The work of the romantic rebel and 18th-century poet Friedrich Schiller left no one indifferent. Some considered the playwright the ruler of the thoughts of lyricists and the singer of freedom, while others called the philosopher a stronghold of bourgeois morality. Thanks to his works that evoke ambiguous emotions, the classic managed to write his name in the history of world literature.
Childhood and youth
Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller was born on November 10, 1759, Marbach am Neckar (Germany). The future writer was the second of six children in the family of officer Johann Kaspar, who was in the service of the Duke of Württemberg and housewife Elisabeth Dorothea Kodweis. The head of the family wanted his only son to receive an education and grow up to be a worthy man.
That is why his father raised Friedrich in strictness, punishing the boy for the slightest sins. On top of everything else, Johann taught his heir to hardships from a young age. So during lunch or dinner, the head of the family deliberately did not give his son what he wanted to taste.
Schiller the elder considered the highest human virtues to be love of order, neatness and strict obedience. However, there was no need for paternal strictness. Thin and sickly, Friedrich was strikingly different from his peers and friends, who thirsted for adventure and constantly found themselves in unpleasant situations.
The future playwright liked to study. The boy could pore over textbooks for days, studying certain disciplines. Teachers noted his diligence, passion for science and incredible efficiency, which he retained until the end of his life.
It is worth noting that Elizabeth was the complete opposite of her husband, who was stingy with emotional manifestations. An intelligent, kind, pious woman tried her best to soften her husband’s Puritan strictness and often read Christian poetry to the children.
In 1764 the Schiller family moved to Lorch. In this ancient town, the father awakened his son's interest in history. This passion ultimately determined the future fate of the poet. The future playwright's first history lessons were taught by a local priest, who had such a strong influence on the student that at one point Friedrich even seriously thought about devoting his life to worship.
In addition, for a boy from a poor family this was the only way to get out into the world, so his parents encouraged their son’s desire. In 1766, the head of the family received a promotion and became the ducal gardener of a castle located in the vicinity of Stuttgart.
The castle, and most importantly, the court theater, which was visited free of charge by the personnel working in the castle, made an impression on Frederick. The best actors from all over Europe performed in the monastery of the goddess Melpomene. The play of the actors inspired the future poet, and he and his sisters often began to show their parents home performances in the evenings, in which he always got the main role. True, neither the father nor the mother took his son’s new hobby seriously. They only saw their son in the church pulpit with a Bible in his hands.
When Frederick was 14 years old, his father sent his beloved child to the military school of Duke Charles Eugene, in which the offspring of poor officers learned for free the intricacies of providing everything necessary for the ducal court and army.
Staying at this educational institution became a waking nightmare for Schiller Jr. Barracks-like discipline reigned at school, and it was forbidden to meet with parents. On top of everything else, there was a system of fines. Thus, for an unplanned purchase of food, 12 strokes of a stick were due, and for inattention and untidiness - a monetary penalty.
At that time, his new friends became a consolation for the author of the ballad “The Glove”. Friendship became a kind of elixir of life for Friedrich, which gave the writer strength to move on. It is noteworthy that the years spent in this institution did not make a slave out of Schiller; on the contrary, they turned the writer into a rebel, whose weapon - endurance and fortitude - no one could take away from him.
In October 1776, Schiller transferred to the medical department, his first poem “Evening” was published, and after that the philosophy teacher gave a talented student to read the works of William Shakespeare, and what happened, as Goethe would later say, was “the awakening of Schiller’s genius.”
Then, impressed by the works of Shakespeare, Friedrich wrote his first tragedy, “The Robbers,” which became the starting point in his career as a playwright. At the same moment, the poet became eager to write a book that would deserve the fate of being burned.
In 1780, Schiller graduated from the medical faculty and left the hated military academy. Then, on the orders of Karl Eugene, the poet went as a regimental doctor to Stuttgart. True, the long-awaited freedom did not please Frederick. As a doctor he was no good, because the practical side of the profession never interested him.
Bad wine, disgusting tobacco and bad women - that’s what distracted the writer who was unable to realize himself from bad thoughts.
Literature
In 1781, the drama "The Robbers" was completed. After editing the manuscript, it turned out that not a single Stuttgart publisher wanted to publish it, and Schiller had to publish the work at his own expense. Simultaneously with the Robbers, Schiller prepared for publication a collection of poems, which was published in February 1782 under the title “Anthology for 1782”
In the fall of 1782 of the same year, Friedrich made the first draft of a version of the tragedy “Cunning and Love,” which in the draft version was called “Louise Miller.” At this time, Schiller also published the drama “The Fiesco Conspiracy in Genoa” for a meager fee.
In the period from 1793 to 1794, the poet completed the philosophical and aesthetic work “Letters on the Aesthetic Education of Man”, and in 1797 he wrote the ballads “Polycrates’ Ring”, “Ivikov’s Cranes” and “Diver”.
In 1799, Schiller completed the Wallenstein trilogy, which consisted of the plays Wallenstein's Camp, Piccolomini and The Death of Wallenstein, and a year later he published Mary Stuart and The Maid of Orleans. In 1804, the drama "William Tell" was released, based on the Swiss legend of a skilled marksman named William Tell.
Personal life
Like any creatively gifted person, Schiller looked for inspiration in women. The writer needed a muse that would inspire him to write new masterpieces. It is known that during his life the writer intended to marry 4 times, but his chosen ones always rejected the playwright because of his financial insolvency.
The first lady who captured the poet's thoughts was a girl named Charlotte. The young lady was the daughter of his patron Henriette von Walzogen. Despite her admiration for Schiller’s talent, the chosen one’s mother refused the playwright when he wooed her beloved child.
The second Charlotte in the writer’s life was the widow von Kalb, who was madly in love with the poet. True, in this case, Schiller himself was not eager to start a family with an extremely annoying person. After her, Friedrich briefly courted the young daughter of a bookseller, Margarita.
While the philosopher was thinking about the wedding and children, his missus was having fun in the company of other men and did not even intend to connect her life with a writer with a hole in his pocket. When Schiller invited Margarita to become his wife, the young lady, barely holding back her laughter, admitted that she was just playing with him.
The third woman for whom the writer was ready to pull a star from the sky was Charlotte von Lengefeld. This lady saw the potential in the poet and reciprocated his feelings. After Schiller got a job as a philosophy teacher at the University of Jena, the playwright managed to save enough money for a wedding. In this marriage, the writer had a son, Ernest.
It is worth noting that despite the fact that Schiller praised his wife’s intelligence, those around her noted that Charlotte was a thrifty and faithful lady, but very narrow-minded.
Death
Three years before his death, the writer was unexpectedly granted a noble title. Schiller himself was skeptical about this mercy, but accepted it so that his wife and children would be provided for after his death. Every year the playwright, suffering from tuberculosis, became worse and worse, and he literally faded away in front of his family and friends. The writer died at the age of 45 on May 9, 1805, without finishing his last play, “Dimitri.”
During his short but productive life, the author of “Ode to Joy” created 10 plays, two historical monographs, as well as a couple of philosophical works and a number of poems. However, Schiller failed to make money through literary work. That is why, after his death, the writer was buried in the Kassengewelbe crypt, organized for nobles who did not have their own family tomb.
After 20 years, it was decided to rebury the remains of the great writer. True, finding them turned out to be problematic. Then the archaeologists, pointing their finger at the sky, selected one of the skeletons they had excavated, declaring to the public that the remains found belonged to Schiller. After that, they were again interred in the princely tomb in the new cemetery, next to the grave of the philosopher’s close friend, the poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
Tomb with the empty coffin of Friedrich Schiller A couple of years later, biographers and literary scholars had doubts about the authenticity of the playwright’s body, and in 2008 an exhumation was carried out, which revealed an interesting fact: the poet’s remains belonged to three different people. Now it is impossible to find Friedrich’s body, so the philosopher’s grave is empty.
Quotes
“Only he who controls himself is free”
“Parents least of all forgive their children for the vices that they themselves instilled in them.”
“A person grows as his goals grow”
"Better a terrible ending than endless fear"
"Great souls endure suffering in silence"
“A person is reflected in his actions”
Bibliography
- 1781 - "Robbers"
- 1783 - “The Fiesco Conspiracy in Genoa”
- 1784 - “Cunning and Love”
- 1787 - “Don Carlos, Infante of Spain”
- 1791 - “History of the Thirty Years' War”
- 1799 - "Wallenstein"
- 1793 - “On Grace and Dignity”
- 1795 - “Letters on the aesthetic education of man”
- 1800 - “Mary Stuart”
- 1801 - “On the Sublime”
- 1801 - “The Maid of Orleans”
- 1803 - “The Bride of Messina”
- 1804 - “William Tell”
His biography and work reveal the personality of a rebel, a person who does not consider himself, in an era of general lawlessness, to be the property of a feudal lord. His life feat impressed even the august lady, which we will talk about later. The life of a poet and playwright itself resembles a theatrical drama, where Talent fights discrimination, poverty and wins.
The Europeans chose his “Ode to Joy” as the anthem of the European Union. Set to music by Ludwig van Beethoven, it sounded solemn and sublime.
The genius of this man manifested itself in many ways: poet, playwright, art theorist, fighter for human rights.
Born unfree
When Schiller Friedrich was born, serfdom was still relevant in Germany.
The subjects of the feudal lords could not leave the domain of their overlord. And if this happened, the fugitives were returned by force. The subject could neither change his craft, to which he was “attached” by the feudal lord, nor marry without the permission of his master. Friedrich Schiller lived in such a nightmare legal status, reminiscent of an iron cage.
He became a classic, rather, not thanks to the German society of his time, but in spite of it. Frederick, figuratively speaking, managed to enter the Temple of Art through a door closed to him by the state with remnants of the Middle Ages.
Only in 1807 (Schiller died in 1805) did Prussia abolish serfdom.
Parents
Schiller's biography begins in the Duchy of Württemberg (city of Marbach am Neckar), where he was born on November 10, 1759 in the family of an officer, regimental paramedic Johann Caspar Schiller. The future poet's mother was from a family of pharmacists and innkeepers. Her name was Elizabeth Dorothea Kodwais. In his parents' house there was an atmosphere of clean, orderly and intelligent poverty.
The father and mother of Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (this is the full name of the classic) were very religious and raised their children in the same spirit. The father of the future poet, who came from a peasant wine-making family, was lucky enough to receive a medical education. He became an official under his master, an intelligent man, but not free. He changed places of residence and positions, following the will of his master.
Education
When the boy was five years old, the family moved to the city of the same county, Lorch. My father received a government position there as a recruiter. For three years, Pastor Lorch, a kind man who managed to interest the boy in Latin, German, and catechism, took care of Friedrich’s primary church and humanitarian education.
When seven-year-old Schiller moved with his family to Ludwigsburg, he was able to attend a Latin school. At the age of 23, an educated young man was confirmed (the right to approach the sacrament). At first he dreamed of becoming a priest, following the charisma of his teachers.
Feudal despot
Schiller's biography in his youth turned into a series of sufferings due to failure to fulfill the will of the Duke of Württemberg. He ordered his serf to study at the Military Academy of Jurisprudence and become a lawyer. Schiller could not live someone else's life; he ignored his studies. Three years later, the young man was last rated in a peer group of 18 people.
In 1776, he transferred to the Faculty of Medicine, where he became interested in studying. But in teaching medicine he was attracted to secondary subjects - philosophy, literature. In 1777, the reputable magazine "German Chronicle" published the first work of the young Schiller, the ode "The Conqueror", written in imitation of his favorite poet Friedrich Klopstock.
Schiller's biography, as follows from the above, is not a “major” story. The guy who did not fulfill the order to become a lawyer was disliked by the tyrant duke. By his will, the 29-year-old academy graduate received only the position of regimental doctor, without an officer rank. It seemed to the Despot that he had managed to break the life of the disgraced young man, but by that time Friedrich Schiller had already felt the power of his talent.
Talent makes itself known
The 32-year-old playwright is writing the drama "Robbers". Not a single publisher from Stuttgart undertakes to publish such a serious work of a slave, fearing a conflict with the all-powerful Duke of Württemberg. Showing persistence, declaring himself to the public, Friedrich Schiller himself published it. His biography as a playwright begins with this essay.
The daring subject, who published the drama “The Robbers” at his own expense, was a winner. And Fate sent him a gift. A bookseller friend introduced him to the art connoisseur Baron von Dahlberg, who ran the Mainham Theatre. The drama, after minor edits, became the highlight of the next theater season in Prussia!
The author is overcome with courage, he revels in talent. During the same period, Schiller published his first collection of poems, Anthology for 1782. Any height seems achievable to him! He competes for primacy in the Swabian school of poetry with Gotthald Steidlin, who had previously published his “Collection of Muses.” To give an image of scandal to his collection, the poet indicates the city of Tobolsk as the place of publication.
Harassment and escape
Schiller's biography at that time is marked by a banal flight to the county of Palatinate. He decided to take this risky step on September 22, 1782, together with his friend Streicher, pianist and composer. The Duke of Württemberg was unshakable in his desire to turn the future classic into a government servant.
Schiller was put in a guardhouse for two weeks for leaving his regiment to attend a theatrical production of The Robbers. At the same time, he was forbidden to write.
Friends, not without reason, feared intrigues on the part of the Archduke. Schiller changed his name to Schmidt. Therefore, they settled not in the city of Mannheim itself, but in the “Hunting Yard” tavern in the suburban village of Oggersheim.
Schiller hoped to make money with a new play he wrote, “The Fiesco Conspiracy in Genoa.” However, the fee turned out to be meager. Being in poverty, he was forced to ask Henrieta von Walzogen for help. She generously allowed the playwright to live in her empty estate.
Life under someone else's name
From 1782 to 1783, he hid in the estate of a benefactor under the fictitious name of Dr. Ritter Friedrich Schiller. His biography during this period is a description of the life of an outcast who chose risk in order to be able to develop his talent. He studies history and writes the plays "Louise Miller" and "The Fiesco Conspiracy in Genoa." To the credit of his friend, Andrei Streicher, he made great efforts to ensure that the director of the Mannheim Theater, Baron von Dahlberg, paid attention to his friend’s work. Schiller informs the baron in a letter about his new plays, and he agrees to stage them at his place!
During this period (1983), the estate is visited by Henrieta von Walzogen with her young daughter Charlotte. Schiller falls in love with a girl and asks his mother for permission to marry her, but is refused due to his poverty. He moves to Mannheim to prepare his works for production.
Finding freedom. Obtaining a formal position
If the play “The Fiesco Conspiracy in Genoa” on the stage of the Mannheim Theater is performed as an ordinary production, then “Louise Miller” (renamed “Cunning and Love”) brings resounding success. In 1784, Schiller entered the local German society, receiving the right to legalize his status, becoming a Palatinate subject, and finally draw a line under the persecution of the Archduke.
He, who has his own views on the development of German theater, is respected as a famous playwright. He writes his work “The Theater is a Moral Institution,” which has become a classic.
Soon Schiller begins a short affair with a married woman, Charlotte von Kalb. The writer, prone to mysticism, led a bohemian lifestyle. This lady considered the young poet as her next trophy in a series of women's victories.
She introduced Schiller to Archduke Karl August in Darmstadt. The playwright read the first act of the drama “Don Carlos” to him. Surprised and delighted by the author's talent, the nobleman granted the writer the position of adviser. This gave the playwright only social status, nothing more. However, this did not change his life.
Soon Schiller quarrels and breaks his contract with the director of the Mannheim Theater. He considers the author of his hit productions dependent on his will and money, trying to put pressure on Schiller.
Leipzig welcomes a desperate poet
Friedrich Schiller remained just as unsettled in life. This is not the first time his biography is preparing a blow in his personal life. Due to poverty, he is denied marriage by Margarita Schwan, the daughter of a court bookseller. However, soon his life changes for the better. His work was appreciated in Leipzig.
The playwright had long been persistently invited there by fans of his work, who organized themselves into a society controlled by Gottfried Kerner. Driven to extremes (he still had not repaid the debt of 200 guilders, taken out for the publication of “The Robbers”), the writer turned to his admirers with a request for financial assistance. To his joy, he soon received a bill of exchange from Leipzig for an amount sufficient to pay off his debts and move to live where he was valued. The classic's friendship with Gottfried Kerner bound him throughout his entire subsequent life.
04/17/1785 Schiller arrives in a hospitable city.
At this time, the classic man falls in love for the third time, but again unsuccessfully: Margarita Schwan refuses him. The classic man, who has fallen into black despondency, is favorably influenced by his benefactor, Gottfried Kerner. He dissuades his romantic friend from committing suicide, first by inviting Friedrich to his wedding with Minna Stock.
Warmed by friendship and having survived a severe mental crisis, F. Schiller writes a brilliant ode “To Joy” for his friend’s wedding.
The biography of the writer, who settled at the invitation of the same Kerner in the village of Loschwitz adjacent to Dresden, is marked by remarkable works: “Philosophical Letters”, the drama “The Misanthrope”, the modified drama “Don Carlos”. In terms of creative fruitfulness, this period is reminiscent of Pushkin’s Boldino Autumn.
Schiller becomes famous. The playwright rejects an offer from the Hamburg Theater to stage his plays. The memories of the difficulties in cooperation and the break with the Mannheim Theater are too fresh.
Weimar period: departure from creativity. Tuberculosis
On August 21, 1787, he arrived in Weimar at the invitation of the poet Christoph Wieland. He is accompanied by his mistress, an old acquaintance, Charlotte von Kalb. Having connections in high society, she introduces Schiller to the presenters Johann Herder and Martin Wieland.
The poet begins to publish the magazine "Talia", published in the "Deutsche Mercury". Here he retreated from creativity for almost a decade, taking up self-education in the field of history. His knowledge is highly valued, and in 1788 he became a professor at the University of Jena.
He lectures on world history and poetry, and translates Virgil's Aeneid. Schiller receives a salary of 200 thalers per year. This is a fairly small income, but it allows him to plan his future.
The poet decides to arrange his life and marries Charlotte von Lengefeld. But four years later, fate prepares a new test for him: speaking in cold classrooms and contracting the disease from his student, Friedrich Schiller falls ill with tuberculosis. Interesting facts in his biography testify to his charismatic personality and integrity. The illness crosses out his teaching career and leaves him bedridden, but calm human courage often overcomes fate.
A new stage of fate
As if by a wave of higher powers, his friends help him in difficult times. And now, when Schiller’s illness made it impossible to work, the Danish writer Jens Baggens persuaded the Prince of Holstein and Count Schimmelmann to assign a subsidy of a thousand thalers to the classics for treatment.
Iron will and financial assistance raised the bedridden patient to his feet. He could not teach, and his friend, publisher Johann Cotta, provided him with the opportunity to earn money. Soon Schiller moves to a new stage of creativity. Ironically, it begins with a tragic event: the poet was summoned by his dying father, who at that time lived in Ludwigsburg.
This event was expected: previously, the father had been seriously ill for a long time. The classic, in addition to the filial duty of saying goodbye to his father, was also attracted by the opportunity to hug and console his three sisters and mother, whom he had not seen for eighteen years!
Perhaps that is why he did not go on his own, but together with his wife, who was pregnant.
While staying in his small homeland, the poet receives a powerful spiritual incentive - to develop creativity.
A month and a half after his father’s funeral, he visited his alma mater, the military academy. He was pleasantly surprised that he was an idol for the students. They greeted him enthusiastically: before them stood a legend - Friedrich Schiller, poet No. 1 in Prussia. After this visit, the classic man was moved and wrote his famous work “Letters on the Aesthetic Education of Man.”
His first child was born in Ludwigsburg. He's finally happy. But he only has seven years to live...
The poet returned to Jena, being in a state of creative upsurge. His polished talent shines with renewed vigor! Schiller, after ten years of in-depth study of history, literary theory, and aesthetics, again returns to poetry.
He managed to attract all the best poets in Prussia to participate in the magazine "Ory". In 1795, philosophical poetic works came from his pen: “Dance”, “Poetry of Life”, “Hope”, “Genius”, “Division of the Land”.
Collaboration with Goethe
Among the poets invited by Schiller to the journal Ory, their creative souls entered into that resonance that stimulated the creation of many priceless pearls from the necklace of German classical literature of the 18th century.
They had a common vision of the civilizational significance of the Great French Revolution, the ways of development of German literature, and the rethinking of ancient art. Goethe and Schiller criticized the treatment of religious, political, aesthetic and philosophical issues in contemporary literature. Their letters sounded moral and civic pathos. Two brilliant poets who chose literary direction for themselves competed with each other in its development:
- from December 1795 - in writing epigrams;
- in 1797 - in writing ballads.
The friendly correspondence between Goethe and Schiller is a wonderful example of epistolary art.
The last stage of creativity. Weimar
In 1799, Friedrich Schiller returned to Weimar. The works written by him and Goethe contributed to the development of German theater. They became the dramatic basis for the creation of the best theater in Germany - Weimar.
However, Schiller's strength is running out. In 1800, he completed writing his swan song - the tragedy “Mary Stuart”, a profound work that had success and wide resonance in society.
In 1802, the Emperor of Prussia granted the poet nobility. However, Schiller treated this ironically. His young and best mature years were full of hardships, and now the newly-made nobleman felt that he was dying. He humanly wanted to reject the title, which was useless to himself, but he accepted it, thinking exclusively about his children.
He was often sick and suffered from chronic pneumonia. Against this background, tuberculosis worsened, leading to his untimely death in the prime of his talent and at the age of 45.
Conclusion
Without exaggeration, we can say that the favorite poets of the Germans at all times were and will be Johann Goethe and Friedrich Schiller. The photo of the monument, which forever depicts two friends living in Weimar, is familiar to every German. Their contribution to literature is invaluable: the classics brought it onto the path of new humanism, summarizing the ideas of the Enlightenment, romanticism and classicism.
Biography
Johann Christoph Friedrich Schiller (11/10/1759, Marbach am Neckar - 05/09/1805, Weimar) - German poet, philosopher, historian and playwright, representative of the romantic movement in literature.
Born November 10, 1759 in Marbach (Württemberg); comes from the lower classes of the German burghers: his mother is from the family of a provincial baker-tavern keeper, his father is a regimental paramedic.
1768 - begins to attend Latin school.
1773 - being a subject of the Duke of Württemberg, Karl Eugene, the father is forced to send his son to the newly established military academy, where he begins to study law, although since childhood he has dreamed of becoming a priest.
1775 - the academy was transferred to Stuttgart, the course of study was extended, and Schiller, leaving jurisprudence, began to practice medicine.
1780 – after completing the course, he receives a position as a regimental doctor in Stuttgart.
1781 – publishes the drama “The Robbers” (Die Rauber), begun at the academy. The plot of the play is based on the enmity of two brothers, Karl and Franz Moor; Karl is impetuous, courageous and, in essence, generous; Franz is an insidious scoundrel who seeks to take away from his older brother not only his title and estates, but also the love of his cousin Amalia. For all the illogicality of the gloomy plot, the irregularities of the rough language and youthful immaturity, the tragedy captures the reader and viewer with its energy and social pathos. The second edition of The Robbers (1782) has on the title page an image of a roaring lion with the motto “In tyrannos!” (Latin: “Against tyrants!”). The "robbers" prompted the French in 1792. make Schiller an honorary citizen of the new French Republic.
1782 - “The Robbers” was staged in Mannheim; Schiller attends the premiere without asking the sovereign for permission to leave the duchy. Having heard about the second visit to the Mannheim theater, the Duke puts Schiller in the guardhouse, and later orders him to practice medicine only. September 22, 1782 Schiller flees the Duchy of Württemberg.
1783 - apparently no longer fearing the Duke's revenge, the intendant of the Mannheim Theater Dahlberg appoints Schiller as a "theater poet", concluding a contract with him to write plays for production on the Mannheim stage. Two dramas that Schiller worked on even before fleeing Stuttgart are “The Fiesco Conspiracy in Genoa” (Die Verschworung des Fiesco zu Genua), a play based on the biography of the Genoese conspirator of the 16th century, and “Cunning and Love” (Kabale und Liebe), the first “philistine tragedy” in world drama was staged at the Mannheim Theater, and the latter was a great success. However, Dahlberg does not renew the contract, and Schiller finds himself in Mannheim in very straitened financial circumstances, moreover, tormented by the pangs of unrequited love.
1785 – Schiller writes one of his most famous works, “Ode to Joy” (An die Freude). Beethoven completed his 9th symphony with a grand choir based on the text of this poem.
1785-1787 - accepts the invitation of one of his enthusiastic admirers, Privatdozent G. Körner, and stays with him in Leipzig and Dresden.
1785-1791 – Schiller publishes a literary magazine, published irregularly and under various names (for example, “Thalia”).
1786 – “Philosophical Letters” (Philosophische Briefe) is published.
1787 – play “Don Carlos”, which takes place at the court of the Spanish king Philip II. This drama ends the first period of Schiller's dramatic work.
1787-1789 – Schiller leaves Dresden and lives in Weimar and its surroundings.
1788 – writes the poem “Gods of Greece” (Gottern Griechenlands), in which the ancient world is shown as a center of joy, love and beauty. A historical study “The History of the Fall of the Netherlands from Spanish Rule” (Geschichte des Abfalls der vereinigten Niederlande von der spanischen Regierung) was also created.
Schiller meets with Goethe, who has returned from Italy, but Goethe shows no desire to maintain the acquaintance.
1789 – Becomes professor of world history at the University of Jena.
1790 – marries Charlotte von Lengefeld.
1791-1793 – Schiller works on “The History of the Thirty Years' War” (Die Geschichte des Drei?igjahrigen Krieges).
1791-1794 – Crown Prince Frank von Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg and Count E. von Schimmelmann pay Schiller a stipend that allows him not to worry about his daily bread.
1792-1796 - a number of philosophical essays by Schiller are published: “Letters on aesthetic education” (Uber die asthetische Erziehung der des Menschen, in einer Reihe von Briefen), “On the tragic in art” (Uber die tragische Kunst), “On grace and dignity "(Uber Anmut und Wurde), "On the sublime" (Uber das Erhabene) and "On naive and sentimental poetry" (Uber naive und sentimentalische Dichtung). Schiller's philosophical views are strongly influenced by I. Kant.
1794 – publisher I.F. Cotta invites Schiller to publish the monthly magazine “Ory”.
1796 - the second period of Schiller’s dramatic work begins, when he subjects turning stages in the history of European peoples to artistic analysis. The first of these plays is the drama Wallenstein. While studying the History of the Thirty Years' War, Schiller finds in the Generalissimo of the Imperial Troops Wallenstein a dramatic figure who is grateful. The drama takes shape in 1799. and takes the form of a trilogy: a prologue, Wallensteins Lager, and two five-act dramas, Die Piccolomini and Wallensteins Tod.
In the same year, Schiller founded a periodical, the annual “Almanac of the Muses,” where many of his works were published. In search of materials, Schiller turns to Goethe, and now the poets become close friends.
1797 - the so-called “ballad year”, when Schiller and Goethe, in friendly competition, created ballads, incl. Schiller - “The Cup” (Der Taucher), “The Glove” (Der Handschuh), “The Ring of Polycrates” (Der Ring des Polykrates) and “The Cranes of Ibyk” (Die Kraniche des Ibykus), which came to the Russian reader in translations by V.A. Zhukovsky. In the same year, “Xenia” was created, short satirical poems, the fruit of the joint work of Goethe and Schiller.
1800 - the play “Marie Stuart”, illustrating Schiller’s aesthetic thesis that for the sake of drama it is quite acceptable to change and reshape historical events. Schiller did not bring political and religious issues to the fore in Mary Stuart and conditioned the outcome of the drama on the development of the conflict between the rival queens.
1801 - the play “The Maid of Orleans” (Die Jungfrau von Orleans), which is based on the story of Joan of Arc. Schiller gives free rein to his imagination, using the material of a medieval legend, and admits his involvement in the new romantic movement, calling the play a “romantic tragedy.”
1802 – Holy Roman Emperor Francis II ennobles Schiller.
1803 - “The Bride of Messina” (Die Braut von Messina) was written, in which Schiller, well-read in Greek drama, translated Euripides and studied Aristotle’s theory of drama, experimentally tries to revive the forms characteristic of ancient tragedy, in particular, choruses, and in his own individual interpretation embodies the ancient Greek understanding of fatal punishment.
1804 – the last completed play “William Tell”, conceived by Schiller as a “folk” drama.
1805 – work on the unfinished drama “Demetrius”, dedicated to Russian history.
en.wikipedia.org
Biography
Schiller was born on November 10, 1759 in the city of Marbach am Neckar. His father - Johann Caspar Schiller (1723-1796) - was a regimental paramedic, an officer in the service of the Duke of Württemberg, his mother was from the family of a provincial baker and innkeeper. Young Schiller was brought up in a religious-pietistic atmosphere, which was echoed in his early poems. His childhood and youth were spent in relative poverty, although he was able to study at a rural school and under Pastor Moser. Having attracted the attention of the Duke of Württemberg, Karl Eugen (German: Karl Eugen), in 1773 Schiller entered the elite military academy “Karl's Higher School” (German: Hohe Karlsschule), where he began to study law, although since childhood he dreamed of becoming a priest. In 1775, the academy was transferred to Stuttgart, the course of study was extended, and Schiller, leaving jurisprudence, took up medicine. Under the influence of one of his mentors, Schiller became a member of the secret society of the Illuminati, the predecessors of the German Jacobins. In 1779, Schiller's dissertation was rejected by the leadership of the academy, and he was forced to stay for a second year. Finally, in 1780, he completed the academy course and received a position as a regimental doctor in Stuttgart. While still in school, Schiller wrote his first works. Influenced by the drama Julius of Tarentum (1776) by Johann Anton Leisewitz, Frederick wrote Cosmus von Medici, a drama in which he tried to develop a favorite theme of the Sturm und Drang literary movement: hatred between brothers and love father. But the author destroyed this play [source not specified 250 days]. At the same time, his enormous interest in the work and style of writing of Friedrich Klopstock prompted Schiller to write the ode “The Conqueror,” published in March 1777 in the journal “German Chronicle” and which was an imitation of his idol. His drama “The Robbers,” completed in 1781, is better known to readers.
The Robbers was first staged in Mannheim on January 13, 1782. For his unauthorized absence from the regiment in Mannheim for the performance of The Robbers, Schiller was arrested and prohibited from writing anything other than medical essays, which forced him to flee from the Duke's possessions on September 22, 1782.
In July 1787, Schiller left Dresden, where he stayed with Privatdozent G. Körner, one of his admirers, and lived in Weimar until 1789. In 1789, with the assistance of J. W. Goethe, whom Schiller met in 1788, he took the position of extraordinary professor of history and philosophy at the University of Jena, where he gave an introductory lecture on the topic “What is world history and for what purpose is it studied.” In 1790, Schiller married Charlotte von Lengefeld, with whom he had two sons and two daughters. But the poet's salary was not enough to support his family. Help came from Crown Prince Fr. Kr. von Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg and Count E. von Schimmelmann, who paid him a scholarship for three years (1791–1794), then Schiller was supported by the publisher J. Fr. Cotta, who invited him in 1794 to publish the monthly magazine Ory.
In 1799 he returned to Weimar, where he began publishing several literary magazines with money from patrons. Having become a close friend of Goethe, Schiller together with him founded the Weimar Theater, which became the leading theater in Germany. The poet remained in Weimar until his death. In 1802, Holy Roman Emperor Francis II granted Schiller nobility.
Schiller's most famous ballads (1797) - The Cup (Der Taucher), The Glove (Der Handschuh), Polycrates' Ring (Der Ring des Polykrates) and Ivikov's Cranes (Die Kraniche des Ibykus), became familiar to Russian readers after translations by V. A. Zhukovsky .
His “Ode to Joy” (1785), the music for which was written by Ludwig van Beethoven, gained worldwide fame.
The last years of Schiller's life were overshadowed by serious, protracted illnesses. After a severe cold, all the old ailments worsened. The poet suffered from chronic pneumonia. He died on May 9, 1805 at the age of 45 from tuberculosis.
Schiller's remains
Friedrich Schiller was buried on the night of May 11-12, 1805 at the Weimar Jacobsfriedhof cemetery in the Kassengewölbe crypt, specially reserved for nobles and respected residents of Weimar who did not have their own family crypts. In 1826, they decided to rebury Schiller’s remains, but they could no longer accurately identify them. The remains, randomly selected as the most suitable, were transported to the library of Duchess Anna Amalia. Looking at Schiller's skull, Goethe wrote a poem of the same name. On December 16, 1827, these remains were buried in the princely tomb in the new cemetery, where Goethe himself was subsequently buried next to his friend, according to his will.
In 1911, another skull was discovered, which was attributed to Schiller. For a long time there was debate about which one was real. As part of the "Friedrich Schiller Code" campaign, carried out jointly by the Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk radio station and the Weimar Classicism Foundation, DNA testing carried out in two independent laboratories in the spring of 2008 showed that none of the skulls belonged to Friedrich Schiller. The remains in Schiller's coffin belong to at least three different people, and their DNA also does not match any of the skulls examined. The Weimar Classicism Foundation decided to leave Schiller's coffin empty.
Reception of the work of Friedrich Schiller
Schiller's works were enthusiastically received not only in Germany, but also in other European countries. Some considered Schiller a poet of freedom, others - a bastion of bourgeois morality. Accessible language tools and apt dialogues turned many of Schiller’s lines into catchphrases. In 1859, the centenary of Schiller's birth was celebrated not only in Europe, but also in the United States. The works of Friedrich Schiller were learned by heart, and since the 19th century they have been included in school textbooks.
After coming to power, the National Socialists tried to present Schiller as a “German writer” for their propaganda purposes. However, in 1941, productions of William Tell, as well as Don Carlos, were banned by order of Hitler.
Monuments
Most famous works
Plays
* 1781 - "Robbers"
* 1783 - “Cunning and Love”
* 1784 - “The Fiesco Conspiracy in Genoa”
* 1787 - “Don Carlos, Infante of Spain”
* 1799 - dramatic trilogy “Wallenstein”
* 1800 - “Mary Stuart”
* 1801 - “Maid of Orleans”
* 1803 - “The Bride of Messina”
* 1804 - “William Tell”
* “Dimitri” (was not finished due to the death of the playwright)
Prose
* Article “Criminal for Lost Honor” (1786)
* “The Spirit Seer” (unfinished novel)
* Eine gro?mutige Handlung
Philosophical works
*Philosophie der Physiologie (1779)
* On the relationship between man’s animal nature and his spiritual nature / Uber den Zusammenhang der tierischen Natur des Menschen mit seiner geistigen (1780)
* Die Schaubuhne als eine moralische Anstalt betrachtet (1784)
* Uber den Grund des Vergnugens an tragischen Gegenstanden (1792)
* Augustenburger Briefe (1793)
* On grace and dignity / Uber Anmut und Wurde (1793)
* Kallias-Briefe (1793)
* Letters on the aesthetic education of man / Uber die asthetische Erziehung des Menschen (1795)
* On naive and sentimental poetry / Uber naive und sentimentalische Dichtung (1795)
* On amateurism / Uber den Dilettantismus (1799; co-authored with Goethe)
* On the Sublime / Uber das Erhabene (1801)
Schiller's works in other forms of art
Musical Theatre
* 1829 - “William Tell” (opera), composer G. Rossini
* 1834 - “Mary Stuart” (opera), composer G. Donizetti
* 1845 - “Giovanna d'Arco” (opera), composer G. Verdi
* 1847 - “The Robbers” (opera), composer G. Verdi
* 1849 - “Louise Miller” (opera), composer G. Verdi
* 1867 - “Don Carlos” (opera), composer G. Verdi
* 1879 - “The Maid of Orleans” (opera), composer P. Tchaikovsky
* 1883 - “The Bride of Messina” (opera), composer Z. Fibich
* 1957 - “Joan of Arc” (ballet), composer N. I. Peiko
* 2001 - “Mary Stuart” (opera), composer S. Slonimsky
The Bolshoi Drama Theater opened in Petrograd on February 15, 1919 with the tragedy of F. Schiller “Don Carlos”.
Screen adaptations and films based on works
* 1980 - Teleplay “The Fiesco Conspiracy in Genoa.” Staged by the Maly Theatre. Directors: Felix Glyamshin, L. E. Kheifets. Cast: V. M. Solomin (Fiesko), M. I. Tsarev (Verina), N. Vilkina (Leonora), N. Kornienko (Julia), Y. P. Baryshev (Gianettino), E. V. Samoilov ( Duke Doria), A. Potapov (Hassan, Moor), V. Bogin (Burgognino), Y. Vasiliev (Calcagno), E. Burenkov (Sacco), B. V. Klyuev (Lomellino), A. Zharova (Berta), M. Fomina (Rosa), G. V. Bukanova (Arabella) and others.
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