13 questions · Literature
Friedrich Schiller, born in 1759 in Marbach am Neckar, was pressed against his will into the Duke of Württemberg's military academy and drilled into a regimental doctor. In secret the young physician wrote a play that struck like a bomb: 'The Robbers' (1782): at the Mannheim premiere strangers fell sobbing into each other's arms. When the duke forbade him to write, Schiller fled Stuttgart by night: the start of restless wandering years full of debt and illness, but also of the dramas 'Intrigue and Love' and 'Don Carlos'. In 1789 Schiller became professor of history in Jena; his inaugural lecture burst the lecture hall. There followed the philosophical essays on freedom and aesthetic education (and, from 1794, the legendary alliance with Goethe in Weimar: together the two shaped Weimar Classicism, competing in the 'ballad year' of 1797 ('The Pledge', 'The Glove') and Schiller's 'Song of the Bell', the most parodied poem in German). Then the great dramas in quick succession: the 'Wallenstein' trilogy, 'Mary Stuart', 'The Maid of Orleans' and finally 'William Tell' (1804); the drama of freedom about the Swiss marksman forced by the bailiff Gessler to shoot an apple from his own son's head. Schiller is the poet of freedom and idealism and a mortally ill man who wrested his works from a failing body: in 1805 he died in Weimar, only 45, of his lung disease. Did you know that Schiller's 'Ode to Joy' became Europe's anthem through Beethoven's Ninth Symphony? And that he needed rotting apples in his desk drawer to be able to work: their smell inspired him, as an astonished Goethe discovered.
Practise for freePurFact brings every card back right before you would forget it. That's how knowledge sticks.
The Robbers
At the Mannheim premiere strangers fell sobbing into each other's arms: written in secret at the military academy.
💡 Did you know? At the 1782 premiere the audience raged with enthusiasm: a scandalous success for the 22-year-old.
William Tell
The bailiff Gessler forces Tell to shoot an apple from his own son's head (1804).
💡 Did you know? Schiller was never in Switzerland: he depicted its famous landscape solely from reports and maps.
Ode to Joy
'Joy, beautiful spark of the gods': written in 1785 in high spirits in Leipzig.
💡 Did you know? Beethoven set the „Ode to Joy“ in the finale of his 9th Symphony: today the anthem of Europe.
Goethe
Together they shaped Weimar Classicism: in the 'ballad year' of 1797 they competed poem for poem.
💡 Did you know? The friendship with Goethe founded „Weimar Classicism“: two world authors in one small town.
the duke's writing ban
Duke Karl Eugen had drilled him into a regimental doctor: the flight began years of restless wandering.
💡 Did you know? Duke Karl Eugen had banned the military doctor Schiller from writing: so he fled headlong.
military doctor
Trained at the Duke of Württemberg's military academy: against his will.
💡 Did you know? In 1789 he became professor of history in Jena: his inaugural lecture burst the hall.
The Song of the Bell
'Firmly walled within the earth…': generations of pupils learned it by heart.
💡 Did you know? „The Song of the Bell“ was compulsory schooling for decades and is the most-parodied German poem.
Mary Stuart
The meeting of Mary and Elizabeth I is Schiller's invention and the play's dramatic climax.
💡 Did you know? The dramatic confrontation of the two queens is pure invention: in reality they never met.
Wallenstein
'Wallenstein's Camp', 'The Piccolomini', 'Wallenstein's Death': fruit of his work as a historian.
💡 Did you know? The „Wallenstein“ trilogy runs to over 10,000 lines and is regarded as the peak of German historical drama.
Marbach
Today it houses the German Literature Archive and the Schiller National Museum.
💡 Did you know? The German Literature Archive is still named after Marbach on the Neckar.
rotten apples
Their smell inspired him: Goethe discovered it with astonishment when the odour made him feel faint.
💡 Did you know? Strong coffee and night work were also among his rituals: not to his health's benefit.
45
He died in Weimar in 1805 of his lung disease and lies today next to Goethe in the ducal vault.
💡 Did you know? Schiller died at just 45 of tuberculosis: he had created his work at breathtaking speed.
Foto: Ludovike Simanowiz · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Friedrich Schiller
Friedrich Schiller (1759 to 1805) was a German poet, playwright and thinker. Together with Goethe he shaped Weimar Classicism and created classics such as „The Robbers“ and „William Tell.“
💡 Did you know? Schiller's „Ode to Joy,“ through Beethoven's 9th Symphony, became the official anthem of Europe.
Home · All topics · Legal notice · Privacy · Terms · Contact
