The universally recognized classic of world literature is Friedrich Schiller. His biography and work expose the personality of a rebel, a man who does not consider himself in the era of universal lawlessness the property of the feudal lord. His feat of life impressed even the most august person, which we will discuss later. The life of the poet and playwright itself resembles a theatrical drama, where Talent fights discrimination, poverty and wins.
Europeans have chosen the European Union’s anthem as his "Ode of Joy." Put to music by Ludwig van Beethoven, it sounded solemnly, sublimely.
The genius of this person manifested itself multifaceted: a poet, playwright, art theorist, human rights activist.
Born Not Free
When Schiller Friedrich was born, serfdom was still relevant in Germany.
Citizens of the feudal lords could not go beyond the domain of their overlord. And if this happened, the fugitives were returned by force. A citizen could neither change his craft, to which the feudal lord “attached” him, nor marry without the consent of his master. Friedrich Schiller was in such a nightmarish legal status reminiscent of an iron cage.
He became a classic, rather, not thanks to the modern German society, but in spite of it. Friedrich, figuratively speaking, managed to enter the Temple of Art through a door closed to him by a state with remnants of the Middle Ages.
Only in 1807 (Schiller died in 1805) Prussia abolished serfdom.
Parents
Schiller’s biography begins in the Duchy of Württemberg (the city of Marbach am Neckar), where he was born on 10.11.1759 in the family of an officer, regimental paramedic Johann Caspar Schiller. The mother of the future poet was from a family of pharmacists and innkeepers. Her name was Elizabeth Dorothea Codweis. The atmosphere of pure, neat and intelligent poverty reigned in his parents' house.
The father and mother of Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (this is the full name of the classic) were very religious and raised children in the same spirit. The father of the future poet, a native of a peasant wine family, was lucky enough to receive a medical education. He became an official under his master, a smart man, but not free. He changed his place of residence, position, following the will of his master.
Education
When the boy was five years old, the family moved to the city of the same county of Lorch. My father got there a treasury post of recruiter. For three years, Frederick's primary church and humanitarian education was dealt with by Pastor Lorch, a kind man who managed to interest the boy in Latin, German, and the catechism.
When the seven-year-old Schiller moved with his family to Ludwigsburg, he was able to study in a Latin school. At 23, an educated young man passed confirmation (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 suffering due to the failure to fulfill the will of the Duke of Württemberg. He ordered his serf to study at the military academy of jurisprudence as a lawyer. Schiller could not live someone else's life, he ignored classes. Three years later, the young man was the last in the rating of a peer group of 18 people.
In 1776 he moved to the medical faculty, here he was interested in studying. But in teaching medicine he was attracted to secondary subjects - philosophy, literature. In 1777, the reputable magazine The German Chronicles published the first essay by young Schiller, the ode to The Conqueror, written in imitation of the beloved 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 did not like the duke-tyrant. By his will, the 29-year-old graduate of the Academy received only the post of regimental doctor, without an officer rank. It seemed to despot that he had managed to break down the life of a disgraced young man, but Friedrich Schiller by that time already felt the strength of his talent.
Talent declares itself
The 32-year-old playwright writes the drama The Robbers. Not a single publisher from Stuttgart undertakes to print such a serious work of a slave, fearing a conflict with the almighty Duke of Württemberg. Showing persistence, declaring himself to the public, it is published by Friedrich Schiller himself. His biography as a playwright begins with this composition.
The impudent subject, who published the drama The Robbers at his own expense, was the winner. And Fate sent him a present. A friend of the bookseller merged him with art connoisseur Baron von Dahlberg, who runs the Maynheim Theater. Drama after minor edits became the highlight of the next theater season in Prussia!
The author is embraced by courage, he revels in talent. In the same period, Schiller published his first collection of poems, "The Anthology of 1782." Any height seems to him achievable! He competes for primacy in the Swabian school of poetry with Gotthald Steidlin, who previously released his Musical Collection. To give the image of scandal to his collection, the poet indicates the place of publication of the city of Tobolsk.
Hounding and Escape
Schiller's biography at that period is marked by a banal escape to the county of Palatinate. On this risky step, he decided on September 22, 1782, together with his friend Streicher, pianist and composer. The Duke of Württemberg was unshakable in his attempt to turn the future classic into a public servant.
Schiller was put in a guardhouse for two weeks because he left the regiment to visit the theatrical production of The Robbers. At the same time, he was forbidden to write.
Friends, not without reason, feared the machinations of the Archduke. Schiller changed his name to Schmidt. Therefore, they settled not in the city of Mannheim itself, but in the tavern “The Hunting Yard” of the suburban village of Oggersheim.
Schiller hoped to make money with a new play, Conspiracy of Fiesco in Genoa. However, the fee was scanty. In poverty, he was forced to ask for help from Henrieta von Walzogen. She generously allowed the playwright to live in her empty estate.
Life under a false name
From 1782 to 1783, he hid in the estate of a benefactress under a false name, Dr. Ritter Friedrich Schiller. His biography during this period is a description of the life of an outcast who has chosen a 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 for the director of the Mannheim Theater, Baron von Dahlberg, to pay attention to the work of a friend. Schiller in a letter informs the Baron about his new plays, and he agrees to stage them!
During this period (1983), the estate was visited by Henrieta von Walzogen with her young daughter Charlotte. Schiller falls in love with a girl and asks her mother for permission to marry her, but is refused because of her poverty. He moves to Mannheim to prepare his works for production.
Gaining freedom. Obtaining a formal position
If the play “The Fiesco Conspiracy in Genoa” on the stage of the Mannheim Theater takes place as an ordinary production, then “Louise Miller” (renamed “Cunning and Love”) brings a resounding success. In 1784, Schiller entered the local German society, while receiving the right to legalize his status, becoming a Palatinate subject, and finally draw a line under the persecution of the Archduke.
He, having his own views on the development of German theater, is respected as a famous playwright. He writes his work “Theater - 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 in Darmstadt to Archduke Karl August. The playwright read the first act of the drama Don Carlos to him. Surprised and admired by the talent of the author, the nobleman granted the writer the position of adviser. This gave the playwright only social status, no more. However, this did not change his life.
Soon, Schiller quarrels and breaks the 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 takes a desperate poet
All the same unsettled in life remained Friedrich Schiller. This is not the first time his biography is preparing a blow in his personal life. Due to poverty, Margarita Schwan, the daughter of a court bookseller, refuses to marry him. However, soon his life is changing for the better. In Leipzig appreciated his work.
The playwright has long been persistently invited there by fans of his work, organized in a society led by Gottfried Kerner. Driven to the extreme (he still did not repay the 200 guilders, taken for the publication of "Robbers"), the writer turned to his admirers with a request for financial assistance. To his joy, he soon received a bill from Leipzig in an amount sufficient to pay off his debts and move to live where he was valued. Friendship with Gottfried Kerner connected the classic all his subsequent life.
04/17/1785 Schiller arrives in a hospitable city.
At this time, the classic falls in love for the third time, but again unsuccessfully: Margarita Schwan refuses him. The benefactor who has gone into black despondency is benefited by his benefactor, Gottfried Kerner. He discourages a romantic friend from committing suicide by first inviting Friedrich to his wedding with Minna Stock.
Warmed by friendship and having survived a difficult emotional crisis, F. Schiller writes a brilliant ode “To Joy” to 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 “Misanthrope”, amended by the drama “Don Carlos”. In terms of creative fruitfulness, this period resembles the Boldin autumn of Pushkin.
Schiller becomes famous. The playwright rejects the offer from the Hamburg Theater to staging his plays. The memories of difficulties in collaboration and breakup with the Mannheim Theater are too fresh.
Weimar period: a departure from creativity. Tuberculosis
He arrives in the city of Weimar at the invitation of the poet Christophe Wieland on 08.21.1787. He is accompanied by a lover, an old friend, Charlotte von Kalb. Having connections in high society, she introduces Schiller to leading German writers Johann Herder and Martin Wieland.
The poet begins to publish the magazine "Waist", published in "German Mercury." Here he deviates 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 gives lectures on world history and poetry, 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 him for a new test: speaking in cold classrooms and having become infected by his student, Friedrich Schiller becomes ill with tuberculosis. Interesting facts in his biography indicate charisma, the integrity of the personality. The disease crosses out his teaching career, bedridden, but calm human courage often wins fate.
A new stage of fate
As if by a wave of higher powers, his friends help him in a difficult hour. And now, when the disease made Schiller unable to work, the Danish writer Jens Baggens persuaded the Prince of Holstein and Count Schimmelmann to appoint a classic for treatment of a subsidy of a thousand thalers.
Iron will and financial assistance raised the bed patient to his feet. He could not teach, and his friend, publisher Johann Cotta, provided an opportunity to earn. Soon, Schiller moves to a new stage of creativity. Ironically, it begins with a tragic event: the poet was summoned by a dying father, who at that time lived in Ludwigsburg.
This event was expected: previously, the father was sick for a long time and seriously. The classic, besides filial duty - to say goodbye to his father, attracted the opportunity to hug and comfort 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 with his wife, who was in a position.
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, a military academy. He was pleasantly surprised that he was an idol for students. Those met him enthusiastically: before them stood a legend - Schiller Friedrich, poet number 1 in Prussia. The touched classic after this visit wrote his famous work "Letters on the aesthetic education of man."
In Ludwigsburg, his firstborn was born. He is finally happy. But he only has seven years to live ...
The poet returned to Jena, being in a state of creative enthusiasm. His faceted talent shines with renewed vigor! Schiller, after a ten-year in-depth study of history, the theory of literature, aesthetics, returns to poetry again.
He managed to attract all the best poets of Prussia to participate in the magazine "Ory". In 1795, philosophical poetic works came out from under his pen: “Dance”, “Poetry of Life”, “Hope”, “Genius”, “Separation of the Earth”.
Collaboration with Goethe
Among the poets invited by Schiller to the Ory magazine was Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Their creative souls entered the resonance that stimulated the creation of many priceless pearls from the necklace of 18th-century German classical literature.
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 interpretation of contemporary religious literature on political, aesthetic and philosophical issues. Their letters sounded moral and civil pathos. Two brilliant poets who chose a literary direction, competed among themselves in its development:
- since December 1795 - in the writing of 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 he returned to Weimar Friedrich Schiller. The works written by him and Goethe served the development of German theater. They became a dramatic base for creating the best theater in Germany - Weimar.
However, Schiller’s strength is running out. In 1800, he completed the writing of his swan song - the tragedy "Mary Stuart", a deep, successful and wide resonance essay in society.
In 1802, the emperor of Prussia granted the poet nobility. However, Schiller ironically reacted to this. His young and best mature years were full of hardships, and now the newly made nobleman felt that he was dying. Humanly, he wanted to reject the title, which was useless to himself, but he accepted it, thinking exclusively about his children.
He was often ill, suffered from chronic pneumonia. Against this background, tuberculosis worsened, leading him to an untimely death at the height of his talent and at the age of 45 years.
Conclusion
Without exaggeration, it can be said that Johann Goethe and Friedrich Schiller were and will be the favorite poets of the Germans at all times. The photo of the monument, forever showing two friends living in Weimar, is familiar to every German. Their contribution to literature is invaluable: the classics took it on the path of a new humanism, summarizing the ideas of the Enlightenment, Romanticism and Classicism.