Romantic Images Of Lovers Biography
SourceGoogle.com.pk)Culture
Stage
Friedrich Schiller
Friedrich von Schiller: the Romantic lover
Film and biographies mark 250th anniversary of passionate 'Ode to Joy' poet
Share 7
inShare
0
Kate Connolly
The Observer, Sunday 22 November 2009
Friedrich von Schiller
A 1780 portrait of Friedrich von Schiller. Photograph: Roger Viollet/Getty Images
He is the "rebel from Arcadia", the author of the lyrics to the modern European anthem, Ode to Joy, and a passionate champion of free spirits. But for some time Germany seemed to forget all about the man who was arguably the country's most famous Romantic thinker. Not any more. Friedrich von Schiller is back, along with a new fascination with his tumultuous love life.
Just as Britain has been rediscovering the attraction of its Romantics, after documentaries about Byron by actor Rupert Everett and the release of Bright Star, the new Jane Campion film about Keats, Germany is also enjoying a romantic revival. And the 250th anniversary of Schiller's birth has given scholars the chance to rediscover one of its most distinguished poets and philosophers.
A racy new film, Schiller, portrays the poet as a dashing, flame-haired womaniser, mixing high philosophy with simple lust, and dramatises his feverish search for recognition and success as an author.
Meanwhile, a string of biographies have revealed, among other things, that piano music and foul apples inspired Schiller to write, that a brothel visit probably triggered his first passionate scribblings ("Your glances, when they smile love, could stir marble to life"), and that the loves of his life were two aristocratic sisters to whom he penned a joint love letter.
Birgit Lahann, author of Schiller: Rebel from Arcadia, describes how the poet became the "pop star of his time" and a "cult throughout Germany": the author of Ode to Joy, which Beethoven set to music in the final movement of his Ninth Symphony, and of the plays Mary Stuart, The Maid of Orleans and Don Carlos. His charm lay as much in his disorganised, chaotic appearance as in his brilliance. "He was scruffily dressed and had unkempt hair," writes Lahann: a kind of 18th-century role model for high-minded rebellion.
But most intriguing of all is what she refers to as his "double-love" – "his relationship to two women which was the stuff of the best type of scandal".
Detailed in Volker Hage's book, From a Fireball to a Classic, is the "dare-devil" Schiller's erotic obsession focused on two sisters, Charlotte, 21, and Caroline von Lengefeld, 24, the latter of whom was unhappily married. Schiller, then 29, spent the summer with them in 1788 – "a summer which he so didn't want to end he dragged it out until November until the concerned mother of the young ladies told him it was time to go home," according to Hage.
Schiller, who died at 45 in May 1805, expressed his love to the women whom he referred to as "the angels of my life". The phrase was coined in a single letter in which he wrote: "To be able to live only in the two of you, and you in me – oh, that is an existence which would put us above all other humans." He eventually married the younger Charlotte and had four children with her. Schiller said the marriage brought him the "harmonious parity" he needed to be able to write.
Some of his love letters are on display in the newly reopened Schiller National Museum, located in his birthplace, Marbach in southern Germany. The museum boasts 700 exhibits, including a sample of the green wallpaper in his workroom that scientists have discovered contained lead, copper and arsenic that might have contributed to his chronic lung complaint and premature death.
Also on show are his shoe buckles, spoons and hand-warmers. Restored by the British-based David Chipperfield architects, the museum places on display everything from the writer's toothpicks to his blue-and-white-striped silk stockings.
The most disappointing aspect of the commemorations for enthusiasts – albeit a stark illustration of the lengths Schiller experts have been prepared to go to find out as much as possible about him – is the discovery that the skull that his great friend Goethe displayed on his desk, apparently believing it to be Schiller's, did not belong to him.
Extensive forensic investigation over years, costing tens of thousands of euros, including taking DNA samples from Schiller's descendants, has revealed that the skull is probably a fake.
Rüdiger Safranski, a Schiller expert, has delivered a fresh and touching account of the friendship between the two poets, and how they inspired each other, in Goethe and Schiller: History of a Friendship. The two men even composed poems together, despite the difficulties they had in reconciling their different daily rhythms – Goethe was a morning person, Schiller, because of the cramps he suffered at night, decidedly a nightbird. Goethe, he relates, was nonplussed at Schiller's insistence on maintaining a drawer full of rotten apples in his workroom, claiming he needed their decaying scent in order to be able to write.
The new Schiller revival, believes Safranski, may be a short-lived and bittersweet affair, in the best Romantic tradition. Safranski, who also wrote Romanticism – A German Affair, points to the nation's current mediocre capacity for the grandeur of Schiller's passions, observing: "From a romantic point of view, we've reached the end. Romanticism is dead, our sense of possibility is dried out."
Print this Article history
Stage
Friedrich Schiller · Theatre
World news
Germany · Europe
Books
Poetry · Romance
Culture
Film
More news
Related
6 Mar 2014
Michael Blakemore: 'I can have it any way I like!' crooned Olivier
6 Mar 2014
Elizabeth Browning remembered in Google Doodle
4 Mar 2014
The female poets who have earned their laurels
2 Mar 2014
Germany's low-key plans for first world war centenary criticised
Share
inShare
Best and worst in cinema
The Lego Movie – review | Mark Kermode
Mark Kermode
Dallas Buyers Club – review | Mark Kermode
Mark Kermode
Bullet review – 'Lazy, rickety nonsense'
Peter Bradshaw
A New York Winter's Tale – review
Jonathan Romney
What's this?
More from the Guardian
Oscars 2014: critics give Ellen DeGeneres mixed reviews
Oscars 2014: critics give Ellen DeGeneres mixed reviews
03 Mar 2014
Oscars 2014 red carpet fashion – rated
Oscars 2014 red carpet fashion – rated
03 Mar 2014
Sarah Jones: Academy pays tribute at 2014 Oscars
Sarah Jones: Academy pays tribute at 2014 Oscars
03 Mar 2014
Hairspray review – fizzy, pop musical strays too far from John Waters's movie
Hairspray review – fizzy, pop musical strays too far from John Waters's movie
07 Mar 2014
What's this?
More from around the web
5 Foods That Keep Hair From Growing
5 Foods That Keep Hair From Growing
(NaturallyCurly)
Why Atlassian is to Software as Apple is to Design
Why Atlassian is to Software as Apple is to Design
(Forbes)
8 Tips for Doing Data Visualization Right
8 Tips for Doing Data Visualization Right
(AllAnalytics)
10 Essential SEO Terms You Should Know
10 Essential SEO Terms You Should Know
(Titan SEO)
Ads by Google
Jobs in Pakistan
Find jobs in Pakistan 100% free - Join the OLX community!
www.olx.com.pk
Job Vacancies Dubai
5 urgent open positions. Apply now! Job Vacancies Dubai
jobrapido.com/job+vacancies+dubai
Bargains in Berlin
Berlin - the safe property Investment!
www.frontlineberlin.com
Today's best video
Frank trailer
Frank: Michael Fassbender as Frank Sidebottom
Watch the trailer for Frank, a film inspired by the story of celebrated musician Chris Sievey, notorious for wearing a giant papier–mache head
311 comments
German newspaper Kicker
'The Özil debate'
James Richardson's European football papers review
54 comments
Jungle ravers in the early 90s
The one album you should hear this week
Alexis Petridis recommends a drum'n'bass box set
79 comments
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Guardian Film Show
Our critics review The Grand Budapest Hotel, 300: Rise of an Empire and The Invisible War
37 comments
GuardianWitness
early blackthorn blossom hadley
Weather view: March
Share your best beautiful and striking weather-related photos with us
a stone balancing on a larger stone with the sea in the background
Tech Monthly photography project: equilibrium
This month we'd like you to unleash your cameras on the theme of 'equilibrium'
duck salad
Recipe swap: shoots and leaves
With the weather getting warmer, it's time to make the most of spring greenery by sharing your shoots and leaves recipes
Send us your assignment ideas
Do you have an idea for an assignment you think should run on GuardianWitness? Let us know
The NSA files trailblock image
Follow NSA-related developments as controversy over leaks continues to make headlines
Soulmates
Join today and save 50% on your subscription
Copulenska, 34
JohnOm, 50
I am a
Seeking
Aged to
Search
Guardian Bookshop
This week's bestsellers
Singing from the Floor1. Singing from the Floor
by JP Bean
£13.99
2. Snowden Files
by Luke Harding £8.99
3. House of Fun
by Simon Hoggart £6.99
4. This Boy
by Alan Johnson £6.39
5. All That is Solid
by Danny Dorling £14.49
Search the Guardian bookshop
Search
Writing courses from the Guardian
Adapting novels to the screen masterclass
If you're a writer or an aspiring writer, the Guardian has a masterclass to help. Whether you're on your first novel or you're looking to write for stage or screen, we have the experts to help.
Browse our creative writing and publishing courses
On Stage
Most viewed
Latest
Last 24 hours
1. Happy 450th birthday to William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe
2. Acrobatic artists find new status as London circus school goes national
3. Harry Styles and Lea Michele top of casting wishlist for Wicked film
4. Jack Whitehall: standing up for Cameron's Britain
5. Theatre must look to the future
More most viewed
Latest reviews
'Rewardingly fine': Yolande Yorke-Edgell (front) with members of the Yorke Dance Project at Sadler's
Yorke Dance Project review – dance past, present and future
5 out of 5
A blazing triple bill includes a triumphant debut by the teenage choreographer the Royal didn't want, writes Luke Jennings
Good People; Versailles; Orlando – review
Hairspray review – 'as light and bouncy as a bubble of gum'
5 out of 5
Tim Key: Single White Slut review – master of bathos
4 out of 5
Hairspray review – fizzy, pop musical strays too far from John Waters's movie
3 out of 5
More stage reviews
Romantic Images with Quotes Of Love For Facebook Timeline Of Couples On Bed Of Couples with Quote Hd Of Hearts For Facebook Of Couples Of Kissing
Romantic Images with Quotes Of Love For Facebook Timeline Of Couples On Bed Of Couples with Quote Hd Of Hearts For Facebook Of Couples Of Kissing
Romantic Images with Quotes Of Love For Facebook Timeline Of Couples On Bed Of Couples with Quote Hd Of Hearts For Facebook Of Couples Of Kissing
Romantic Images with Quotes Of Love For Facebook Timeline Of Couples On Bed Of Couples with Quote Hd Of Hearts For Facebook Of Couples Of Kissing
Romantic Images with Quotes Of Love For Facebook Timeline Of Couples On Bed Of Couples with Quote Hd Of Hearts For Facebook Of Couples Of Kissing
Romantic Images with Quotes Of Love For Facebook Timeline Of Couples On Bed Of Couples with Quote Hd Of Hearts For Facebook Of Couples Of Kissing
Romantic Images with Quotes Of Love For Facebook Timeline Of Couples On Bed Of Couples with Quote Hd Of Hearts For Facebook Of Couples Of Kissing
Romantic Images with Quotes Of Love For Facebook Timeline Of Couples On Bed Of Couples with Quote Hd Of Hearts For Facebook Of Couples Of Kissing
Romantic Images with Quotes Of Love For Facebook Timeline Of Couples On Bed Of Couples with Quote Hd Of Hearts For Facebook Of Couples Of Kissing
Romantic Images with Quotes Of Love For Facebook Timeline Of Couples On Bed Of Couples with Quote Hd Of Hearts For Facebook Of Couples Of Kissing
Romantic Images with Quotes Of Love For Facebook Timeline Of Couples On Bed Of Couples with Quote Hd Of Hearts For Facebook Of Couples Of Kissing
Romantic Images with Quotes Of Love For Facebook Timeline Of Couples On Bed Of Couples with Quote Hd Of Hearts For Facebook Of Couples Of Kissing
Romantic Images with Quotes Of Love For Facebook Timeline Of Couples On Bed Of Couples with Quote Hd Of Hearts For Facebook Of Couples Of Kissing
Romantic Images with Quotes Of Love For Facebook Timeline Of Couples On Bed Of Couples with Quote Hd Of Hearts For Facebook Of Couples Of Kissing
No comments:
Post a Comment