German literature comprises those literary texts written in the German language. This includes literature written in Germany, Austria, the German parts of Switzerland and Belgium, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, South Tyrol in Italy and to a lesser extent works of the German diaspora. German literature of the modern period is mostly in Standard German, but there are some currents of literature influenced to a greater or lesser degree by dialects.
Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller was a German polymath and poet, playwright, historian, philosopher, physician, lawyer. Schiller is considered by most Germans to be Germany's most important classical playwright.
German Romanticism was the dominant intellectual movement of German-speaking countries in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, influencing philosophy, aesthetics, literature, and criticism. Compared to English Romanticism, the German variety developed relatively early, and, in the opening years, coincided with Weimar Classicism (1772–1805).
Christoph Martin Wieland was a German poet and writer, representative of literary Rococo. He is best-remembered for having written the first Bildungsroman, as well as the epic Oberon, which formed the basis for both Friederike Sophie Seyler's opera of the same name and Carl Maria von Weber's opera of the same name. His thought was representative of the cosmopolitanism of the German Enlightenment, exemplified in his remark: "Only a true cosmopolitan can be a good citizen." He was a key figure of Weimar Classicism and a collaborator of Abel Seyler's theatre company.
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1774.
Anna Amalia of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, was a German princess and composer. She became the duchess of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach by marriage, and was also regent of the states of Saxe-Weimar and Saxe-Eisenach from 1758 to 1775. She transformed her court and its surrounding into the most influential cultural center of Germany. Her invitation of Abel Seyler's theatre company in 1771 marked the start of Weimar Classicism, that would include such figures such as Wieland, Goethe, Herder and Schiller working under her protection.
Sturm und Drang was a proto-Romantic movement in German literature and music that occurred between the late 1760s and early 1780s. Within the movement, individual subjectivity and, in particular, extremes of emotion were given free expression in reaction to the perceived constraints of rationalism imposed by the Enlightenment and associated aesthetic movements. The period is named after Friedrich Maximilian Klinger's play of the same name, which was first performed by Abel Seyler's famed theatrical company in 1777.
Maria Pavlovna was a grand duchess of Russia as the daughter of Paul I, Emperor of all the Russias, and later became the Grand Duchess of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach by her marriage to Charles Frederick of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (1783–1853).
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German polymath and writer, who is widely regarded as the greatest and most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a profound and wide-ranging influence on Western literary, political, and philosophical thought from the late 18th century to the present day. Goethe was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry and aesthetic criticism, as well as treatises on botany, anatomy, and color.
Georg Melchior Kraus was a German painter. He was a co-founder of the Weimar Princely Free Drawing School, together with Friedrich Justin Bertuch, in 1776.
Caroline von Wolzogen, was a German writer in the Weimar Classicism circle. Her best-known works are a novel, Agnes von Lilien, and a biography of Friedrich Schiller, her brother-in-law.
Johann Anton Leisewitz was a German lawyer and dramatic poet, and a central figure of the Sturm und Drang era. He is best known for his play Julius of Taranto (1776), that inspired Friedrich Schiller and is considered the forerunner of Schiller's quintessential Sturm und Drang work The Robbers (1781).
Classical Weimar is a UNESCO World Heritage Site consisting of 11 sites located in and around the city of Weimar, Germany. The site was inscribed on 2 December 1998. The properties all bear testimony to the influence of Weimar as a cultural centre of the Enlightenment during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. A number of notable writers and philosophers lived in Weimar between 1772 and 1805, including Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Johann Gottfried Herder, Friedrich Schiller, and Christoph Martin Wieland. These figures ushered in and participated in the Weimar Classicism movement, and the architecture of the sites across the city reflects the rapid cultural development of the Classical Weimar era.
Abel Seyler was a Swiss-born theatre director and former merchant banker, who was regarded as one of the great theatre principals of 18th century Europe. He played a pivotal role in the development of German theatre and was considered "the leading patron of German theatre" in his lifetime. He supported the development of new works and experimental productions, helping to establish Hamburg as a center of theatrical innovation and to establish a publicly funded theater system in Germany. Working with some of Germany's foremost actors and playwrights of his era, he is credited with pioneering a new more realist style of acting, introducing Shakespeare to a German language audience, and with promoting the concept of a national theatre in the tradition of Ludvig Holberg, the Sturm und Drang playwrights, and serious German opera, becoming the "primary agent for change in the German opera scene" in the late 18th century. Already in his lifetime, he was described as "one of German art's most meritorious men."
The Seyler Theatre Company, also known as the Seyler Company, was a travelling theatrical company founded in 1769 by Abel Seyler. It was one of the most famous and ambitious theatrical companies of Europe in the years from 1769 to 1779, and played a crucial role in theatrical innovation, the development of a serious German opera tradition, and the Sturm und Drang movement. The Sturm und Drang period is named for a play commissioned by the Seyler company.
Schloss Weimar is a Schloss (palace) in Weimar, Thuringia, Germany. It is now called Stadtschloss to distinguish it from other palaces in and around Weimar. It was the residence of the dukes of Saxe-Weimar and Eisenach, and has also been called Residenzschloss. Names in English include Palace at Weimar, Grand Ducal Palace, City Palace and City Castle. The building is located at the north end of the town's park along the Ilm river, Park an der Ilm. It forms part of the World Heritage Site "Classical Weimar", along with other sites associated with Weimar's importance as a cultural hub during the late 18th and 19th centuries.
The following is a list of the major events in the history of German idealism, along with related historical events.
The Park an der Ilm is a large Landschaftspark in Weimar, Thuringia. It was created in the 18th century, influenced by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and has not been changed much, preserving a park of the period. It forms part of the World Heritage Site "Classical Weimar along with other sites across Weimar bearing testimony to the city's historical importance as a cultural hub during the Weimar Classicism movement in the late 18th and 19th centuries".
The Weimar courtyard of the muses is a term, that had emerged during the 19th century. It refers to an elite fellowship of people in Classical Weimar (1772-1805), that was made up of nobles and commoners, courtiers, civil servants, writers, artists and scientists, who congregated around the central character, Duchess Anna Amalia of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, pioneer of Weimar Classicism and patroness of the arts. Duchess Anna Amalia was the mother and from 1758 until 1775 regent for the infant Grand Duke Karl August von Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach. Among the poets living in Weimar were the most famous German authors of their time, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Friedrich Schiller, Christoph Martin Wieland and Johann Gottfried Herder.
The Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung was a literary journal founded in Jena in 1785 and discontinued in Halle in 1849. It was launched with the aim of reviewing and critically accompanying the entire current literary production of the time. It became the highest-circulation and most influential German-language newspaper of its kind during this period.
