merely as sketches; this thereby gave way to a period now referred to as Weimar Classicism. They also worked together on Die Xenien (The Xenies), a collection of short but harshly satiric poems in which both Schiller and Goethe verbally attacked those persons they perceived to be enemies of their aesthetic agenda. Schiller’s great dramas are alike in being tragedies or epics with historical and political backgrounds; they exemplify his idealism, high ethical principles, and insistence on freedom and nobility of spirit. Under the influence of the philosophy of Kant, Schiller developed his aesthetic theories, which stressed the sublime and emphasized the creative powers of humanity. Among Schiller's best-known works is Ode to Joy, later set to music by Ludwig van Beethoven in his Choral Symphony. The dramatic trilogy Wallenstein depicted the tumultuous period of the Thirty Years War. Before the work was completed, parts of it were performed in Weimar. Maria Stuart (1800) was about Queen Elizabeth I of England and the last days of Mary Queen of Scots, when she was held captive in the Castle of Fothernghay. Wilhelm Tell (1804), based on chronicles of the Swiss liberation movement, was dedicated as a New Year's Gift to the World. It tells about the famous hero, a mountain man who fought for freedom and became the embodiment of courage. He also translated Shakespeare’s Macbeth (1801), Racine’s Pheadra (1805), and other works. Friedrich Schiller was born on November 10, 1759 in Marbach, Württemberg, of Lutheran parents as the only son, besides ten sisters. His father, Johannes Kaspar Schiller, was an officer and surgeon. Elisabeth Dorothea, Schiller's mother, was a pious, serious-minded woman. On 22 February 1790, he married Charlotte von Lengefeld (1766-1826). Four children were born between 1793 and 1804, the sons Karl and Ernst, and the daughters Luise and Emilie. The grandchild of Emilie, Baron Alexander of Gleichen-Rußwurm, died in 1947 at Baden-Baden, Germany, as the last living descendant of Schiller. His father was away in the Seven Years' War when Friedrich was born. Caspar Schiller was rarely home at the time, which was hard on the mother, but he did manage to visit the family once in a while and the mother and the children also visited him where he happened to be stationed at the time occasionally. In 1763, the war ended. Schiller's father became a recruiting officer and was stationed in Schwäbisch Gmünd. The family moved with him, of course; but since the cost of living especially the rent soon turned out to be too expensive, the family moved to nearby Lorch, which was at the time still a fairly small village. Although the family was happy in Lorch, the father found his work unsatisfying. He did, however, take Friedrich Schiller with him occasionally. In Lorch Schiller received his primary education, but the schoolmaster was lazy, so the quality of the lessons was fairly bad; therefore, Friedrich regularly cut class with his older sister. Because his parents wanted Schiller to become a pastor himself, they had the pastor of the village instruct the boy in Latin and Greek. The man was a good teacher, which led Schiller to name the cleric in The Robbers after Pastor Moser. Schiller was excited by the idea of becoming a clericalist and often put on black robes and pretended to preach. In 1766, the family left Lorch for the Duke's residence town, Ludwigsburg. Schiller's father had not been paid for three years and the family had been living on their savings, but could no longer afford to do so. So Kaspar Schiller had himself relocated to the garrison in Ludwigsburg. The move was not easy for Friedrich, since Lorch had been a warm and comforting home through out his childhood. He came to the attention of Karl Eugen, Duke of Württemberg. He entered the Karlsschule Stuttgart (an elite, extremely strict, military academy founded by Duke Karl Eugen), in 1773, and was forced by the domineering duke to study medicine. After graduating in 1780 he became an army surgeon in Stuttgart, attached to a military life he abhorred. During most of his short life, he suffered from illnesses that he tried to cure himself. While at the Karlsschule, Schiller read Rousseau and Goethe and discussed Classical ideals with his classmates. At school, he wrote his first play, The Robbers, which dramatizes the conflict between two aristocratic brothers: the elder, Karl Moor, leads a group of rebellious students into the Bohemian forest where they become Robin Hood-like bandits, while Franz Moor, the younger brother schemes to inherit his father's considerable estate. The play's critique of social corruption and its affirmation of proto-revolutionary republican ideals astounded the original audience, and made Schiller an overnight sensation. Later, Schiller would be made an honorary member of the French Republic because of this play. Following the remarkable performance of The Robbers in Mannheim, in 1781, he was arrested and forbidden by Karl Eugen himself from publishing any further works. Schiller fled from his post in Stuttgart and, after great deprivation, worked as a dramatist (1783–84) for the Mannheim theater. His second youthful success, Don Carlos, appeared in 1785 and was performed in revised form in 1787. While living in the great cultural center of Weimar, Schiller wrote a history (1788) of the revolt of the Netherlands against Spain. This work, together with the mediation of Goethe, gained him (1789) a professorship of history at the Univ. of Jena (now Friedrich Schiller Univ. of Jena). In 1790 Schiller married the gifted writer Charlotte von Lengefeld. Plagued by poor health, Schiller rejected subsequent offers of positions and from 1793 to the end of his life lived in Weimar, enjoying the friendship of Goethe. He and Goethe founded the Weimar Theater which became the leading theater in Germany, leading to a dramatic renaissance. Schiller first greeted the French Revolution with enthusiasm, but then became horrified by the wave of violence and planned to write a book or pamphlet in defence of the king. When he was made an honorary citizen of the French Republic by the Jacobines, he rejected the homage. Schiller died in Weimar on May 9, 1805, at the age of 46. His last drama, Demetrius (1815), was left unfinished. |
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