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 creators of the national literature of the New Age and the most significant persons of the German Enlightenment, art theorist, philosopher, historian, military doctor. Schiller was popular all over the continent, many of his plays rightfully entered the golden fund of world drama.

Johann Christoph Friedrich was born in Marbach an der Neckar on November 10, 1759 in the family of an officer, 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 Lorch, where their family moved in 1764, and later studied at the Latin school in Ludwigsburg. In 1772, Schiller was among the students of the military academy: he was assigned there by order of the Duke of Württemberg. And if from childhood he dreamed of serving as a priest, then here he began to study jurisprudence, and from 1776, after transferring to the appropriate faculty, medicine. Even in the first years of his stay at this educational institution, Schiller was seriously carried away by the poets of "Storm and Onslaught" and began to compose a little himself, deciding to devote himself to poetry. His first work - the ode "The Conqueror" - appeared in the journal "German Chronicles" in the spring of 1777.

After receiving a diploma in 1780, he was appointed a military doctor and sent to Stuttgart. Here his first book was published - a collection of poems "Anthology for 1782". In 1781, he published the drama The Robbers for his own money. In order to get to the performance staged according to it, Schiller left for Mannheim in 1783, for which he was subsequently arrested and banned from writing literary works. First staged in January 1782, the drama The Robbers enjoyed great success and marked the arrival of a new talented author in dramaturgy. Subsequently, for this work in the revolutionary years, Schiller will be given the title of honorary citizen of the French Republic.

Severe punishment forced Schiller to leave Württemberg and settle in the small village of Oggerseim. From December 1782 to July 1783, Schiller lived in Bauerbach under a false name on the estate of an old acquaintance. In the summer of 1783, Friedrich returned to Mannheim to prepare the staging of his plays, and already on April 15, 1784, his "Cunning and Love" brought him fame as 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 the autumn of 1785 to the summer of 1787 - in the village of Loschwitz, located near Dresden.

August 21, 1787 marked a new milestone in the biography of Schiller, associated with his move to the center of national literature - Weimar. He arrived there at the invitation of K. M. Vilond in order to collaborate with the literary magazine German Mercury. In parallel, in 1787-1788. Schiller was the publisher of the Thalia 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 decade he abandoned his own literary work 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 friends, he received at the University of Jena the title of extraordinary professor of philosophy and history, in connection with which, on May 11, 1789, he moved to Jena. In 1799, in February, Schiller married and in parallel worked on the "History of the Thirty Years' War", published in 1793.

Tuberculosis discovered in 1791 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 troubles of his friends, he would have found himself 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 their 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 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 1799 in Weimar, Schiller remained here until his death. In 1802, by the grace of Frans 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. Tuberculosis claimed the life of Schiller on May 9, 1805. They buried him at the local cemetery, and in 1826, when the decision was made to reburial, they failed to reliably identify the remains, so they chose the most suitable ones, in the opinion of the organizers of the event. In 1911, another “applicant” appeared for the “title” of Schiller’s skull, which gave rise to many years of disputes about the authenticity of the remains of the great German writer. According to the results of the examination in 2008, his coffin was left empty, because. all 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 an der Neckar - May 9, 1805, Weimar) - German poet, philosopher, art theorist and playwright, professor of history and military doctor, representative of the Sturm und Drang and romanticism (in a narrower sense, its German current) 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 a fiery 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 controversy entered German literature under the name "Weimar classicism".

The poet's legacy is kept and studied in the Goethe and Schiller Archive in Weimar.

Origin, education and early work

The surname Schiller has been found in Southwestern Germany since the 16th century. The ancestors of Friedrich Schiller, who lived for two centuries in the Duchy of Württemberg, were winemakers, peasants and artisans.

Schiller was born on November 10, 1759 in 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 - Elisabeth Dorothea Kodweis (1732-1802) - from the family of a provincial baker-tavern owner. The young Schiller was brought up in a religious-pietistic atmosphere, echoed in his early poems. Childhood and youth passed in relative poverty.

Primary education in Lorch. Ludwigsburg

He received his primary education in the small town of Lorch, where in 1764 Schiller's father got a job as a recruiter. The studies with the local pastor Moser lasted 4 years and mainly consisted of learning to read and write in German, and also included a superficial acquaintance with Latin. The sincere and good-natured pastor was subsequently introduced in the writer's first drama, 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, on Fridays - the native language, on Sundays - the catechism. Schiller's interest in studies increased in his senior years, 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 Solitude Castle, where the Duke of Württemberg, Karl-Eugene, established an orphanage for the education of 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 "Higher School of Charles the Saint" (German: Hohe Karlsschule), where the young man began to study law, although from childhood he dreamed of becoming a priest.

Upon admission to the academy, he was enrolled in the burgher department of the Faculty of Law. Due to his hostile attitude towards jurisprudence, at the end of 1774 he turned out to be 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. Already from the first years of study at the Academy, he was carried away by the poetic works of Friedrich Klopstock and the poets of Storm and Onslaught, and began to write short poetic works. Several times he was even offered to write congratulatory odes in honor of the duke and his mistress, Countess Franziska von Hohengey.

In 1779, Schiller's dissertation "Philosophy of Physiology" was rejected by the leadership of the academy, and he was forced to stay for a second year. Duke Charles Eugene imposes his resolution: " I must agree that the dissertation of Schiller's pupil is not without merit, that there is a lot of fire in it. But it is precisely the latter circumstance that compels me not to publish his dissertation and to keep another year at the Academy so that the heat of it cools down. If he is as diligent, then by the end of this time he will probably come out a great man.».While studying at the Academy, Schiller created the first works. Influenced by drama "Julius of Tarentum"(1776) Johann Anton Leisewitz 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 father's love. At the same time, his great interest in the work and writing style of Friedrich Klopstock inspired Schiller to write an ode "The Conqueror", published in March 1777 in the magazine "German Chronicles"(Das schwebige Magazin) and which was an imitation of an idol.

Rogues

In 1780, after graduating from the academy, he received a position as a regimental doctor in Stuttgart without being awarded an officer rank and without the right to wear civilian clothes - evidence of ducal dislike.

In 1781 completed the drama Rogues(German Die Räuber), written during his stay 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 to make some adjustments - to remove some scenes and the most revolutionary phrases, to transfer the time of action from the present, from the era of the Seven Years' War to the 17th century. Schiller expressed his disagreement with such changes, in a letter to Dahlberg dated December 12, 1781, he wrote: " Many tirades, traits, both large and small, even characters are taken from our time; transferred to the age of Maximilian, they will cost absolutely nothing ... To correct a 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 performance was a huge success with the public.

Sketch by Viktor von Heydelöf. Schiller reads Robbers in the Bopser forest"

After the premiere in Mannheim on January 13, 1782, it became clear that a talented playwright had come into literature. The central conflict of the "Robbers" is the conflict between two brothers: the eldest, Karl Moor, who, at the head of a gang of robbers, goes into the Bohemian forests to punish 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, deceit 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 Rogues Schiller prepared for printing a collection of poems, which was released 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 Gotthald Steidlin, who, claiming to be the head of Swabian school, 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 abbreviated form. Then Schiller collected the poems rejected by Gotthald, wrote a number of new ones and, thus, created the Anthology for 1782, contrasting it with his literary opponent's "almanac of the muses". 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 an unauthorized absence from the regiment to Mannheim for the performance of The Robbers, Schiller was placed in a guardhouse for 14 days and was banned from writing anything other than medical writings, which forced him, along with his friend, the musician Streicher (German Johann Andreas Streicher), flee from the duke's possessions on 22 September 1782 to the Margraviate of the Palatinate.

Having crossed the border of Württemberg, he went to the Mannheim Theater with the prepared manuscript of his play “The Fiesco Conspiracy in Genoa” (German: Die Verschwörung des Fiesco zu Genua), which he dedicated to his philosophy teacher at the Academy, Jacob Abel. The theater management, fearing the discontent of the Duke of Württemberg, was in no hurry to start negotiations on staging the play. Schiller was advised not to stay in Mannheim, but to leave for the nearest village of Oggersheim. There, together with his friend Streicher, the playwright lived under the assumed name of Schmidt in the village tavern "Hunting Yard". It was here in the autumn of 1782 that Friedrich Schiller made the first draft of a version of the tragedy "Deceit 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 meager fee, which he spent instantly. Being in a hopeless situation, the playwright wrote a letter to his old acquaintance Henriette von Walzogen, who soon offered the writer her empty estate in Bauerbach.

Years of uncertainty (1782-1789)

Bauerbach and return to Mannheim

In Bauerbach, under the surname "Doctor Ritter", he lived from December 8, 1782, where he set about finishing the drama "Deceit and Love", which he completed in February 1783. He immediately created a sketch of a new historical drama "Don Carlos" (German: Don Karlos), studying in detail the history of the Spanish Infanta using books from the library of the Mannheim ducal court, which were supplied to him by a familiar librarian. Together with the history of "Don Carlos" at the same time 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 mistress 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 arouse the favor of the administration of the Mannheim Theater in favor of Schiller. The director of the theater, Baron von Dahlberg, knowing that Duke Karl Eugene had already abandoned the search for his missing regimental physician, writes a letter to Schiller in which he is interested in the literary activities of the playwright. Schiller replied 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 production.

Life in Mannheim

Despite the excellent performance of the actors, The Fiesco Conspiracy in Genoa was generally not a great success. The Mannheim theater audience found this play too abstruse. Schiller undertook a remake of his third drama, Louise Miller. During one rehearsal, theater actor August Iffland suggested changing the name of the drama to "Deceit and Love". Under this title, the play was staged on April 15, 1784 and was a great success. "Cunning and Love", no less than "Robbers", glorified the name of the author as the first playwright in Germany.

In February 1784, he joined the Electoral 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 the official acceptance into society on July 20, 1784, he read a report entitled "The Theater as a Moral Institution." The moral significance of the theater, designed to denounce vices and approve of virtue, Schiller diligently promoted in the magazine he founded, Rheinische Thalia (German: Rheinische Thalia), 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 big impression on those present. Karl August granted the author the position of Weimar councilor, which, however, did not alleviate the plight in which Schiller was. The writer had to repay a debt of two hundred guilders, which he had borrowed from a friend for the publication of The Robbers, but he had no money. In addition, his relationship with the director of the Mannheim Theater deteriorated, as a result of which Schiller broke his contract with him.

At the same time, Schiller became interested in the 17-year-old daughter of the court bookseller Margarita Schwan, but the young coquette did not show unequivocal favor for the beginning poet, and her father hardly wanted to see her daughter married to a man without money and influence in society.

In the autumn of 1784, the poet remembered the letter he had received six months earlier from the Leipzig community of admirers of his work, headed by Gottfried Koerner. On February 22, 1785, Schiller sent them a letter in which he frankly described his plight and asked them to accept him in Leipzig. Already on March 30, a benevolent response came from Koerner. At the same time, he sent the poet a promissory note for a significant amount of money so that the playwright could pay off his debts. Thus began a close friendship between Gottfried Koerner and Friedrich Schiller, which lasted until the death of the poet.

Leipzig and Dresden

When Schiller arrived in Leipzig on April 17, 1785, he was met by Ferdinand Huber (German: Ludwig Ferdinand Huber) and sisters Dora and Minna Stock. Koerner was at that time on official business in Dresden. From the first days in Leipzig, Schiller yearned for Margarita Schwan, who remained in Mannheim. He addressed 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 Koerner, 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 Koerner, Schiller moved to the village of Loschwitz near Dresden. Here Don Carlos was completely remade and completed, a new drama The Misanthrope was begun, a plan was drawn up and the first chapters of the novel The Spirit Seer were written. Here his “Philosophical Letters” (German: Philosophische Briefe) were also completed - the most significant philosophical essay of the young Schiller, written in epistolary form.

In 1786-87 Friedrich Schiller was introduced into Dresden secular society through Gottfried Körner. 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 Theatre. Schroeder's offer was pretty good, but Schiller, remembering the past unsuccessful experience of cooperation with the Mannheim Theater, refuses the invitation and goes to Weimar - the center of German literature, where he is zealously 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. The playwright's companion in a series of official visits was Charlotte von Kalb, with whose assistance Schiller quickly became acquainted with the then largest writers - Martin Wieland and Johann Gottfried Herder. Wieland highly appreciated Schiller's talent and especially admired his latest drama, Don Carlos. Between the two poets, from the first meeting, close friendly relations were established, which remained for many years. For several days he went to the university town of Jena, where he was warmly received in local literary circles.

In 1787-1788, Schiller published the journal Thalia (German: Thalia) and at the same time collaborated on Wieland's Deutsche Mercury. Some works of these years were begun in Leipzig and Dresden. In the fourth issue of "Thalia" his novel "The Spirit Seer" was published chapter by chapter.

With the move to Weimar and after meeting with major poets and scientists, Schiller became even more critical of his abilities. Realizing the lack of his knowledge, the playwright withdrew from artistic creation for almost a decade in order to thoroughly study history, philosophy and aesthetics.

Period of Weimar Classicism

Jena University

The publication of the first volume of The History of the Fall of the Netherlands in the summer of 1788 brought Schiller fame as an outstanding researcher of history. 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 a position as an extraordinary professor of history and philosophy at the University of Jena, which, during the poet's stay in this city, was going through a period prosperity. Friedrich Schiller moved to Jena on 11 May 1789. When he began lecturing, the university had about 800 students. Introductory lecture entitled "What is 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 appointed him in December 1789 a modest salary of two hundred thalers a year, after which Schiller made an official proposal to Charlotte von Lengefeld, and in February 1790 a marriage was concluded in a 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 Rhine Thalia magazine, 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 journal. In May 1790, Schiller continued his lectures at the university: in this academic year he publicly lectured on tragic poetry, and privately on world history.

In early 1791, Schiller fell ill with pulmonary tuberculosis. Now he only occasionally had intervals of a few months or weeks when the poet would be able to work quietly. Especially strong were the first bouts of illness in the winter of 1792, because of which he was forced to suspend teaching at the university. This forced rest was used by Schiller for a deeper acquaintance with the philosophical works of Immanuel Kant. Being 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, at the initiative of the Danish writer Jens Baggesen, Crown Prince Friedrich Christian of Schleswig-Holstein and Count Ernst von Schimmelmann appointed Schiller an annual subsidy of a thousand thalers so that the poet could restore his health. Danish subsidies continued in 1792-94. Then Schiller was supported by the publisher Johann Friedrich Kotta, who invited him in 1794 to publish the monthly magazine Ores.

Trip home. Magazine "Ory"

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, whom he had separated from 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 ducal residence. Here, on September 14, 1793, the first son of the poet was born. In Ludwigsburg and Stuttgart, Schiller met with old teachers and former friends from the Academy. After the death of Duke Karl Eugen Schiller visited the military academy of the deceased, where he was enthusiastically received by the younger generation of students.

During his stay 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).

Shortly 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 Ory (Die Horen), planned to unite the best German writers in a literary society.

In 1795, he wrote a cycle of poems on philosophical topics, similar in meaning to his articles on aesthetics: "The Poetry of Life", "Dance", "The Division of the Earth", "Genius", "Hope", etc. The thought of death passes through these poems as a leitmotif everything 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 poems was Schiller's first poetic experience after almost a ten-year creative break.

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, outlined his political program in the journal Ory and invited Goethe to participate in a literary society, he agreed.

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 report they heard, and talking, they reached Schiller's apartment. Goethe was invited to the house. There he began expounding his theory of plant metamorphosis with great enthusiasm. After this conversation, a friendly correspondence began between Schiller and Goethe, which was not interrupted until the death of Schiller and made up one of the best epistolary monuments of world literature.

The joint creative activity of Goethe and Schiller was primarily aimed at theoretical understanding 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, which reflected their cult of antiquity, high civic and moral pathos, religious indifference, appeared in the "Orah" and "Almanac of the Muses", a campaign was launched against them by 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, mercilessly scourging all the vulgarity and mediocrity of contemporary German literature in the form suggested to Schiller by Goethe - in the form of couplets, like Martial's Xenius.

Starting in December 1795, for eight months, both poets competed in creating epigrams: each answer from Jena and Weimar was accompanied by "Xenia" for review, review and addition. Thus, by 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 theme of "Kseny" was very versatile. It included questions of politics, philosophy, history, religion, literature and art. They touched on over two hundred writers and literary works. "Xenia" is the most militant of the compositions created by both classics.

Moving to Weimar

In 1799 he returned to Weimar, where he began to publish several literary magazines with the money of patrons. 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 now "mastered the playwright's craft".

In 1802, Holy Roman Emperor Franz II granted Schiller the nobility. But he himself was skeptical about this, in his letter dated February 17, 1803, writing to Humboldt: “ You probably laughed when you heard about us being promoted to a higher rank. That was our duke's idea, and since everything has already happened, I agree to accept this title because of Lolo and the children. Lolo is now in his element, as he twirls his train at court».

last years of life

The last years of Schiller's life were overshadowed by severe protracted illnesses. After a severe cold, all the old ailments became aggravated. 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 G. F. Harsdörfer in the 17th century to "clean up the German literary language", which was heavily clogged during the Thirty Years' War.

The most famous ballads of Schiller, written by him in the framework of the "year of ballads" (1797) - Cup(Der Taucher) Glove(Der Handschuh), Polycrates ring(Der Ring des Polykrates) and Ivikov cranes(Template: Lang-de2Die Kraniche des Ibykus), became familiar to Russian readers after the translations of V. A. Zhukovsky.

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 cemetery Jacobsfriedhof in the Kassengewölbe crypt, specially reserved for nobles and revered 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. Arbitrarily chosen as the most suitable remains, they were transferred to the library of the Duchess Anna Amalia, and the skull was for some time in the house of Goethe, who wrote these days (September 16-17) the poem "Schiller's Relics", also known as "In Contemplation of the Schiller Skull". 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 in accordance with his will.

In 1911, another skull was discovered, which was attributed to Schiller. For a long time there were disputes about which one of them is real. Only in the spring of 2008, within the framework of the “Friedrich Schiller Code” campaign organized jointly by the Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk radio station and the Weimar Classicism Foundation, a DNA examination conducted 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, and their DNA also does not match any of the studied skulls. The Weimar Classicism Foundation decided to leave Schiller's coffin empty.

Friedrich Schiller(Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller) is an outstanding German poet and thinker, a representative of romanticism in literature. A brief biography of Schiller is given in this article.

Friedrich Schiller biography briefly

The writer was born on November 10, 1759 in Germany in the city of Marbach am Neckar. Schiller's father was a regimental paramedic, and his mother came from a baker's family. His childhood and youth were spent in relative poverty, although he was able to study at a rural school and with Pastor Moser.

In 1773 he entered the military academy, where he first studied law and then medicine. His first works were written during his studies. So, under the influence of Leisewitz's drama, he wrote the drama Cosmus von Medici. The writing of the ode "The Conqueror" belongs to the same period.

In 1780, he received the post of regimental doctor in Stuttgart, after graduating from the academy.

In 1781, he completed the drama The Robbers, which was not accepted by any publishing house. As a result, he published it with his own money. Subsequently, the drama was duly appreciated by the director of the Mannheim Theater and, after some adjustments, was staged.

The Robbers premiered in January 1782 and was a great success with the public. After that, they started talking about Schiller as a talented playwright. For this drama, the writer was even awarded the title of honorary citizen of France. However, in his homeland, he had to serve 14 days in the guardhouse for unauthorized absence from the regiment for the performance of the Robbers. Moreover, from now on he was forbidden to write anything other than medical writings. This situation forced Schiller to leave Stuttgart in 1783. So he managed to complete two plays, begun before his flight: "Deceit and Love" and "Fiesco's Conspiracy in Genoa." These plays were subsequently staged in the same Mannheim theater.

From 1787 to 1789 he lived in Weimar, where he met with. It is believed that it was Schiller who inspired a friend to complete many of the works.

In 1790 he married Charlotte von Lengefeld, with whom they subsequently had two sons and two daughters. In Weimar, he again came in 1799 and there, with the money of patrons, he published literary magazines. At the same time, together with Goethe, he founded the Weimar Theater, which became one of the best in the country. Until the end of his days, the writer lived in this city.

In 1802, Holy Roman Emperor Franz II granted Schiller the nobility.

German literature

Johann Christoph Friedrich Schiller

Biography

SCHILLER (Schiller) Friedrich von (full name Johann Christoph Friedrich) (November 10, 1759, Marbach am Neckar - May 9, 1805, Weimar), German poet, playwright and Enlightenment art theorist.

Childhood and years at the military academy

Born in the family of a regimental paramedic, who was in the service of the Duke of Württemberg, Karl Eugene.

In 1773, by the highest order, the 14-year-old Friedrich was sent to study at the military medical academy just created by the duke, and his father was forced to sign that Friedrich “completely surrenders to the services of the ducal Württemberg house and has no right to leave it without receiving gracious permission for that." At the academy, Schiller studies law and medicine, which do not arouse his interest. In 1779, Schiller's dissertation was rejected by the leadership of the academy, and he was forced to stay for a second year. Finally, at the end of 1780, Schiller left the walls of the academy and received a position as a regimental paramedic in Stuttgart.

Early dramas

While still at the academy, Schiller became interested in literature and philosophy and, despite the prohibitions of teachers, studied F. G. Klopstock, Albrecht von Haller, J. W. Goethe, the writers of Sturm und Drang, J. J. Rousseau. Under the influence of one of his mentors, Schiller becomes a member of the secret society of the Illuminati, the forerunners of the German Jacobins. In 1776-1777. several of Schiller's poems were published in the Swabian Journal. In the same magazine for 1775, Schiller also finds material for his first significant work: the novice playwright takes Daniel Schubart's novel To the History of the Human Heart as the basis for the play The Robbers (1781).

Schiller significantly enriched the schematic plot of the original source, based on the motive of enmity between two brothers, which was very common among the writers of "Storm and Onslaught": Karl, the protagonist of the drama, the eldest son of Count von Moor, emotional, "spontaneous, natural nature", cannot reconcile with a measured city life and participates with his friends in pranks, not always harmless. Soon, however, he repents and in a letter to his father promises to improve. The letter is intercepted by his younger brother, Franz, who is jealous of Karl, his father's favorite. Franz plots to deprive his brother of his inheritance and reads to his father another letter composed by himself, after which von Moor curses his eldest son, and Franz writes an answer to his brother on behalf of his father. Karl, shocked by his father's injustice, goes off to rob the Bohemian forests with his friends, and Franz deceives his father into a dungeon, dooming him to death. Charles enters the house under the guise of a foreign count, learns about the death of his father and wants to take revenge on his brother, but he, in fear of the robbers, has already committed suicide.

Schiller's first drama masterfully combined Shakespeare's power in depicting characters, believable pictures of German everyday life, elements of the biblical style (it is typical that the author originally wanted to title the drama "The Prodigal Son"), the poet's personal experiences: his complex relationship with his father. Schiller managed to capture the rebellious freedom-loving moods that reigned in society in the first years after the French Revolution and express them in the image of Karl Moor. The first production of The Robbers in Mannheim in January 1782 made a splash: "strangers threw themselves into each other's arms, women left the hall in a semi-conscious state." The author, who was immediately dubbed the "German Shakespeare", secretly attended the premiere.

However, upon his return to Stuttgart, Schiller was arrested and, by order of the Duke, placed in a guardhouse. In the summer of 1782, the playwright fled from the possessions of Charles Eugene, taking with him the manuscript of his second significant dramatic work, the drama The Fiesco Conspiracy in Genoa (staged in 1783). For several years, Schiller settled in Mannheim, where he received a position as head of the literary department at the National Theatre.

In April 1784, the premiere of Schiller's petty-bourgeois tragedy "Deceit and Love" took place on the stage of this theater. Unlike the first dramas, here the central character is a girl: Louise Miller (after her name Schiller originally intended to name the play), the daughter of a poor musician. She is in love with Ferdinand, the son of an aristocrat, but class prejudices prevent them from uniting. The petty-bourgeois pride of Father Louise and the careerist plans of the President, Father Ferdinand, the clash between the cruel laws of an absolutist society and human feelings, lead to a tragic denouement: caught in a network of intrigues, Ferdinand kills Louise out of jealousy.

Before Schiller, no one dared to interpret the theme of love of representatives of various classes, which was common in the sentimental literature of that time, with such social bias. Even G. E. Lessing in the burgher tragedy "Emilia Galotti", with which Schiller's play obviously echoes, preferred to transfer the action of his work to Italy in order to avoid conflict with the authorities. Thanks to its civic pathos, the play "Cunning and Love" was a huge success with the public.

"Don Carlos"

In 1785, due to financial difficulties, Schiller was forced to leave Mannheim. He moves to Dresden, where, having no permanent home, he lives with friends. Despite the difficult conditions, Schiller is actively working: he tries himself in prose genres (the short stories Crime for Lost Honor, 1786, The Game of Fate, 1789, a fragment of the novel Spiritualist, 1787), completes Philosophical Letters, writes a "dramatic poem" "Don Carlos, Infante of Spain" (1787). In the works of the Dresden period, Schiller's departure from the former rebellious ideology is outlined. Now Schiller believes that in order to reconcile the ideal and life, poetic genius "must strive to break with the realm of the real world." A revolution in the poet's worldview occurs both as a result of disappointment in the ideals of Sturm und Drang, and as a result of the study of Kant's philosophy and passion for the ideas of Freemasonry. The drama "Don Carlos", written on the material of Spanish history, reflects this turning point even formally: unlike the early plays, whose characters spoke in simple language, "Don Carlos" is written in classic iambic pentameter, its main character is not a representative of the "philistine class". ", as was customary among the representatives of the Storm and Onslaught, and the courtier; one of the central ideas of the drama is the idea of ​​reforming society by an enlightened ruler (Schiller puts it into the mouth of the Marquis Poza, a friend of the title character).

After Don Carlos, Schiller is increasingly immersed in the study of antiquity and Kantian philosophy. If earlier the value of antiquity for the poet consisted in certain civil ideals, now antiquity becomes important for him primarily as an aesthetic phenomenon. Like I. I. Winkelmann and Goethe, Schiller sees in antiquity "noble simplicity and peaceful grandeur", the curbing of "chaos". By reviving the form of ancient art, one can approach the forever lost harmony of the serene “childhood of mankind”. Schiller expresses his thoughts about the meaning of antiquity in two program poems: "Gods of Greece" and "Artists" (both - 1788).

Years in Weimar. Great historical dramas

In 1787, Schiller moved to Weimar, where he communicated with the philosopher J. G. Herder and the writer K. M. Wieland. He is completing a historical study on the theme "History of the Fall of the Netherlands", which he began while working on Don Carlos. Soon, at the request of Goethe, Schiller received the chair of professor of history at the University of Jena. Here he read a course of lectures on the history of the Thirty Years' War (published in 1793). In the first half of the 1790s. Schiller does not create large dramatic works, but a number of his philosophical works appear: “On the Tragic in Art” (1792), “Letters on the Aesthetic Education of Man”, “On the Sublime” (both - 1795), etc. Based on Kant's theory about art as a link between the realm of nature and the realm of freedom, Schiller creates his theory of the transition from the "natural absolutist state to the bourgeois realm of reason" with the help of aesthetic culture and the moral re-education of mankind. These theoretical works closely adjoin a number of poems of 1795−1798. (“The Poetry of Life”, “The Power of Chant”, “Division of the Earth”, “Ideal and Life”) and ballads written in close collaboration with Goethe (especially in 1797, the so-called “ballad year”): “Glove”, “Ivikovs cranes”, “Polycrates ring”, “Hero and Leander”, etc.

In the last years of life

Historical and philosophical studies gave Schiller extensive material for further creativity: from 1794 to 1799 he worked on the Wallenstein trilogy (Wallenstein's Camp, 1798, Piccolomini, Wallenstein's Death, both - 1799), dedicated to one of the commanders of the Thirty Years' war (a grandiose production of the drama on the stage of the Weimar Court Theater was directed by Goethe). In Wallenstein, the playwright refers to a critical, turning point in history, because, as Schiller believed, only at such moments can a person freely manifest himself as a spiritual person, it is in times of crisis that a contradiction is most often created between freedom and necessity, between the individual and society, and the resolution of the conflict between sensual aspirations and moral duty is possible only in the death of the hero. All subsequent dramas by Schiller bear the imprint of a similar ideology (Mary Stuart, The Maid of Orleans, both - 1801, the tragedy of rock - The Bride of Messina, 1803).

In the drama "William Tell" (1804), in the creation of which the playwright used the Swiss legend of a skilled shooter, Schiller tried to show not only the development of one person (in the beginning, Tell is shown as an accommodating peasant, in the end - a politically conscious rebel), but the evolution of an entire people from "naive" to "ideal"; the dramatic conflict lies in the fact that only through a crime can the Swiss get rid of Austrian domination, but, according to Schiller, they have no right to do this, since “the people can only engage in “self-defense”, and not “self-liberation”.

In 1805, Schiller began work on the drama "Dmitry", dedicated to the "Time of Troubles" in Russian history, but it remained unfinished.

Johann Christoph Friedrich Schiller, German poet and playwright, was born on November 10, 1759 in Marbach am Neckar in the family of a military physician. In 1773, Schiller, on the orders of the Duke of Württemberg, went to the military medical academy, where he studied law and medicine, and wrote his dissertation. In 1780 he moved to Stuttgart and worked as a regimental paramedic.

Schiller's creative debut took place in 1776 with the publication of several of his works in the Swabian Journal, thanks to which he finds material for his first play, The Robbers. The play is based on D. Schubart's short story "On the History of the Human Heart", which Schiller significantly reworks and enriches with details. After the successful premiere of the play, Schiller is called the "German Shakespeare".

However, the Duke of Württemberg condemns the play and orders the author to be placed in a guardhouse. In 1782, the playwright fled the duke's estate and settled in Mannheim, where he worked as manager of the National Theatre. In 1784, on the stage of this theater, the premiere of Schiller's play "Cunning and Love" was held, which interprets the feelings of lovers from different classes with social bias.

In the dramatic poem "Don Carlos" Schiller departs from the rebellious ideology, the main idea of ​​the poem is the reform of society. In 1804, Schiller published the drama "William Tell", in which he demonstrates the development of an entire nation. In 1805, the playwright began work on the unfinished work "Dmitry", which was based on the troubled times in the history of Russia.

Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller is an outstanding German playwright, poet, a prominent representative of romanticism, one of the creators of the national literature of the New Age and the most significant people of the German Enlightenment, art theorist, philosopher, historian, military doctor. Schiller was popular all over the continent, many of his plays rightfully entered the golden fund of world drama.

Johann Christoph Friedrich was born in Marbach an der Neckar on November 10, 1759 in the family of an officer, 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 Lorch, where their family moved in 1764, and later studied at the Latin school in Ludwigsburg. In 1772, Schiller was among the students of the military academy: he was assigned there by order of the Duke of Württemberg. And if from childhood he dreamed of serving as a priest, then here he began to study jurisprudence, and from 1776, after transferring to the appropriate faculty, medicine. Even in the first years of his stay at this educational institution, Schiller was seriously carried away by the poets of "Storm and Onslaught" and began to compose a little himself, deciding to devote himself to poetry. His first work - the ode "The Conqueror" - appeared in the journal "German Chronicles" in the spring of 1777.

After receiving a diploma in 1780, he was appointed a military doctor and sent to Stuttgart. Here his first book was published - a collection of poems "Anthology for 1782". In 1781, he published the drama The Robbers for his own money. In order to get to the performance staged according to it, Schiller left for Mannheim in 1783, for which he was subsequently arrested and banned from writing literary works. First staged in January 1782, the drama The Robbers enjoyed great success and marked the arrival of a new talented author in dramaturgy. Subsequently, for this work in the revolutionary years, Schiller will be given the title of honorary citizen of the French Republic.

Severe punishment forced Schiller to leave Württemberg and settle in the small village of Oggerseim. From December 1782 to July 1783, Schiller lived in Bauerbach under a false name on the estate of an old acquaintance. In the summer of 1783, Friedrich returned to Mannheim to prepare the staging of his plays, and already on April 15, 1784, his "Cunning and Love" brought him fame as 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 the autumn of 1785 to the summer of 1787 - in the village of Loschwitz, located near Dresden.

August 21, 1787 marked a new milestone in the biography of Schiller, associated with his move to the center of national literature - Weimar. He arrived there at the invitation of K. M. Vilond in order to collaborate with the literary magazine German Mercury. In parallel, in 1787-1788. Schiller was the publisher of the Thalia 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 decade he abandoned his own literary work 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 friends, he received at the University of Jena the title of extraordinary professor of philosophy and history, in connection with which, on May 11, 1789, he moved to Jena. In 1799, in February, Schiller married and in parallel worked on the "History of the Thirty Years' War", published in 1793.

Tuberculosis discovered in 1791 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 troubles of his friends, he would have found himself in poverty. During this difficult period for himself, he was imbued with the philosophy of And 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 their 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 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 1799 in Weimar, Schiller remained here until his death. In 1802, by the grace of Frans 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. Tuberculosis claimed the life of Schiller on May 9, 1805. They buried him at the local cemetery, and in 1826, when the decision was made to reburial, they failed to reliably identify the remains, so they chose the most suitable ones, in the opinion of the organizers of the event. In 1911, another “applicant” appeared for the “title” of Schiller’s skull, which gave rise to many years of disputes about the authenticity of the remains of the great German writer. According to the results of the examination in 2008, his coffin was left empty, because. all found skulls and remains in the grave, as it turned out, have nothing to do with the poet.

Schiller, Johann Christoph Friedrich - the most popular and most famous German poet, b. 11/10/1759, d. May 9, 1805. His father, a military doctor, was distinguished by deep honesty and strict devotion to Lutheranism. The boy received his first lessons from a local pastor, then attended a Latin school, until 1773 Duke Karl of Württemberg enrolled him as a pupil in the military school he founded, which was later transformed into a military academy (“Karlsschule”). Schiller owes his broad, comprehensive education to this institution. At first he thought to study theology, but then he became interested in legal sciences and medicine. Attraction to poetry awakened in him Klopstock his "Messiah", but the strongest influence on its development and direction came from Plutarch and J. J. Rousseau.

Beginning in 1776, the first samples of his lyrics began to appear in the Schwäbisches Magazin. Wanting to be free to engage in literature and the development of the conceived tragedy The Robbers (Die Räuber), Schiller decided to leave the academy, but he succeeded only after he submitted two essays: on the topics of medical and natural sciences. Released by a physician in a grenadier regiment, he lovingly took up his first truly brilliant work, and in 1782 The Robbers were staged on the stage of the court theater in Mannheim with great, hitherto unprecedented success. Then Schiller decided to devote himself to dramaturgy and began working on the tragedy The Fiesco Conspiracy in Genoa.

But while the talent of the young poet began to develop more and more widely, he suffered the misfortune in the form of a ban on writing "comedy" by the duke, who did not like his unauthorized absences in Mannheim. Not foreseeing the end of such a ban and unable to withstand this oppression, Schiller decided to flee to Mannheim. The escape was successful, but disappointment awaited in Mannheim. "Fiesco" was not accepted on stage and only a year later published by Schwan (Mannheim, 1783).

Friedrich Schiller. romantic rebel

In the same year, the tragedy "Cunning and Love" ("Kabale und Liebe") was completed and "Don Carlos" began. In July 1783, Schiller managed to settle down with Dahlberg, director of the Mannheim theater. The play "Cunning and Love" staged on his stage caused general delight and raised the writer's fallen spirit. This tragedy is the best youthful work of Schiller. The sad phenomena of modern life are outlined in it very vividly, with a truly poetic passion, combined with a strong characterization. However, material hardships continued to depress the poet, this was joined by an even stronger fever. As soon as he recovered, he began to publish the magazine "Rhine Thalia" (1785), where he placed the first act of "Don Carlos". This tragedy was completed by him far from as quickly as the first ones. Here he first began to use speech in verse, observing iambic pentameter everywhere.

By this time, Schiller's acquaintance and the beginning of friendship with Madame Charlotte von Kalb, which had a great influence on his entire future life, dates back. In 1789, his friends in Leipzig, Koerner and Huber, persuaded him to leave Mannheim and come to them in order to develop his talent in silence, among friends. Indeed, Schiller's life in Leipzig turned out so well and calmly that he vividly expressed his sense of satisfaction and happiness in the dithyramb "Ode to Joy." He graduated from Don Carlos, sketched out the story "Criminal for Lost Honor" and the novel "The Spiritualist" (published in 1789), continued to publish his journal "Thalia", where he placed all his writings. At the same time, a desire arose in him to study history. Already in Don Carlos one could see how far the poet had stepped forward in his development. The lofty main idea runs through everything, a work rich in maxims, beautiful in language, and its main protagonist, Marquis Pose, is, as it were, the personification of the noble nature of Schiller himself.

In 1787 he left his friends and went to Weimar, where Mrs. von Kalb had long called him. Here, in this city of muses, he met with the most cordial welcome from the great talents that surrounded Duke Charles August. After settling in the countryside, he began to write The History of the Fall of the Netherlands, published in 1788. Unfortunately, material need forced him to work hastily, which could not but affect his work, although he studied all the sources very carefully. At the same time he wrote several poems, among others "Gods of Greece" and "Letters on Don Carlos". Some, albeit a slight, relief from material need was for him to receive a chair in history at Jena. The poet prepared for his professorship very diligently, and the first lecture - "What is world history and for what purpose is it studied" - was a resounding success. Since 1790, Schiller published a collection of historical memoirs and wrote the History of the Thirty Years' War for the Goshen calendar. In this work, the attention of the author himself was attracted by majestic figures Wallenstein and king Gustav Adolf, outlined by him therefore with special force.

Marriage to Charlotte Langenfeld gave the poet long-sought happiness and peace of mind. His life flowed briskly and happily among friends, but the disease that began in him (tuberculosis) immediately and forever destroyed his health. Having somehow recovered with good care and treatment, he was forced to work hard to improve his finances. The outbreak of the French Revolution found in him an ardent supporter and defender, until the execution of the king dealt a deep and sensitive blow to his sympathies for this popular movement. To improve his health and exhausted nerves, he went to his homeland in Swabia and in Tübingen entered into relations with the then well-known book publisher Kotta.

In subsequent years, after his illness, a new turn was noticed in the development of Schiller - an attraction to philosophy and aesthetics. Already in the summer of 1790, he lectured on tragedy, and a year later he delved into the study of Kant's newly published Critique of Pure Reason, being carried away by his theory of aesthetics. The influence of the great philosopher was not slow to affect the works The Pleasure of the Tragic and On the Tragic Art (1792). The culminating point in this direction is the essay "Letters on the Aesthetic Education of Man", in which he indicates what a huge influence beauty (beautiful) has on the development and ennoblement of not only an individual, but the entire state and society. These letters were published in 1795 in the journal Ory. In a whole series of works by Schiller, published in 1800 under the title On Naive and Sentimental Poetry, the philosopher again comes into contact with the poet. Acquired theoretical knowledge causes judgments about outstanding works of poetry, and Schiller begins to group poets according to their different moods and positions in the world. In this era of the development of an ideal view of the vocation of the poet, he writes many reviews, among other things, about Burger's poems, pointing out their aesthetic shortcomings.

Another important event in the life of the poet was the close acquaintance and inseparable friendship with Goethe. Under her influence, Schiller again turned to pure poetry. Together with Goethe, Schiller published the Ory magazine, having managed to attract the best literary forces to this cause, prepared the publication of the Almanac of the Muses, wrote the poem Ideal and Life, The Power of Chanting, The Virtues of a Woman, the elegy Walk and etc. From the end of 1795, both great poets compiled the famous collection of epigrams "Xenia", which appeared in the "Almanac of the Muses" (1797) and directed against the literary philistines of that time. The success of the epigrams was extraordinary. They caused a lot of objections, but they only proved that the arrows fired by the poets hit the target. Now they only had to prove to the nation with their creations how seriously they understood true art. Having stopped reading university lectures, seized with the heat of creativity, Schiller devoted himself entirely to writing and created during this period his best ballads: "The Cup", "The Ring of Polycrates", "Ivikov Cranes", etc., as well as "Wallenstein", this great trilogy, undoubtedly the greatest and best work of the great poet (1799). The success of the trilogy reached the point of enthusiasm. Schiller finally decided to devote himself to dramaturgy alone, he even stopped publishing the Almanac of the Muses, publishing there the Song of the Bell in the last year. He began to write "Mary Stuart", which he completed in 1800. This play is the most scenic of all the tragedies of Schiller.

Settling again in Weimar, he, together with Goethe, set about creating a new exemplary repertoire for the German theater and in 1801 released the tragedy The Maid of Orleans, and specially processed Gozzi's fairy tale Turandot for the Weimar theater. In 1802, the Duke of Weimar granted the poet a nobility. A year later, he published the tragedy The Bride of Messina, where he made his first attempt to introduce the ancient choir into modern drama. Schiller's next major creation was William Tell, for which he zealously studied the history and geography of Switzerland (1804). It was already like the poet's swan song. His illness progressed rapidly. He still found the strength to write, at the request of Goethe, to greet the Weimar Crown Princess, the play "Glorification of the Arts", but this was already given to him with great difficulty. In the spring of 1805, the poet died quietly, surrounded by friends.

For a more complete characterization of the great Schiller, it should be noted that, along with a strong talent for realistic narration, he always coexisted with a feature of subjective reflection and abstract expression of ideas. The persistent idea that poetry should serve as a moral example was, in fact, alien to him, but with the pathos characteristic of Schiller, ideal dreams of the good of mankind constantly prevailed in him, and therefore his works easily grew beyond the bounds of pure aesthetics, and the poet became a philosopher. . What others came out with only abstraction and pure didactics - under the pen of Schiller became poetry. The loftiness and nobility of the poet's nature were combined with that special charm that always distinguishes idealists. Schiller rightly remains the favorite poet of youth.