Friedrich von Schiller

Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller

The poet, dramatist, philosopher, and historian Friedrich Schiller stands with Goethe at the forefront of German literature. His writings, particularly his tragedies, represent the full flowering of the classic tradition in 18th-century Germany. The overriding theme in Schiller's work is liberty and dignity for all, and the skill of his rhetoric--its vigor and power to inspire an audience with these lofty ideals--has rarely been surpassed in dramatic literature. Among his masterpieces are WILLIAM TELL, a drama that epitomizes the struggle of the oppressed for freedom, and the Ode to Joy (1785; Eng. trans., 1911), later immortalized by Beethoven in his Ninth Symphony.

Born in Marbach on Nov. 10, 1759, the son of an officer in the army of the Duke of Wurttemberg, Schiller grew up in the service of the duke. Although he wished to study theology, he was forced instead to attend (1773-80) the duke's military academy. Here the harsh discipline of military life oppressed the spirited Schiller, who retaliated by reading subversive literature and expressing his own rebellious thoughts in writing. His first play, the violent and frenzied The Brigands (Eng. trans., 1792), written while he was still at school and printed (1781) in Stuttgart, where Schiller was by then serving as a regimental officer, so angered the duke that Schiller decided to flee Wurttemberg for Mannheim, where the work was widely acclaimed on its production in 1782. A second tragedy, Fiesco (1783), soon followed. The financial success of his third effort, the antidespotic domestic tragedy Cabal and Love (1784; Eng. trans., 1795), led to Schiller's temporary appointment as house dramatist at the Mannheim theater.

In 1785, Schiller was rescued from financial difficulties and a hopeless love affair by generous friends who for 2 years maintained him in Leipzig and Dresden, where he completed the bulk of Don Carlos (1787; Eng. trans., 1798). Set in Spain at the height of the Inquisition, Don Carlos tempered the radicalism of Schiller's earlier plays with compassion, presaging the lofty idealism of his finest dramas. Thereafter Schiller made Weimar his permanent home, except for a few years spent at neighboring Jena.

Believing that his creative powers had deserted him, Schiller next turned to writing history, producing Geschichte des Abfalls der vereinigten Niederlande von der Spanischen Regierung (History of the Secession of the United Netherlands from Spanish Sovereignty, 1788) and Geschichte des dreissig-jahrigen Kriegs (History of the Thirty Years' War, 1791-93). During the same period, Schiller served (1789-91) as professor of history at the University of Jena until chronic illness forced him to resign, and he also married (1790) Charlotte von Lengefeld. Again with the support of friends he was able to pursue an interest in philosophy. The theories of Immanuel Kant, in particular, had an enormous effect on Schiller's thought from this time onward. Enlarging on Kant's concepts of reason and morality, Schiller developed his own theory of the "beautiful soul," in which the conflicting elements of human nature are gradually harmonized through self-control. Such thoughts were expressed in the philosophical essays Uber Anmut und Wurde (On Grace and Dignity, 1793) and Uber die asthetische Erziehung des Menschen (On the Aesthetic Education of Mankind, 1795). Profound idealism is also expressed in much of the poetry Schiller wrote at this time, notably in The Division of the Earth (1796; Eng. trans., 1821) and Die Worte des Glaubens (Words of Faith, 1798).

Schiller's lasting friendship with Goethe began in 1794 and led to the publication (1795-97) of Die Horen (The Hours), a journal in which the works of both men appeared. A second collaboration, Xenien, consisting of satirical epigrams, was published in Musenalmanach (Almanac of the Muses, 1797-98), another of Schiller's journals. Many of Schiller's powerful dramatic ballads were also produced during this period, among them Der Taucher (The Diver, 1797), Der Ring des Polykrates (Polycrates' Ring, 1797), Die Kraniche des Ibykus (The Cranes of Ibycus, 1797), and the celebrated The Song of the Bell (1799; Eng. trans., 1839).

Schiller's noted verse trilogy about the Thirty Years' War, Wallenstein (Eng. trans., 1954), was first produced at Weimar in 1799, although Schiller had begun writing it 10 years earlier. During the last 5 years of his life, he produced four of his finest dramas: Maria Stuart (1800; Eng. trans., 1866), a historical tragedy based on the life of Mary, Queen of Scots; The Maiden of Orleans (1801; Eng. trans., 1962), about Joan of Arc; The Bride of Messina (1803; Eng. trans., 1962), a drama imitating Greek tragedy; and William Tell (1804; Eng. trans., 1825). All four plays were performed at Weimar and were well received. Schiller was at work on a fifth tragedy, Demetrius (Eng. trans., 1962), about Dmitri and Boris Godunov, when he died on May 9, 1805.

Although Schiller was a writer of tragedies (the only exception being William Tell), he held that comedy represented a higher form. Both as a man and as a dramatist, Schiller was the embodiment of willpower, and the sublimity of his characters consists in their freely willing their fates.

Henry Garland.