biography
| name: |
Schiller, (Johann Christoph) Friedrich (von)
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pronunciation:
[shiler]
| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1759–1805)
|
| biography:
| Historian, playwright, and poet, born in Marbach, SW Germany. He attended a military academy, and became an army surgeon in Stuttgart, where he began to write Sturm und Drang (‘storm and stress’) verse and plays. The revolutionary appeal of his first play, Die Räuber (1781, The Robbers), made it an instant success. He later settled in Dresden, where his works included the poem An die Freude (Ode to Joy, later set to music by Beethoven in his Choral Symphony). He became professor of history at Jena in 1788, where he developed a close friendship with Goethe. His last decade was highly productive, including the dramatic trilogy, Wallenstein (1796–9), the greatest German historical drama Maria Stuart (1800), and Wilhelm Tell (1804). |
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