Schiller Johann Christoph Friedrich (1759 - 1805), German poet, playwright and aesthetic philosopher.
Born November 10, 1759 in Marbach. A native of the lower ranks of the German burghers: his mother is from the family of a provincial baker-innkeeper, his father is a regimental paramedic. After studying in elementary school and studying with the Protestant pastor, Schiller in 1773, by order of the Duke of Württemberg, entered the newly established military academy and began to study law, although from 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. After graduating from the course in 1780, he received the post of regimental doctor in Stuttgart.
While still at the academy, Schiller moved away from the religious and sentimental exaltation of his early literary experiments, turned to drama, and in 1781 finished and published The Robbers. At the beginning of the following year, the play was staged in Mannheim; Schiller attended the premiere. For unauthorized absence from the regiment for the performance of The Robbers, he was arrested and forbidden to write anything other than medical essays, which forced Schiller to flee the Duchy of Württemberg. The Mannheim Theater Quartermaster Daglioerg appoints Schiller as a "theater poet", having signed a contract with him to write plays for staging. Two dramas - "Fiesco's Conspiracy in Genoa" and "Treachery and Love" - were staged at the Mannheim Theater, the latter being a great success.
Tormented by the throes of unrequited love, Schiller willingly accepted the invitation of one of his enthusiastic admirers, assistant professor G. Kerner, and spent more than two years visiting him in Leipzig and Dresden.
In 1789 he was promoted to professor of world history at the University of Jena, and through his marriage to Charlotte von Lengefeld found family happiness.
The Crown Prince von Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustinburg and Count E. von Schimmelmann paid him a scholarship for three years (1791-1794), then Schiller was supported by the publisher I. Fr. Cotta, who invited him in 1794 to publish the monthly Ora magazine.
Schiller was interested in philosophy, especially aesthetics. As a result, "Philosophical Letters" and a whole series of essays (1792-1796) appeared - "On the Tragic in Art", "On Grace and Dignity", "On the Sublime" and "On Naive and Sentimental Poetry". Schiller's philosophical views were strongly influenced by I. Kant.
In addition to philosophical poetry, he also creates purely lyrical poems - short, song-like, expressing personal experiences. In 1796, Schiller founded another periodical - the yearbook "Almanac of the Muses", where many of his works were published.
In search of materials, Schiller turned to JV Goethe, whom he met after Goethe's return from Italy, but then the matter did not go beyond a superficial acquaintance; now the poets have become close friends. The so-called "ballad year" (1797) was marked by Schiller and Goethe with excellent ballads, incl. Schiller's “Cup”, “Glove”, “Polikratov's Ring”, which came to the Russian reader in excellent translations by V.A. Zhukovsky.
In 1799, the Duke doubled Schiller's allowance, which, in fact, became a pension, tk. the poet was no longer engaged in teaching and moved from Jena to Weimar. In 1802, the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation Francis II granted Schiller the nobility.
Schiller was never in good health, he was often ill; he developed tuberculosis. Died Schiller in Weimar, May 9, 1805
Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller was born in Marbach an der Neckar, Württemberg, Holy Roman Empire. His parents were Johann Kaspar Schiller, a military paramedic, and Elizabeth Dorothea Codweiss.
In 1763, his father was appointed a recruiter in the German city of Schwäbisch Gmünd, which is why the entire Schiller family moved to Germany, settling in the small town of Lorch.
In Lorkh, Schiller attended elementary school, but due to dissatisfaction with the quality of education, he often skipped classes. Since his parents wanted him to become a priest, they hired a local priest, who taught Schiller both Latin and Greek.
In 1766, the Schiller family returned to Ludwigsburg, where his father was transferred. In Ludwigsburg, Karl Eugene of Württemberg drew attention to Schiller. A few years later, Schiller graduated from the Faculty of Medicine at the Karl Higher School of Württemberg, founded by Karl.
His first work, the drama The Robbers, was written while he was attending the academy. It was published in 1781, and the next year in Germany a performance was staged based on it. The drama told about the conflict between two brothers.
Career
In 1780, Schiller was appointed to the post of regimental physician in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. He was not happy with this appointment, and therefore one day left the service without permission to watch the first production of his play "The Robbers".
Since he left the location of the unit without permission, Schiller was arrested and sentenced to 14 days of arrest. He was also banned from publishing his work in the future.
In 1782, Schiller fled to Weimar via Frankfurt, Mannheim, Leipzig and Dresden. And in 1783, in Bonn, Germany, Schiller's next production was presented with the title "The Fiesco Conspiracy in Genoa."
In 1784 at the Schauspiel Frankfurt a five-part play "Cunning and Love" was performed. A few years later, the play was translated into French and English.
In 1785 Schiller presented the play Ode to Joy.
In 1786, he presented the novella Crime of Lost Honor, which was written in the form of a crime report.
In 1787 his dramatic play Don Carlos was presented in Hamburg in five parts in Hamburg. The play deals with the conflict between Don Carlos and his father, the Spanish king Philip II.
In 1789 Schiller began working as a teacher of history and philosophy in Jena. There he also begins to write his historical works, one of which is The History of the Fall of the Netherlands.
In 1794, his work "Letters on the aesthetic education of man" was published. The work was written based on events during the French Revolution.
In 1797, Schiller wrote the ballad The Ring of Polycrates, which was published the following year. In the same year, she also presented the following ballads: Ivik's Cranes and The Diver.
In 1799, Schiller completed the Wallenstein trilogy, which consisted of Wallenstein's Camp, Piccolomini and The Death of Wallenstein.
In 1800, Schiller presented such works: "Mary Stuart" and "The Maid of Orleans".
In 1801, Schiller presented the plays Carlo Gootsi, Turandot and Turandot, Princess of China, which he had translated.
In 1803, Schiller presented his dramatic work, The Messinian Bride, which was first shown in Weimar, Germany.
In 1804, he presented the dramatic work Wilhelm Tell, based on the Swiss legend of a skilled marksman named Wilhelm Tell.
Main works
Schiller's play, The Robbers, is considered one of the first European melodramas. In the play, the viewer is shown a perspective on the depravity of society and is offered a view of class, religious and economic differences between people.
Awards and achievements
In 1802, Schiller was granted the noble status of the Duke of Weimar, who added the prefix "von" to his name, indicating his noble status.
Personal life and legacy
In 1790 Schiller married Charlotte von Lengefeld. The couple had four children.
At the age of 45, Schiller died of tuberculosis.
In 1839, a monument was erected in Stuttgart in his honor. The area on which it was installed was named after Schiller.
It is believed that Friedrich Schiller was a Freemason.
In 2008, scientists conducted a DNA test, which showed that the skull in the coffin of Friedrich Schiller does not belong to him and therefore now his grave is empty.
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Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller(10.11.1759 - 9.05.1805) - an outstanding German poet, playwright, historian, author of a number of theoretical works on art, one of the founders of modern literature in Germany. He wrote such famous works as the tragedy "Robbers" (1781-82), "Wallenstein" (1800), dramas "Treachery and Love" (1784), "Don Carlos", "William Tell" (1804), romantic tragedy " The Maid of Orleans "(1801).
Schiller's life was closely associated with the army. Friedrich Christoph's father was Johann Kaspar Schiller, a paramedic, an officer in the service of the Duke of Württemberg; after graduating from the Latin school in Ludwigsburg in 1772, Schiller was enrolled in a military school (where the writer studied medicine and jurisprudence), which later received the status of an academy; at the end of the latter in 1780, Schiller was appointed to Stuttgart as a regimental doctor.
Schiller was forbidden to write. Absent from the regiment in Mannheim for the presentation of his first tragedy "The Robbers", Schiller was given a ban on writing anything other than essays on a medical topic. A similar attack on his literary work made Schiller prefer the duke's possessions, in which he was at that time, other German lands.
Schiller wrote plays especially for theaters. In the summer of 1783, the intendant of the Mannheim Theater signed a contract with Schiller, according to which the playwright was to write plays specifically for staging on the Mannheim stage. The dramas "Treachery and Love" and "Fiesco's Conspiracy in Genoa", which had begun before the conclusion of this theatrical agreement, were staged in Mannheim. After them, the contract with Schiller, despite the resounding success of "Treachery and Love", was not renewed.
Schiller studied history. In 1787, Schiller moved to Weimar, and in 1788 took up the editing of A History of Remarkable Rebellions and Plots, a series of books on various historical upheavals in society. As part of his work, Schiller opened up the topic of self-determination of the Netherlands, which received freedom from Spanish rule. In 1793, the writer published The History of the Thirty Years War. In addition, all his diverse drama is full of historical themes. Schiller writes both about Jeanne D "Ark and about Mary Stuart, and does not ignore the legendary Swiss hero Wilhelm Tell and many, many others.
Schiller knew Goethe. The two classics of German literature met in 1788, and already in 1789, with the help of Goethe, Schiller was promoted to professor of history at the University of Jena. Subsequently, the writers were in correspondence with each other of a literary and aesthetic nature, were co-authors in the cycle of epigrams "Xenia". Friendship with Goethe prompted Schiller to create such famous lyric works as "The Glove", "Polycratic Ring", "Ivik's Cranes".
Schiller greeted the French Revolution with enthusiasm. Despite the author's approval of the fall of the feudal system, Schiller reacted to what happened in France with some degree of apprehension: he did not like the execution of Louis XVI and the Jacobin dictatorship that was raising his head.
Schiller was helped by money from the crown prince. Despite the professorship at the University of Jena, Schiller's income was extremely small, there was not enough money even for the most necessary things. Crown Prince Fr. Cr. von Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustinburg decided to help the poet and for three years (from 1791 to 1794) paid him a scholarship. Since 1799, it has been doubled.
During his life, Schiller fell in love many times. In his youth, the ideals of the poet were Laura Petrarch and Francis von Hohengey, the metress of the Wiertemberg Duke, later Karl's wife and the new Duchess. Seventeen-year-old Schiller was completely delighted with the charming and noble Francis, in her he saw the concentration of all virtues and it was her that he brought out in his famous drama "Treachery and Love" under the name of Lady Milford. Later, Schiller began to have feelings for more real women, with whom he could well tie the knot, but for a number of reasons he did not. In the estate of Henrietta Wolzogen, where the poet was hiding from the duke's persecution, he fell in love with the daughter of the woman who took him in, Charlotte, but neither the girl herself nor her mother showed sufficient ardor for Schiller: the girl loved another, and the mother did not like the precarious position of the poet in society ... One of the main roles in the life and literary activity of Schiller was destined to be played by another Charlotte - a married lady by the name of Marshalk von Ostheim, by her husband Kalb. However, his love for Charlotte did not prevent Schiller from being carried away by other women, such as actresses who play in plays based on his plays, or simply beautiful girls who love literature and art. On one of the last - Margarita Schwann, Schiller almost got married. The poet was stopped by the fact that at the same time he would like to marry Charlotte, and Margarita's father did not give his consent to the marriage. The relationship with Charlotte ended quite prosaically - the poet lost interest in a woman who did not dare to divorce her husband for him. Schiller's wife was Charlotte von Lengfeld, whom the poet met in 1784 in Mannheim, but only really drew attention to her three years later. It is interesting that the love for Charlotte for some time bordered in the soul of Schiller, along with love for her older sister Caroline, who, for the sake of the happiness of her sister and beloved Frederick, married an unloved person and left their path. Schiller's wedding took place on February 20, 1790.
Schiller's mature work reflected the conflict between the educational ideal and reality. The most indicative in this regard is the 1795 poem "Ideal and Life", as well as the later tragedies of the German playwright, in which the problem of a free world order is posed against the background of a terrifyingly harsh social life.
Schiller was a nobleman. Schiller's nobility was bestowed upon the Holy Roman Emperor of the German nation by Francis II in 1802.
Schiller was in poor health. Throughout almost his entire life, the poet was often ill. Towards the end of his life, Schiller developed tuberculosis. The writer died on May 9, 1805 in Weimar.
Schiller's work was highly regarded in Russia. Zhukovsky's translations are considered to be Schiller's classical translations in Russian literature. In addition, Schiller's works were translated by Derzhavin, Pushkin, Lermontov, Tyutchev and Fet. The works of the German playwright Turgenev, Lev Tolstoy, Dostoevsky were highly appreciated.
German Johann christoph friedrich von schiller
German poet, philosopher, art theorist and playwright, professor of history and military doctor
Friedrich Schiller
short biography
- an outstanding German playwright, poet, a prominent representative of romanticism, one of the founders of national literature of the New Age and the most significant persons of the German Enlightenment, art theorist, philosopher, historian, military doctor. Schiller was popular throughout the continent, many of his plays were rightfully included in the golden fund of world drama.
Johann Christoph Friedrich was born in Marbach am Neckar on November 10, 1759 in the family of an officer, a regimental paramedic. The family did not live well; the boy was brought up in an atmosphere of religiosity. He received his primary education thanks to the pastor of the town of Lorkh, where their family moved in 1764, and later studied at the Latin school in Ludwigsburg. In 1772, Schiller finds himself among the students of the military academy: there he was assigned by order of the Duke of Württemberg. And if from childhood he dreamed of serving as a priest, then here he began to study law, and from 1776, after moving to the corresponding faculty, medicine. Even in the early years of being in this educational institution Schiller was seriously carried away by the poets of "Storm and Onslaught" and he himself began to compose a little, deciding to devote himself to poetry. His first work - the ode "The Conqueror" - appeared in the magazine "German Chronicles" in the spring of 1777.
After receiving a diploma in 1780, he was determined as a military doctor and sent to Stuttgart. Here he saw the light of his first book - a collection of poems "Anthology for 1782". In 1781 he published the drama The Robbers for his own money. To get to the play staged on it, Schiller left for Mannheim in 1783, for which he was subsequently arrested and was banned from writing literary works. Staged for the first time in January 1782, the drama The Robbers enjoyed serious success and marked the arrival of a talented new author in drama. Subsequently, for this work in the revolutionary years, Schiller was given the title of honorary citizen of the French Republic.
The severe punishment forced Schiller to leave Württemberg and settle in the small village of Oggersheim. From December 1782 to July 1783, Schiller lived in Bauerbach under an assumed name on the estate of an old acquaintance. In the summer of 1783, Friedrich returned to Mannheim to prepare the production of his plays, and on April 15, 1784, his "Treachery and Love" brought him the fame of the first German playwright. Soon his presence in Mannheim was legalized, but in subsequent years Schiller lived in Leipzig, and then, from the beginning of autumn 1785 to the summer of 1787, in the village of Loschwitz located near Dresden.
August 21, 1787 marked a new major milestone in the biography of Schiller, associated with his move to the center of national literature - Weimar. He arrived there at the invitation of KM Wilond in order to collaborate with the literary magazine "German Mercury". In parallel, in 1787-1788. Schiller was the publisher of Talia magazine.
Acquaintance with major figures from the world of literature and science made the playwright overestimate his abilities and achievements, look at them more critically, and feel a lack of knowledge. This led to the fact that for almost a dozen years he abandoned literary creativity proper in favor of an in-depth study of philosophy, history, and aesthetics. In the summer of 1788, the first volume of The History of the Fall of the Netherlands was published, thanks to which Schiller earned a reputation as a brilliant researcher.
Through the troubles of his friends, he received the title of extraordinary professor of philosophy and history at the University of Jena, in connection with which on May 11, 1789 he moved to Jena. In 1799, in February, Schiller married and at the same time worked on The History of the Thirty Years War, published in 1793.
Discovered in 1791, tuberculosis prevented Schiller from working at full strength. Due to illness, he had to give up lecturing for some time - this greatly shook his financial situation, and if it were not for the timely efforts of his friends, he would have ended up in poverty. During this difficult period for himself, he was imbued with the philosophy of I. Kant and, under the influence of his ideas, wrote a number of works devoted to aesthetics.
Schiller welcomed the Great French Revolution, however, being an opponent of violence in all its manifestations, he reacted sharply to the execution of Louis XVI, did not accept revolutionary methods. Views on political events in France and the situation in his native country contributed to the emergence of friendship with Goethe. The acquaintance, which took place in Jena in July 1794, turned out to be fateful not only for its participants, but also for all German literature. The fruit of their joint creative activity was the period of the so-called. Weimar classicism, the creation of the Weimar theater. Arriving in Weimar in 1799, Schiller remained here until his death. In 1802, by the grace of France II, he became a nobleman, but he was rather indifferent to this.
The last years of his biography passed under the sign of suffering from chronic diseases. Schiller's tuberculosis took his life on May 9, 1805. He was buried at the local cemetery, and in 1826, when the decision was made to reburial, they could not reliably identify the remains, so they chose the most suitable, in the opinion of the organizers of the event. In 1911, another "contender" appeared for the "title" of Schiller's skull, which gave rise to many years of controversy about the authenticity of the remains of the great German writer. According to the results of the examination in 2008, his coffin remained empty, tk. all the found skulls and remains in the grave, as it turned out, have nothing to do with the poet.
Biography from Wikipedia
Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller(German Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller; November 10, 1759, Marbach am Neckar - May 9, 1805, Weimar) - German poet, philosopher, art theorist and playwright, professor of history and military doctor, representative of the Storm and Onslaught movement and romanticism (in a narrower sense, its Germanic trend) in literature, the author of "Ode to Joy", a modified version of which became the text of the anthem of the European Union. He entered the history of world literature as an ardent humanist. During the last seventeen years of his life (1788-1805) he was friends with Johann Goethe, whom he inspired to complete his works, which remained in draft form. This period of friendship between the two poets and their literary polemic entered German literature under the name "Weimar classicism".
The poet's legacy is preserved and studied in the Goethe and Schiller Archives in Weimar.
Origins, education and early creativity
The surname Schiller has been found in Southwest Germany since the 16th century. Friedrich Schiller's ancestors, who lived for two centuries in the Duchy of Württemberg, were winemakers, peasants and artisans.
Schiller was born on November 10, 1759 in the city of Marbach am Neckar. His father, Johann Kaspar Schiller (1723-1796), was a regimental paramedic, an officer in the service of the Duke of Württemberg, his mother, Elizabeth Dorothea Codweiss (1732-1802), was from the family of a provincial baker-innkeeper. Young Schiller was brought up in a religiously pietistic atmosphere echoed in his early poems. Childhood and youth were spent in relative poverty.
Primary education in Lorkh. Ludwigsburg
He received his primary education in the small town of Lorkh, where in 1764 Schiller's father got a job as a recruiter. The training with the local pastor Moser lasted 4 years and mainly consisted of reading and writing in German, and also included a cursory acquaintance with Latin. The sincere and good-natured pastor was later featured in the writer's first drama, The Robbers.
When the Schiller family returned to Ludwigsburg in 1766, Friedrich was sent to the local Latin school. The curriculum at the school was not difficult: Latin was studied five days a week, mother tongue on Fridays, and catechism on Sundays. Schiller's interest in his studies increased in high school, where the Latin classics - Ovid, Virgil and Horace were studied. After graduating from the Latin school, having passed all four exams with excellent marks, in April 1772 Schiller was presented for confirmation.
Military Academy in Stuttgart
In 1770, the Schiller family moved from Ludwigsburg to the Solitude castle, where the orphanage institute was established by the Duke of Württemberg Karl-Eugene to raise soldiers' children. In 1771 this institute was reformed into a military academy. In 1772, looking through the list of graduates of the Latin school, the duke drew attention to the young Schiller, and soon, in January 1773, his family received a summons, according to which they were to send their son to the military academy "High School of Saint Charles" (German: Hohe Karlsschule), where the young man began to study law, although from childhood he dreamed of becoming a priest.
Upon entering the academy, he was enrolled in the burgher department of the law faculty. Due to hostility towards jurisprudence at the end of 1774 he was one of the last, and at the end of the 1775 academic year - the very last of the eighteen students of his department.
In 1775, the academy was transferred to Stuttgart, and the course of study was extended.
In 1776 he transferred to the Faculty of Medicine, where he attended lectures by talented teachers, in particular, he attended a course of lectures on philosophy by Professor Abel, a favorite teacher of academic youth. During this period, Schiller finally decided to devote himself to the art of poetry. From the very first years of study at the Academy, he was carried away by the poetic works of Friedrich Klopstock and the poets "Storm and Onslaught", he began to write small poetic works. Several times he was even offered to write congratulatory odes in honor of the duke and his mistress, Countess Francisca von Hohengey.
In 1779, Schiller's dissertation "The Philosophy of Physiology" was rejected by the leadership of the Academy, and he was forced to stay for a second year. Duke Karl Eugene imposes his resolution: “ I must agree that the dissertation of Schiller's pupil is not devoid of merit, that there is a lot of fire in it. But it is precisely the last circumstance that makes me not publish his dissertation and keep him for another year at the Academy, so that his fever will cool down. If he is just as diligent, then by the end of this time he will probably be a great man.”During his studies at the Academy, Schiller created his first works. Influenced by drama "Julius of Tarentsky"(1776) Johann Anton Leisewitz wrote Cosmus von Medici, a drama in which he tried to develop the favorite theme of the literary movement Storm and Onslaught: hatred between brothers and his father's love. At the same time, his great interest in the work and manner of writing of Friedrich Klopstock prompted Schiller to write an ode "Conqueror" published in March 1777 in the journal "German Chronicles"(Das schwebige Magazin) and imitating an idol.
Robbers
In 1780, after graduating from the academy, he received the post of regimental doctor in Stuttgart without being awarded an officer's rank and without the right to wear civilian clothes - a testament to the ducal dislike.
In 1781 he completed the drama Robbers(German: Die Räuber), written while at the academy. After editing the manuscript Robbers it turned out that all the Stuttgart publishers were not ready to print it, and Schiller had to publish the work at his own expense.
The bookseller Schwan in Mannheim, to whom Schiller also sent the manuscript, introduced him to the director of the Mannheim Theater, Baron von Dahlberg. He was delighted with the drama and decided to stage it in his theater. But Dahlberg asked for some adjustments - to remove some scenes and the most revolutionary phrases, to transfer the time of the action from the present, from the era of the Seven Years' War to the 17th century. Schiller disagreed with such changes, in a letter to Dahlberg dated December 12, 1781, he wrote: “ Many tirades, features, both large and small, even characters are taken from our time; transferred to the age of Maximilian, they will cost absolutely nothing ... To correct the mistake against the era of Frederick II, I would have to commit a crime against the era of Maximilian", But nevertheless made concessions, and" The Robbers "were first staged in Mannheim on January 13, 1782. The production was a huge success with the public.
Sketch by Victor von Heidelöf. "Schiller reads Robbers in Bopser forest "
After the premiere in Mannheim on January 13, 1782, it became clear that a talented playwright had come to literature. The central conflict of the "Robbers" is a conflict between two brothers: the elder, Karl Moor, who leads a gang of robbers into the Bohemian forests to punish the tyrants, and the younger, Franz Moor, who at this time seeks to take possession of his father's estate. Karl Moor personifies the best, brave, free beginnings, while Franz Moor is an example of meanness, treachery and treachery. In "The Robbers", as in no other work of the German Enlightenment, the glorified ideal of republicanism and democracy is shown. It is no coincidence that it was for this drama that Schiller was awarded the honorary title of citizen of the French Republic during the years of the French Revolution.
At the same time with By robbers Schiller prepared a collection of poems for publication, which was published in February 1782 under the title Anthology for 1782 (Anthologie auf das Jahr 1782). The creation of this anthology is based on Schiller's conflict with the young Stuttgart poet Gothald Steidlin, who, claiming to be the head of swabian schools, published "The Swabian Almanac of Muses for 1782". Schiller sent Steidlin several poems for this edition, but he agreed to print only one of them, and then in an abridged form. Then Schiller collected poems rejected by Gothald, wrote a number of new ones and, thus, created the "Anthology for 1782", opposing it to the "almanac of muses" of his literary opponent. For the sake of greater mystification and raising interest in the collection, the city of Tobolsk in Siberia was indicated as the place of publication of the anthology.
Escape from Stuttgart
For unauthorized absence from the regiment in Mannheim for the performance of "The Robbers", Schiller was imprisoned in the guardhouse for 14 days and was banned from writing anything other than medical compositions, which forced him, together with his friend, musician Streicher (German Johann Andreas Streicher), flee from the Duke's possessions on September 22, 1782 to the Palatinate Margrave.
Having crossed the border of Württemberg, he went to the Mannheim Theater with a prepared manuscript of his play Die Verschwörung des Fiesco zu Genua (German: Die Verschwörung des Fiesco zu Genua), which he dedicated to his philosophy teacher at the Academy, Jacob Abel. The theater management, fearing the dissatisfaction of the Württemberg duke, was in no hurry to start negotiations on the production of the play. Schiller was advised not to stay in Mannheim, but to go to the nearby village of Oggersheim. There, together with his friend Streicher, the playwright lived under the assumed name Schmidt in the village tavern "Hunting Dvor". It was here in the fall of 1782 that Friedrich Schiller made the first draft of the version of the tragedy "Guile and Love" (German: Kabale und Liebe), which at that time was called "Louise Miller". At the same time, Schiller published The Fiesco Conspiracy in Genoa for a paltry fee, which he immediately spent. In a stalemate, the playwright wrote a letter to his old friend Henrieta von Walzogen, who soon offered the writer her empty estate in Bauerbach.
The years of uncertainty (1782-1789)
Bauerbach and return to Mannheim
In Bauerbach under the surname "Dr. Ritter" he lived from December 8, 1782, where he began to finish the drama "Treachery and Love", on which he finished in February 1783. Immediately he created a sketch of a new historical drama "Don Carlos" (German Don Karlos), thoroughly studying the history of the Spanish Infanta from books from the library of the Mannheim ducal court, which were supplied to him by a librarian friend. Together with the history of "Don Carlos" at the same time he began to study the history of the Scottish Queen Mary Stuart. For some time he hesitated on which of them to stop, but the choice was made in favor of "Don Carlos".
In January 1783, the owner of the estate arrived in Bauerbach with her sixteen-year-old daughter Charlotte, to whom Schiller proposed marriage, but was refused by her mother, since the aspiring writer did not have the means to support the family.
At this time, his friend Andreas Streicher did everything possible to win the favor of the administration of the Mannheim Theater in Schiller's favor. The director of the theater, Baron von Dahlberg, knowing that Duke Karl Eugene had already given up the search for his missing regimental physician, wrote Schiller a letter in which he was interested in the literary activities of the playwright. Schiller responded rather coldly and only briefly recounted the content of the drama Louise Miller. Dahlberg agreed to stage both dramas - "The Fiesco Conspiracy in Genoa" and "Louise Miller" - after which Friedrich returned to Mannheim in July 1783 to participate in the preparation of plays for the production.
Life in Mannheim
Despite the excellent acting, "The Fiesco Conspiracy in Genoa" was generally not a big success. The Mannheim theater audience found this play too clever. Schiller set about reworking his third drama, Louise Miller. During one rehearsal, theater actor August Iffland suggested changing the title of the drama to "Cunning and Love." The play was staged under this title on April 15, 1784 and was a great success. "Treachery and Love", no less than "The Robbers", glorified the name of the author as the first playwright in Germany.
In February 1784 he joined the "Kurpfalz German Society", led by the director of the Mannheim Theater Wolfgang von Dahlberg, which gave Schiller the rights of a Palatinate subject and legalized his stay in Mannheim. During his official admission to society on July 20, 1784, he read a lecture entitled "Theater as a moral institution." The moral significance of the theater, designed to expose vices and approve of virtue, Schiller diligently promoted in the magazine Rheinische Thalia, founded by him, the first issue of which was published in 1785.
In Mannheim, he met Charlotte von Kalb, a young woman with outstanding mental abilities, whose admiration brought the writer much suffering. She introduced Schiller to the Weimar Duke Karl August when he was visiting Darmstadt. The playwright read in a select circle, in the presence of the Duke, the first act of his new drama Don Carlos. The drama made a great impression on those present. Karl August granted the author the position of Weimar adviser, which, however, did not alleviate the plight in which Schiller was. The writer had to repay a debt of two hundred guilders, which he borrowed from a friend to publish The Robbers, but he had no money. In addition, his relationship with the director of the Mannheim Theater deteriorated, with the result that Schiller terminated his contract.
At the same time, Schiller was carried away by the 17-year-old daughter of the court bookseller, Margarita Schwan, but the young coquette did not show unequivocal benevolence to the aspiring poet, and her father hardly wanted to see his daughter married to a man without money and influence in society.
In the fall of 1784, the poet remembered the letter he had received six months earlier from the Leipzig community of fans of his work, led by Gottfried Körner. On February 22, 1785, Schiller sent them a letter in which he frankly described his plight and asked to be received in Leipzig. Already on March 30, a friendly response came from Körner. At the same time, he sent the poet a bill for a significant amount of money so that the playwright could pay off his debts. Thus began a close friendship between Gottfried Körner and Friedrich Schiller, which lasted until the poet's death.
Leipzig and Dresden
When Schiller arrived in Leipzig on April 17, 1785, he was greeted by Ludwig Ferdinand Huber and his sisters Dora and Minna Stock. Körner at that time was on official business in Dresden. From the first days in Leipzig, Schiller yearned for Margarita Schwan, who remained in Mannheim. He turned to her parents with a letter in which he asked for the hand of his daughter. The publisher Schwan gave Margarita the opportunity to resolve this issue herself, but she refused Schiller, who was very upset by this new loss... Soon, Gottfried Körner arrived from Dresden and decided to celebrate his marriage to Minna Stock. Warmed by the friendship of Kerner, Huber and their girlfriends, Schiller recovered. It was at this time that he created his hymn "Ode to Joy" (German: Ode An die Freude).
On September 11, 1785, at the invitation of Gottfried Körner, Schiller moved to the village of Loschwitz near Dresden. Here Don Carlos was completely reworked and finished, the new drama The Misanthrope was started, the plan was drawn up and the first chapters of the Spiritual were written. His Philosophische Briefe (German Philosophische Briefe), the young Schiller's most significant philosophical essay, written in epistolary form, was also completed here.
In 1786-87, through Gottfried Körner, Friedrich Schiller was introduced to the Dresden secular society. At the same time, he received an offer from the famous German actor and theater director Friedrich Schroeder to stage Don Carlos at the Hamburg National Theater. Schroeder's offer was pretty good, but Schiller, remembering the past unsuccessful experience of cooperation with the Mannheim Theater, declines the invitation and goes to Weimar - the center of German literature, where he is diligently invited by Christoph Martin Wieland to collaborate in his literary magazine "German Mercury" (German. Der Deutsche Merkur).
Weimar
Schiller arrived in Weimar on August 21, 1787. Charlotte von Kalb became the playwright's companion in a series of official visits, with whose assistance Schiller quickly met the major writers of that time - Martin Wieland and Johann Gottfried Herder. Wieland highly appreciated Schiller's talent and especially admired his latest drama Don Carlos. From the first acquaintance, the two poets established close friendly relations, which remained for many years. For several days he traveled to the Jena campus, where he was warmly received in the local literary circles.
In 1787-1788, Schiller published the magazine Thalia (German Thalia) and at the same time collaborated with Wieland's German Mercury. Some works of these years were begun in Leipzig and Dresden. In the fourth issue of Talia, his novel The Spiritual Seer was published in chapters.
With the move to Weimar and after meeting major poets and scientists, Schiller became even more critical of his abilities. Realizing his lack of knowledge, the playwright moved away from artistic creativity for almost a decade to thoroughly study history, philosophy and aesthetics.
Weimar classicism period
Jena University
The publication of the first volume of "The History of the Fall of the Netherlands" in the summer of 1788 brought Schiller the fame of an outstanding historian. The poet's friends in Jena and Weimar (including J.W. Goethe, whom Schiller met in 1788) used all their connections to help him get the post of extraordinary professor of history and philosophy at the University of Jena, who during his stay in this city experienced a period prosperity. Friedrich Schiller moved to Jena on May 11, 1789. When he started lecturing, the university had about 800 students. Introductory lecture entitled “What is The World History and for what purpose is it studied? " (German Was heißt und zu welchem Ende studiert man Universalgeschichte?) was a great success, the audience gave him a standing ovation.
Despite the fact that the work of a university teacher did not provide him with sufficient material resources, Schiller decided to get married. Upon learning of this, Duke Karl August assigned him in December 1789 a modest salary of two hundred thalers a year, after which Schiller made an official offer to Charlotte von Lengefeld, and in February 1790 a marriage was concluded in the village church near Rudolstadt.
After the engagement, Schiller began work on his new book, The History of the Thirty Years War, began work on a number of articles on world history, and again began publishing the Rhineland Thalia, in which he published his translations of the third and fourth books of Virgil's Aeneid. Later, his articles on history and aesthetics were published in this magazine. In May 1790, Schiller continued his lectures at the university: in this academic year he gave publicly a course of lectures on tragic poetry, and privately on world history.
In early 1791, Schiller contracted pulmonary tuberculosis. Now he only occasionally had intervals of several months or weeks when the poet would be able to work calmly. Particularly strong were the first bouts of illness in the winter of 1792, because of which he was forced to suspend his teaching at the university. This forced rest was used by Schiller for a deeper acquaintance with the philosophical works of Immanuel Kant. Unable to work, the playwright was in an extremely poor financial situation - there was no money even for a cheap lunch and the necessary medicines. At this difficult moment, on the initiative of the Danish writer Jens Baggesen, Crown Prince Friedrich Christian of Schleswig-Holstein and Count Ernst von Schimmelmann appointed Schiller an annual grant of one thousand thalers so that the poet could restore his health. Danish subsidies continued from 1792-94. Then Schiller was supported by the publisher Johann Friedrich Kott, who invited him in 1794 to publish the monthly magazine Ora.
Home trip. Ory magazine
In the summer of 1793, Schiller received a letter from his parents' home in Ludwigsburg informing him of his father's illness. Schiller decided to go home with his wife to see his father before his death, to visit his mother and three sisters, with whom he separated eleven years ago. With the tacit permission of the Duke of Württemberg Karl, Eugene Schiller arrived in Ludwigsburg, where his parents lived not far from the duke's residence. Here on September 14, 1793, the poet's first son was born. In Ludwigsburg and Stuttgart, Schiller met with old teachers and past friends in the Academy. After the death of Duke Karl, Eugene Schiller visited the military academy of the deceased, where he was greeted with enthusiasm by the younger generation of students.
While at home in 1793-94, Schiller completed his most significant philosophical and aesthetic work, Letters on the Aesthetic Education of Man (Über die ästhetische Erziehung des Menschen).
Soon after returning to Jena, the poet energetically set to work and invited all the most prominent writers and thinkers of the then Germany to collaborate in the new magazine Die Horen, planned to unite the best German writers into a literary society.
In 1795 he wrote a cycle of poems on philosophical topics similar in meaning to his articles on aesthetics: "Poetry of Life", "Dance", "Division of the Earth", "Genius", "Hope", etc. The thought of death passes through these poems. all that is beautiful and true in a dirty, prosaic world. According to the poet, the fulfillment of virtuous aspirations is possible only in an ideal world. The cycle of philosophical poetry was Schiller's first poetic experience after almost ten years of creative hiatus.
Creative collaboration between Schiller and Goethe
The rapprochement of the two poets was facilitated by the unity of Schiller and Goethe in their views on the French Revolution and the socio-political situation in Germany. When Schiller, after a trip to his homeland and returning to Jena in 1794, in the magazine "Ora" outlined his political program and invited Goethe to participate in the literary society, he answered with consent.
A closer acquaintance between the writers took place in July 1794 in Jena. At the end of the meeting of naturalists, going out into the street, the poets began to discuss the content of the lecture they had heard, and talking, they reached Schiller's apartment. Goethe was invited into the house. There he began with great enthusiasm to expound his theory of plant metamorphosis. After this conversation, a friendly correspondence began between Schiller and Goethe, which was not interrupted until the death of Schiller and constituted one of the best epistolary monuments of world literature.
The joint creative activity of Goethe and Schiller was primarily aimed at theoretical comprehension and practical solution of the problems that arose before literature in the new, post-revolutionary period. In search of the ideal form, the poets turned to ancient art. In him they saw the highest example of human beauty.
When new works by Goethe and Schiller appeared in "Orach" and "Almanac of the Muses", which reflected their cult of antiquity, high civil and moral pathos, religious indifference, a campaign against them began from a number of newspapers and magazines. Critics condemned the interpretation of issues of religion, politics, philosophy, aesthetics. Goethe and Schiller decided to give their opponents a sharp rebuff, subjecting to a merciless scourging all the vulgarity and mediocrity of contemporary German literature in the form suggested to Goethe's Schiller - in the form of couplets, like Martial's "Xenius".
Beginning in December 1795, for eight months, both poets competed in the creation of epigrams: each answer from Jena and Weimar was accompanied by "Xenia" for review, review and addition. Thus, through joint efforts in the period from December 1795 to August 1796, about eight hundred epigrams were created, of which four hundred and fourteen were selected as the most successful and published in the Almanac of the Muses for 1797. The Xenia theme was very versatile. It included questions of politics, philosophy, history, religion, literature and art. They touched upon over two hundred writers and literary works. "Xenia" is the most militant of the works created by both classics.
Moving to Weimar
In 1799 he returned to Weimar, where he began publishing several literary magazines with the money of patrons. After becoming a close friend of Goethe, Schiller founded the Weimar Theater with him, which became the leading theater in Germany. The poet remained in Weimar until his death.
In 1799-1800 he wrote the play "Mary Stuart", the plot of which occupied him for almost two decades. In the work he showed the brightest political tragedy, capturing the image of a distant era, torn apart by the strongest political contradictions. The play was a great success among contemporaries. Schiller finished it with the feeling that he had now "mastered the craft of a playwright."
In 1802, Holy Roman Emperor Franz II granted Schiller the nobility. But he himself was skeptical about this, writing to Humboldt in his letter of February 17, 1803: “ You probably laughed when you heard about us being elevated to a higher rank. It was the idea of our duke, and since everything has already happened, I agree to accept this title because of Lolo and the children. Lolo is now in her element, as she twirls her train at court».
last years of life
The last years of Schiller's life were overshadowed by severe lingering illnesses. After a severe cold, all old ailments worsened. The poet suffered from chronic pneumonia. He died on May 9, 1805 at the age of 45 from tuberculosis.
Facts
He took part in the activities of the literary society "Blumenorden", created by GF Harsdörfer in the 17th century to "purify the German literary language", which was heavily littered during the Thirty Years' War.
The most famous ballads of Schiller, written by him as part of the "year of ballads" (1797) - Cup(Der Taucher), Glove(Der Handschuh), Polycratic ring(Der Ring des Polykrates) and Ivikovy cranes(Template: Lang-de2Die Kraniche des Ibykus), became familiar to Russian readers after V. A. Zhukovsky's translations.
World famous was his "Ode to Joy" (1785), the music for which was written by Ludwig van Beethoven.
Schiller's remains
Friedrich Schiller was buried on the night of May 11-12, 1805 at the Weimar Jakobsfriedhof cemetery in the Kassengewölbe crypt, specially reserved for the nobles and respected residents of Weimar who did not have their own family crypts. In 1826, it was decided to reburial the remains of Schiller, but they could no longer accurately identify it. The remains, chosen at random as the most suitable, were transported to the library of Duchess Anne Amalia, and the skull was for some time in the house of Goethe, who wrote on these days (September 16-17) the poem "Schiller's Relics", also known as "In Contemplation of Schiller's Skull". On December 16, 1827, these remains were buried in the prince's tomb in the new cemetery, where Goethe himself was subsequently buried next to his friend, according to the will.
In 1911, another skull was discovered, which was attributed to Schiller. For a long time there was a debate about which one was the real one. Only in the spring of 2008, within the framework of the Friedrich Schiller Code action, organized jointly by the radio station Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk and the Weimar Classicism Foundation, DNA examination carried out in two independent laboratories showed that none of the skulls belonged to Friedrich Schiller. The remains in Schiller's coffin belong to at least three different people, their DNA also does not match any of the examined skulls. The Weimar Classicism Foundation decided to leave Schiller's coffin empty.
and philosophy. Under the influence of one of his mentors, he became a member of the secret society of the Illuminati.
In the years 1776-1777, several of Schiller's poems were published in the "Swabian Journal".
Schiller began his poetry in the era of the literary movement "Storm and Onslaught", which was named after the drama of the same name by Friedrich Klinger. Its representatives defended the national originality of art, demanded the image of strong passions, heroic deeds, characters not broken by the regime.
Schiller destroyed his first plays "Christians", "Student from Nassau", "Cosimo Medici". In 1781 his tragedy "The Robbers" was published anonymously. On January 13, 1782, the tragedy was staged at the theater in Mannheim, led by Baron von Dahlberg. For unauthorized absence from the regiment to present his play, Schiller was arrested, he was forbidden to write anything other than medical essays.
Schiller fled from Stuttgart to the village of Bauerbach. Later he moved to Mannheim, in 1785 - to Leipzig, then to Dresden.
During these years he created dramatic works "The Fiesco Conspiracy" (1783), "Deceit and Love" (1784), "Don Carlos" (1783-1787). In the same period, the ode To Joy (1785) was written, which the composer Ludwig Beethoven included in the finale of the 9th Symphony as a hymn to the future freedom and brotherhood of people.
From 1787, Schiller lived in Weimar, where he studied history, philosophy and aesthetics.
In 1788 he began editing a series of books entitled "The History of Remarkable Rebellions and Conspiracies."
In 1789, with the assistance of the poet and philosopher Johann Wolfgang Goethe, Friedrich Schiller took the post of extraordinary professor of history at the University of Jena.
Together with Goethe, he created a cycle of epigrams "Xenia" (Greek - "gifts to guests"), directed against rationalism in literature and theater and the early German romantics.
In the first half of the 1790s, Schiller wrote a number of philosophical works: "On the tragic in art" (1792), "Letters on the aesthetic education of man", "On the sublime" (both - 1795) and others. Starting from Kant's theory of art as a link between the kingdom of nature and the kingdom of freedom, Schiller created his own theory of the transition from the "natural absolutist state to the bourgeois kingdom of reason" with the help of aesthetic culture and moral re-education of mankind. His theory found expression in a number of poems from 1795-1798 - "The Poetry of Life", "The Power of Chanting", "Division of the Land", "Ideal and Life", as well as ballads written in close collaboration with Goethe - "The Glove", " Ivikovy Cranes "," Polycrates Ring "," Hero and Leander "and others.
During these years, Schiller was the editor of the magazine "Di Oren".
In 1794-1799 he worked on the Wallenstein trilogy, dedicated to one of the commanders of the Thirty Years War.
In the early 1800s, he wrote the dramas "Mary Stuart" and "The Maid of Orleans" (both - 1801), "The Messinian Bride" (1803), the folk drama "William Tell" (1804).
In addition to his own plays, Schiller created stage versions of Shakespeare's Macbeth and Turandot by Carlo Gozzi, and also translated Jean Racine's Phaedra.
In 1802, Holy Roman Emperor Francis II granted Schiller the nobility.
In the last months of his life, the writer worked on the tragedy "Dimitri" from Russian history.
Schiller was married to Charlotte von Lengefeld (1766-1826). The family had four children - sons Karl Friedrich Ludwig and Ernst Friedrich Wilhelm and daughters Caroline Louise Henrietta and Louise Henrietta Emily.
The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources