A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays , which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between characters and is intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading . Ben Jonson coined the term "playwright" and is the first person in English literature to refer to playwrights as separate from poets .
124-494: Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller ( German: [ˈjoːhan ˈkʁɪstɔf ˈfʁiːdʁɪç fɔn ˈʃɪlɐ] , short: [ˈfʁiːdʁɪç ˈʃɪlɐ] ; 10 November 1759 – 9 May 1805) was a German playwright , poet , philosopher and historian . Schiller is considered by most Germans to be Germany's most important classical playwright. He was born in Marbach to a devoutly Protestant family. Initially intended for
248-482: A murder mystery play which is the longest-running West End show , it has by far the longest run of any play in the world, with its 29,500th performance having taken place as of February 2024. Contemporary playwrights in the United States are affected by recent declines in theatre attendance. No longer the only outlet for serious drama or entertaining comedies, theatrical productions must use ticket sales as
372-432: A notary and then to an engraver who beat him. At 15, he ran away from Geneva (on 14 March 1728) after returning to the city and finding the city gates locked due to the curfew. In adjoining Savoy he took shelter with a Roman Catholic priest, who introduced him to Françoise-Louise de Warens , age 29. She was a noblewoman of a Protestant background who was separated from her husband. As a professional lay proselytizer, she
496-461: A "scolding". For more than two years (1762–1765) Rousseau lived at Môtiers , spending his time in reading and writing and meeting visitors such as James Boswell (December 1764). (Boswell recorded his private discussions with Rousseau, in both direct quotation and dramatic dialog, over several pages of his 1764 journal. ) In the meantime, the local ministers had become aware of the apostasies in some of his writings and resolved not to let him stay in
620-466: A bookseller who may have published Protestant tracts, had escaped persecution from French Catholics by fleeing to Geneva in 1549, where he became a wine merchant. Rousseau was proud that his family, of the moyen order (or middle-class), had voting rights in the city. Throughout his life, he generally signed his books "Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Citizen of Geneva". Geneva, in theory, was governed democratically by its male voting citizens . The citizens were
744-514: A cleric and often put on black robes and pretended to preach. In 1766, the family left Lorch for the Duke of Württemberg 's principal residence, Ludwigsburg . Schiller's father had not been paid for three years, and the family had been living on their savings but could no longer afford to do so. So Kaspar Schiller took an assignment to the garrison in Ludwigsburg. There the boy Schiller came to
868-466: A collection of short satirical poems in which both Schiller and Goethe challenge opponents of their philosophical vision. Friedrich Schiller was born on 10 November 1759, in Marbach , Württemberg , as the only son of military doctor Johann Kaspar Schiller (1723–1796) and Elisabetha Dorothea Schiller (1732–1802). They also had five daughters, including Christophine , the eldest. Schiller grew up in
992-465: A comment to Immanuel Kant 's philosophy, Schiller transcends the dualism between Formtrieb and Sinnestrieb with the notion of Spieltrieb ("the play drive "), derived from, as are a number of other terms, Kant's Critique of the Faculty of Judgment . The conflict between man's material, sensuous nature and his capacity for reason ( Formtrieb being the drive to impose conceptual and moral order on
1116-529: A few books in his possession and permission to walk occasionally in a garden while living at his own expense. The Senate's response was to direct Rousseau to leave the island, and all Bernese territory, within twenty-four hours. On 29 October 1765 he left the Île de St.-Pierre and moved to Strasbourg. At this point he received invitations from several parties in Europe, and soon decided to accept Hume 's invitation to go to England. On 9 December 1765, having secured
1240-682: A fondness for it; but we soon found ourselves so interested in the adventures they contained, that we alternately read whole nights together and could not bear to give over until after a volume. Sometimes, in the morning, on hearing the swallows at our window, my father, quite ashamed of this weakness, would cry, "Come, come, let us go to bed; I am more a child than thou art." ( Confessions , Book 1) Rousseau's reading of escapist stories (such as L'Astrée by Honoré d'Urfé ) affected him; he later wrote that they "gave me bizarre and romantic notions of human life, which experience and reflection have never been able to cure me of". After they had finished reading
1364-512: A form of playwright. Outside of the Western world there is Indian classical drama , with one of the oldest known playwrights being Śudraka , whose attributed plays can be dated to the second century BC. The Nāṭya Shāstra , a text on the performing arts from between 500BC-500AD, categorizes playwrights as being among the members of a theatre company, although playwrights were generally the highest in social status, with some being kings. In
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#17327662267891488-775: A great poem is more difficult to set to music than a merely good one because the composer must rise higher than the poet – "who can do that in the case of Schiller? In this respect Goethe is much easier," wrote Beethoven. There are relatively few famous musical settings of Schiller's poems. Notable exceptions are Beethoven's setting of "An die Freude" ( Ode to Joy ) in the final movement of his Ninth Symphony , Johannes Brahms ' choral setting of " Nänie ", and " Des Mädchens Klage " by Franz Schubert , who set 44 of Schiller's poems as Lieder , mostly for voice and piano, also including " Die Bürgschaft ". The Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi admired Schiller greatly and adapted several of his stage plays for his operas: Donizetti's Maria Stuarda
1612-475: A hundred crowns, from which you will be kind enough to give him as much as he needs. I think he will accept them in kind more readily than in cash. If we were not at war, if we were not ruined, I would build him a hermitage with a garden, where he could live as I believe our first fathers did...I think poor Rousseau has missed his vocation; he was obviously born to be a famous anchorite, a desert father, celebrated for his austerities and flagellations...I conclude that
1736-457: A large library and loved to entertain and listen to music. She and her circle, comprising educated members of the Catholic clergy, introduced Rousseau to the world of letters and ideas. Rousseau had been an indifferent student, but during his 20s, which were marked by long bouts of hypochondria , he applied himself in earnest to the study of philosophy, mathematics, and music. At 25, he came into
1860-641: A local official, Martinet, arrived at Rousseau's residence he saw so many stones on the balcony that he exclaimed "My God, it's a quarry!" At this point, Rousseau's friends in Môtiers advised him to leave the town. Since he wanted to remain in Switzerland, Rousseau decided to accept an offer to move to a tiny island, the Île de St.-Pierre , having a solitary house. Although it was within the Canton of Bern , from where he had been expelled two years previously, he
1984-543: A minority of the population when compared to the immigrants ( inhabitants ) and their descendants ( natives ). In fact, rather than being run by vote of the citizens, the city was ruled by a small number of wealthy families that made up the Council of Two Hundred ; they delegated their power to a 25-member executive group from among them called the "Small Council". There was much political debate within Geneva, extending down to
2108-423: A neighbourhood of craftsmen—silversmiths, engravers, and other watchmakers. Growing up around craftsmen, Rousseau would later contrast them favourably to those who produced more aesthetic works, writing "those important persons who are called artists rather than artisans, work solely for the idle and rich, and put an arbitrary price on their baubles". Rousseau was also exposed to class politics in this environment, as
2232-691: A passport from the French government, Rousseau left Strasbourg for Paris where he arrived a week later and lodged in a palace of his friend, the Prince of Conti . Here he met Hume, and also numerous friends and well-wishers, and became a conspicuous figure in the city. At this time, Hume wrote: "It is impossible to express or imagine the enthusiasm of this nation in Rousseau's favor...No person ever so much enjoyed their attention...Voltaire and everybody else are quite eclipsed. Although Diderot at this time desired
2356-419: A person who has "wrought" words, themes, and other elements into a dramatic form—a play. (The homophone with "write" is coincidental.) The first recorded use of the term "playwright" is from 1605, 73 years before the first written record of the term "dramatist". It appears to have been first used in a pejorative sense by Ben Jonson to suggest a mere tradesman fashioning works for the theatre. Jonson uses
2480-654: A playwright, winning awards for his play The Phoenix at both the New York International Fringe Festival in 1999 and the Route 66 American Playwriting Competition in 2000. Today, theatre companies have new play development programs meant to develop new American voices in playwriting. Many regional theatres have hired dramaturges and literary managers in an effort to showcase various festivals for new work, or bring in playwrights for residencies. Funding through national organizations, such as
2604-490: A productive, if complicated, friendship with the already famous and influential Johann Wolfgang von Goethe . They frequently discussed issues concerning aesthetics , and Schiller encouraged Goethe to finish works that he had left as sketches. This relationship and these discussions led to a period now referred to as Weimar Classicism . Together they founded the Weimar Theater. They also worked together on Xenien ,
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#17327662267892728-461: A profession, and arranged formal music lessons for him. At one point, he briefly attended a seminary with the idea of becoming a priest. When Rousseau reached 20, de Warens took him as her lover, while intimate also with the steward of her house. The sexual aspect of their relationship (a ménage à trois ) confused Rousseau and made him uncomfortable, but he always considered de Warens the greatest love of his life. A rather profligate spender, she had
2852-453: A quarrel with visiting English officers, who in response drew their swords and threatened him. After local officials stepped in, it was Isaac who was punished, as Geneva was concerned with maintaining its ties to foreign powers. Rousseau's mother, Suzanne Bernard Rousseau, was from an upper-class family. She was raised by her uncle Samuel Bernard, a Calvinist preacher. He cared for Suzanne after her father, Jacques, who had run into trouble with
2976-501: A reconciliation with Rousseau, both of them expected an initiative by the other, and the two did not meet. On 1 January 1766, Grimm included in his "Correspondance littéraire" a letter said to have been written by Frederick the Great to Rousseau. It had actually been composed by Horace Walpole as a playful hoax. Walpole had never met Rousseau, but he was well acquainted with Diderot and Grimm. The letter soon found wide publicity; Hume
3100-620: A small inheritance from his mother and used a portion of it to repay de Warens for her financial support of him. At 27, he took a job as a tutor in Lyon . In 1742, Rousseau moved to Paris to present the Académie des Sciences with a new system of numbered musical notation he believed would make his fortune. His system, intended to be compatible with typography , is based on a single line, displaying numbers representing intervals between notes and dots and commas indicating rhythmic values. Believing
3224-525: A source of income, which has caused many of them to reduce the number of new works being produced. For example, Playwrights Horizons produced only six plays in the 2002–03 seasons, compared with thirty-one in 1973–74. Playwrights commonly encounter difficulties in getting their shows produced and often cannot earn a living through their plays alone, leading them to take up other jobs to supplement their incomes. Many playwrights are also film makers . For instance, filmmaker Morgan Spurlock began his career as
3348-501: A spiritual origin of man's soul and the universe, in contradistinction to the materialism of Diderot, La Mettrie and D'Holbach . During this period, Rousseau enjoyed the support and patronage of Charles II François Frédéric de Montmorency-Luxembourg and the Prince de Conti , two of the richest and most powerful nobles in France. These men truly liked Rousseau and enjoyed his ability to converse on any subject, but they also used him as
3472-509: A stricter interpretation of Aristotle, as this long-lost work came to light in the late 15th century. The neoclassical ideal, which was to reach its apogee in France during the 17th century, dwelled upon the unities , of action, place, and time. This meant that the playwright had to construct the play so that its "virtual" time would not exceed 24 hours, that it would be restricted to a single setting, and that there would be no subplots. Other terms, such as verisimilitude and decorum, circumscribed
3596-429: A theorist of education and child-rearing, his abandonment of his children was used by his critics, including Voltaire and Edmund Burke , as the basis for arguments ad hominem . Beginning with some articles on music in 1749, Rousseau contributed numerous articles to Diderot and D'Alembert 's great Encyclopédie , the most famous of which was an article on political economy written in 1755. Rousseau's ideas were
3720-611: A very religious Protestant family and spent much of his youth studying the Bible , which would later influence his writing for the theatre. His father was away in the Seven Years' War when Friedrich was born. He was named after king Frederick the Great , but he was called Fritz by nearly everyone. Kaspar Schiller was rarely home during the war, but he did manage to visit the family once in a while. His wife and children also visited him occasionally wherever he happened to be stationed. When
3844-417: A way of getting back at Louis XV and the political faction surrounding his mistress, Madame de Pompadour . Even with them, however, Rousseau went too far, courting rejection when he criticized the practice of tax farming , in which some of them engaged. Rousseau's 800-page novel of sentiment , Julie, ou la nouvelle Héloïse , was published in 1761 to immense success. The book's rhapsodic descriptions of
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3968-546: A wide range of succeeding aesthetic philosophical theory, including notably Jacques Rancière 's conception of the "aesthetic regime of art", as well as social philosophy in Herbert Marcuse . In the second part of his important work Eros and Civilization , Marcuse finds Schiller's notion of Spieltrieb useful in thinking a social situation without the condition of modern social alienation . He writes, "Schiller's Letters ... aim at remaking of civilization by virtue of
4092-485: A year late and paid his staff irregularly. After 11 months, Rousseau quit, taking from the experience a profound distrust of government bureaucracy. Returning to Paris, the penniless Rousseau befriended and became the lover of Thérèse Levasseur , a seamstress who was the sole support of her mother and numerous ne'er-do-well siblings. At first, they did not live together, though later Rousseau took Thérèse and her mother in to live with him as his servants, and himself assumed
4216-632: Is Hans Sachs (1494–1576) who wrote 198 dramatic works. In England, The Second Shepherds' Play of the Wakefield Cycle is the best known early farce. However, farce did not appear independently in England until the 16th century with the work of John Heywood (1497–1580). Playwright William Shakespeare remains arguably the most influential writer in the English language, and his works continue to be studied and reinterpreted. Most playwrights of
4340-498: Is an abomination to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is his delight"; this was interpreted by everyone to mean that Rousseau's taking communion was detested by the Lord. The ecclesiastical attacks inflamed the parishioners, who proceeded to pelt Rousseau with stones when he would go out for walks. Around midnight of 6–7 September 1765, stones were thrown at the house Rousseau was staying in, and some glass windows were shattered. When
4464-539: Is an accepted version of this page Jean-Jacques Rousseau ( UK : / ˈ r uː s oʊ / , US : / r uː ˈ s oʊ / ; French: [ʒɑ̃ʒak ʁuso] ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Genevan philosopher ( philosophe ), writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolution and
4588-490: Is based on Mary Stuart ; Rossini's Guillaume Tell is an adaptation of William Tell . Nicola Vaccai 's Giovanna d'Arco (1827) is based on The Maid of Orleans , and his La sposa di Messina (1839) on The Bride of Messina . Bruch ’s The Lay of the Bell is also based on a poem by Schiller. Elise Schmezer (1810–1856) used Schiller’s text for her Lied “Das Geheimnis”. Tchaikovsky 's 1881 opera The Maid of Orleans
4712-596: Is believed to have been present, and to have participated in its creation. On 16 February 1766, Hume wrote to the Marquise de Brabantane: "The only pleasantry I permitted myself in connection with the pretended letter of the King of Prussia was made by me at the dinner table of Lord Ossory." This letter was one of the reasons for the later rupture in Hume's relations with Rousseau. On 4 January 1766 Rousseau left Paris with Hume,
4836-593: Is considered by most Germans to be Germany's most important classical playwright. Critics like F. J. Lamport and Erich Auerbach have noted his innovative use of dramatic structure and his creation of new forms, such as the melodrama and the bourgeois tragedy. What follows is a brief chronological description of the plays. A pivotal work by Schiller was On the Aesthetic Education of Man in a Series of Letters ( Über die ästhetische Erziehung des Menschen in einer Reihe von Briefen ), first published 1794, which
4960-617: Is not merely an aesthetic experience, but a moral one as well: the Good is the Beautiful. The link between morality and aesthetics also occurs in Schiller's controversial poem, " Die Götter Griechenlandes " (The Gods of Greece). The "gods" in Schiller's poem are thought by modern scholars to represent moral and aesthetic values, which Schiller tied to Paganism and an idea of enchanted nature . In this respect, Schiller's aesthetic doctrine shows
5084-449: Is partly based on Schiller's work. In 1923, German composer Frieda Schmitt-Lermann wrote the music for a theatre production ( Das Lied von der Glocke) based on Schiller's text. German-Russian composer Zinaida Petrovna Ziberova created a musical setting for Schiler's William Tell in 1935. The 20th-century composer Giselher Klebe adapted The Robbers for his first opera of the same name , which premiered in 1957. A poem written about
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5208-413: Is possible to elevate the moral character of a people, by first touching their souls with beauty, an idea that is also found in his poem Die Künstler ( The Artists ): "Only through Beauty's morning-gate, dost thou penetrate the land of knowledge." On the philosophical side, Letters put forth the notion of der sinnliche Trieb / Sinnestrieb ("the sensuous drive") and Formtrieb ("the formal drive"). In
5332-542: Is still useful to playwrights today is the " French scene ", which is a scene in a play where the beginning and end are marked by a change in the makeup of the group of characters onstage rather than by the lights going up or down or the set being changed. Notable playwrights: Greek theater was alive and flourishing on the island of Crete. During the Cretan Renaissance two notable Greek playwrights Georgios Chortatzis and Vitsentzos Kornaros were present in
5456-435: Is the most important, ..." In a letter from 1829, two Freemasons from Rudolstadt complain about the dissolving of their Lodge Günther zum stehenden Löwen that was honoured by the initiation of Schiller. According to Schiller's great-grandson Alexander von Gleichen-Rußwurm , Schiller was brought to the lodge by Wilhelm Heinrich Karl von Gleichen-Rußwurm. No membership document has been found. Ludwig van Beethoven said that
5580-640: Is the primary park for the South Side neighborhood of German Village. There is a Friedrich Schiller statue on Belle Isle in Detroit, Michigan. This statue of the German playwright was commissioned by Detroit's German-American community in 1908 at a cost of $ 12,000; the designer was Herman Matzen. An Ignatium Taschner bronze of Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller stands in Como Park - Saint Paul, MN. It
5704-691: The Wallenstein trilogy concerns the Thirty Years' War, while Don Carlos addresses the revolt of the Netherlands against Spain. Schiller wrote two important essays on the question of the sublime ( das Erhabene ), entitled " Vom Erhabenen " and " Über das Erhabene "; these essays address one aspect of human freedom—the ability to defy one's animal instincts, such as the drive for self-preservation, when, for example, someone willingly sacrifices themselves for conceptual ideals. Schiller
5828-494: The Ancient Greeks . William Shakespeare is amongst the most famous playwrights in literature, both in England and across the world. The word "play" is from Middle English pleye , from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsperson or builder (as in a wheelwright or cartwright ). The words combine to indicate
5952-406: The Ancient Greeks . These early plays were for annual Athenian competitions among play writers held around the 5th century BC. Such notables as Aeschylus , Sophocles , Euripides , and Aristophanes established forms still relied on by their modern counterparts. We have complete texts extant by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides . The origins of Athenian tragedy remain obscure, though by
6076-657: The Discourse on the Origin and Basis of Inequality Among Men (the Discourse on Inequality ), which elaborated on the arguments of the Discourse on the Arts and Sciences . He also pursued an unconsummated romantic attachment with the 25-year-old Sophie d'Houdetot , which partly inspired his epistolary novel Julie, ou la nouvelle Héloïse (also based on memories of his idyllic youthful relationship with Mme de Warens). Sophie
6200-573: The National Endowment for the Arts and the Theatre Communications Group , encouraged the partnerships of professional theatre companies and emerging playwrights. Playwrights will often have a cold reading of a script in an informal sitdown setting, which allows them to evaluate their own plays and the actors performing them. Cold reading means that the actors haven't rehearsed the work, or may be seeing it for
6324-628: The Querelle des Bouffons , which pitted protagonists of French music against supporters of the Italian style. Rousseau, as noted above, was an enthusiastic supporter of the Italians against Jean-Philippe Rameau and others, making an important contribution with his Letter on French Music . On returning to Geneva in 1754, Rousseau reconverted to Calvinism and regained his official Genevan citizenship. In 1755, Rousseau completed his second major work,
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#17327662267896448-427: The total depravity of man. Leo Damrosch writes: "An eighteenth-century Genevan liturgy still required believers to declare 'that we are miserable sinners, born in corruption, inclined to evil, incapable by ourselves of doing good ' ". De Warens, a deist by inclination, was attracted to Catholicism's doctrine of forgiveness of sins. Finding himself on his own, since his father and uncle had more or less disowned him,
6572-449: The 4th century BCE, Aristotle wrote his Poetics , in which he analyzed the principle of action or praxis as the basis for tragedy. He then considered elements of drama: plot ( μύθος mythos ), character ( ἔθος ethos ), thought ( dianoia ), diction ( lexis ), music ( melodia ), and spectacle ( opsis ). Since the myths on which Greek tragedy were based were widely known, plot had to do with
6696-543: The 5th century it was institutionalised in competitions ( agon ) held as part of festivities celebrating Dionysos (the god of wine and fertility ). As contestants in the City Dionysia's competition (the most prestigious of the festivals to stage drama), playwrights were required to present a tetralogy of plays (though the individual works were not necessarily connected by story or theme), which usually consisted of three tragedies and one satyr play. For
6820-770: The French Republic because of this play. The play was inspired by Leisewitz' earlier play Julius of Taranto , a favourite of the young Schiller. In 1780, he obtained a post as regimental doctor in Stuttgart , a job he disliked. In order to attend the first performance of The Robbers in Mannheim , Schiller left his regiment without permission. As a result, he was arrested, sentenced to 14 days of imprisonment, and forbidden by Karl Eugen from publishing any further works. He fled Stuttgart in 1782, going via Frankfurt , Mannheim, Leipzig , and Dresden to Weimar . During
6944-545: The German-French TV channel Arte conducted a poll among its viewers to determine the greatest European playwright ("King of Drama"). Schiller was voted in second place after William Shakespeare . On 10 November 2019, Google celebrated his 260th birthday with a Google Doodle . Friedrich Schiller had five sisters, two of whom died in childhood and three of whom lived to adulthood: Schiller wrote many philosophical papers on ethics and aesthetics . He synthesized
7068-561: The Middle Ages, the earliest of which is The Play of the Greenwood by Adam de la Halle in 1276. It contains satirical scenes and folk material such as faeries and other supernatural occurrences. Farces also rose dramatically in popularity after the 13th century. The majority of these plays come from France and Germany and are similar in tone and form, emphasizing sex and bodily excretions. The best known playwright of farces
7192-611: The Restoration of the monarchy in 1660 and the end of the 17th century, classical ideas were in vogue. As a result, critics of the time mostly rated Shakespeare below John Fletcher and Ben Jonson. This period saw the first professional woman playwright, Aphra Behn . As a reaction to the decadence of Charles II era productions, sentimental comedy grew in popularity. Playwrights like Colley Cibber and Richard Steele believed that humans were inherently good but capable of being led astray. The Italian Renaissance brought about
7316-636: The Spirit of Mankind. Plays Histories Translations Prose Poems Biographical Editions Other valuable editions are: Translations of Schiller's works Documents and other memorials of Schiller are in the Goethe and Schiller Archive [ de ] in Weimar. [REDACTED] Category Playwright The earliest playwrights in Western literature with surviving works are
7440-480: The age of 31. Isaac's sister had married Suzanne's brother eight years earlier, after she had become pregnant and they had been chastised by the Consistory. The child died at birth. The young Rousseau was told a fabricated story about the situation in which young love had been denied by a disapproving patriarch but later prevailed, resulting in two marriages uniting the families on the same day. Rousseau never learnt
7564-420: The ancient Greeks, playwriting involved poïesis , "the act of making". This is the source of the English word poet . Despite Chinese Theatre having performers dated back to the 6th century BC with You Meng , their perspective of theatre was such that plays had no other role than "performer" or "actor", but given that the performers were also the ones who invented their performances, they could be considered
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#17327662267897688-404: The arrangement and selection of existing material. Character was determined by choice and by action. Tragedy is mimesis —"the imitation of an action that is serious". He developed his notion of hamartia , or tragic flaw, an error in judgment by the main character or protagonist , which provides the basis for the "conflict-driven" play. There were also a number of secular performances staged in
7812-489: The artisans often agitated in a campaign of resistance against the privileged class running Geneva. Rousseau had no recollection of learning to read, but he remembered how when he was five or six his father encouraged his love of reading: Every night, after supper, we read some part of a small collection of romances [adventure stories], which had been my mother's. My father's design was only to improve my reading, and he thought these entertaining works were calculated to give me
7936-429: The arts and sciences were responsible for the moral degeneration of mankind, who were basically good by nature. Rousseau's 1750 Discourse on the Arts and Sciences was awarded the first prize and gained him significant fame. Rousseau continued his interest in music. He wrote both the words and music of his opera Le devin du village ( The Village Soothsayer ), which was performed for King Louis XV in 1752. The king
8060-644: The attention of Karl Eugen, Duke of Württemberg . He entered the Karlsschule Stuttgart (an elite military academy founded by the Duke), in 1773, where he eventually studied medicine. During most of his short life, he suffered from illnesses that he tried to cure himself. While at the Karlsschule, Schiller read Rousseau and Goethe and discussed Classical ideals with his classmates. At school, he wrote his first play, The Robbers , which dramatizes
8184-557: The burden of supporting her large family. According to his Confessions , before she moved in with him, Thérèse bore him a son and as many as four other children (there is no independent verification for this number). Rousseau wrote that he persuaded Thérèse to give each of the newborns up to a foundling hospital, for the sake of her "honor". "Her mother, who feared the inconvenience of a brat, came to my aid, and she [Thérèse] allowed herself to be overcome" ( Confessions ). In his letter to Madame de Francueil in 1751, he first pretended that he
8308-515: The chapter on Civil Religion in the Social Contract , which implied that the concept of a Christian republic was paradoxical since Christianity taught submission rather than participation in public affairs. Rousseau helped Roustan find a publisher for the rebuttal. Rousseau published Emile, or On Education in May. A famous section of Emile , "The Profession of Faith of a Savoyard Vicar",
8432-453: The concept of natural selection "as an agent for improving the human species." Rousseau had read about an essay competition sponsored by the Académie de Dijon to be published in the Mercure de France on the theme of whether the development of the arts and sciences had been morally beneficial. He wrote that while walking to Vincennes (about three miles from Paris), he had a revelation that
8556-606: The conflict between two aristocratic brothers: the elder, Karl Moor, leads a group of rebellious students into the Bohemian forest where they become Robin Hood-like bandits, while Franz Moor, the younger brother, schemes to inherit his father's considerable estate. The play's critique of social corruption and its affirmation of proto-revolutionary republican ideals astounded its original audience. Schiller became an overnight sensation. Later, Schiller would be made an honorary member of
8680-421: The courts, he moved away to Nyon in the territory of Bern, taking Rousseau's aunt Suzanne with him. He remarried, and from that point, Jean-Jacques saw little of him. Jean-Jacques was left with his maternal uncle, who packed him and his son, Abraham Bernard, away to board for two years with a Calvinist minister in a hamlet outside Geneva. Here, the boys picked up the elements of mathematics and drawing. Rousseau, who
8804-463: The development of modern political, economic, and educational thought. His Discourse on Inequality , which argues that private property is the source of inequality, and The Social Contract , which outlines the basis for a legitimate political order, are cornerstones in modern political and social thought. Rousseau's sentimental novel Julie, or the New Heloise (1761) was important to
8928-469: The development of preromanticism and romanticism in fiction. His Emile, or On Education (1762) is an educational treatise on the place of the individual in society. Rousseau's autobiographical writings—the posthumously published Confessions (completed in 1770), which initiated the modern autobiography, and the unfinished Reveries of the Solitary Walker (composed 1776–1778)—exemplified
9052-414: The extant death mask as well as to portraits of Schiller, had led many experts to believe that the skull was Schiller's. The city of Stuttgart erected in 1839 a statue in his memory on a square renamed Schillerplatz . A Schiller monument was unveiled on Berlin's Gendarmenmarkt in 1871. The German-American community of New York City donated a bronze sculpture of Schiller to Central Park in 1859. It
9176-482: The first time, and usually, the technical requirements are minimal. The O'Neill Festival offers summer retreats for young playwrights to develop their work with directors and actors. Playwriting collectives like 13P and Orbiter 3 gather members together to produce, rather than develop, new works. The idea of the playwriting collective is in response to plays being stuck in the development process and never advancing to production. Jean-Jacques Rousseau This
9300-575: The influence of Christian theosophy . There is general consensus among scholars that it makes sense to think of Schiller as a liberal , and he is frequently cited as a cosmopolitan thinker. Schiller's philosophical work was particularly concerned with the question of human freedom, a preoccupation which also guided his historical research, such as on the Thirty Years' War and the Dutch Revolt , and then found its way as well into his dramas:
9424-505: The journalist Grimm ; and their mutual friend, Diderot, who took their side against Rousseau. Diderot later described Rousseau as being "false, vain as Satan, ungrateful, cruel, hypocritical, and wicked... He sucked ideas from me, used them himself, and then affected to despise me". Rousseau's break with the Encyclopédistes coincided with the composition of his three major works, in all of which he emphasized his fervent belief in
9548-1131: The journey, he had an affair with Charlotte von Kalb , an army officer's wife. At the centre of an intellectual circle, she was known for her cleverness and instability. To extricate himself from a dire financial situation and attachment to a married woman, Schiller eventually sought help from family and friends. In 1787, he settled in Weimar and in 1789, was appointed professor of History and Philosophy in Jena , where he wrote only historical works. On 22 February 1790, Schiller married Charlotte von Lengefeld (1766–1826), sister of writer Caroline von Wolzogen (1763–1847) and daughter of forest administrator of Louis Günther II, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt Carl Christoph von Lengefeld [ de ] (1715–1775) and his wife Louise von Lengefeld [ de ] , nee Wurmb (1743–1823). Two sons Karl Friedrich Ludwig (1793–1857) and Ernst Friedrich Wilhelm (1796–1841) and two daughters Karoline Luise Henriette (1799–1850) and Luise Henriette Emilie (1804–1872) were born between 1793 and 1804. The last living descendant of Schiller
9672-585: The late 18th-century " Age of Sensibility ", and featured an increased focus on subjectivity and introspection that later characterized modern writing. Rousseau was born in the Republic of Geneva , which was at the time a city-state and a Protestant associate of the Swiss Confederacy (now a canton of Switzerland ). Since 1536, Geneva had been a Huguenot republic and the seat of Calvinism . Five generations before Rousseau, his ancestor Didier,
9796-490: The latter part of the 16th century. The plays of Gotthold Ephraim Lessing , Johann Wolfgang von Goethe , Friedrich Schiller , and other Sturm und Drang playwrights inspired a growing faith in feeling and instinct as guides to moral behavior and were part of the German romanticism movement. Aleksandr Ostrovsky was Russia's first professional playwright). Author and playwright Agatha Christie wrote The Moustrap ,
9920-495: The legal and religious authorities for fornication and having a mistress, died in his early 30s. In 1695, Suzanne had to answer charges that she had attended a street theatre disguised as a peasant woman so she could gaze upon M. Vincent Sarrasin, whom she fancied despite his continuing marriage. After a hearing, she was ordered by the Genevan Consistory to never interact with him again. She married Rousseau's father at
10044-453: The lessons was fairly bad, and Friedrich regularly cut class with his older sister. Because his parents wanted Schiller to become a priest , they had the priest of the village instruct the boy in Latin and Greek . Father Moser was a good teacher, and later Schiller named the cleric in his first play Die Räuber ( The Robbers ) after him. As a boy, Schiller was excited by the idea of becoming
10168-431: The liberating force of the aesthetic function: it is envisaged as containing the possibility of a new reality principle." Some Freemasons speculate that Schiller was a Freemason , but this has not been proven. In 1787, in his tenth letter about Don Carlos , Schiller wrote: "I am neither Illuminatus nor Mason, but if the fraternization has a moral purpose in common with one another, and if this purpose for human society
10292-581: The merchant De Luze (an old friend of Rousseau), and Rousseau's pet dog Sultan. After a four-day journey to Calais , where they stayed for two nights, the travelers embarked on a ship to Dover . On 13 January 1766 they arrived in London. Soon after their arrival, David Garrick arranged a box at the Drury Lane Theatre for Hume and Rousseau on a night when the King and Queen also attended. Garrick
10416-618: The morals of your savage are as pure as his mind is illogical. Rousseau, touched by the help he received from Frederick, stated that from then onwards he took a keen interest in Frederick's activities. As the Seven Years' War was about to end, Rousseau wrote to Frederick again, thanking him for the help received and urging him to put an end to military activities and to endeavor to keep his subjects happy instead. Frederick made no known reply but commented to Keith that Rousseau had given him
10540-583: The natural beauty of the Swiss countryside struck a chord in the public and may have helped spark the subsequent nineteenth-century craze for Alpine scenery. In 1762, Rousseau published Du Contrat Social, Principes du droit politique (in English, literally Of the Social Contract, Principles of Political Right ) in April. Even his friend Antoine-Jacques Roustan felt impelled to write a polite rebuttal of
10664-501: The novels, they began to read a collection of ancient and modern classics left by his mother's uncle. Of these, his favourite was Plutarch 's Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans , which he would read to his father while he made watches. Rousseau saw Plutarch's work as another kind of novel—the noble actions of heroes—and he would act out the deeds of the characters he was reading about. In his Confessions , Rousseau stated that
10788-744: The opinion that, insofar as they lead people to virtue, all religions are equally worthy, and that people should therefore conform to the religion in which they have been brought up. This religious indifferentism caused Rousseau and his books to be banned from France and Geneva. He was condemned from the pulpit by the Archbishop of Paris, his books were burned and warrants were issued for his arrest. Former friends such as Jacob Vernes of Geneva could not accept his views and wrote violent rebuttals. A sympathetic observer, David Hume "professed no surprise when he learned that Rousseau's books were banned in Geneva and elsewhere". Rousseau, he wrote, "has not had
10912-420: The past and would continue to be critical of Frederick in the future, stating however: "Your Majesty may dispose of me as you like." Frederick, still in the middle of the Seven Years' War , then wrote to the local governor of Neuchâtel, Marischal Keith , who was a mutual friend of theirs: We must succor this poor unfortunate. His only offense is to have strange opinions which he thinks are good ones. I will send
11036-425: The people from neighbouring buildings came out to join them, including him and his father. Rousseau would always see militias as the embodiment of popular spirit in opposition to the armies of the rulers, whom he saw as disgraceful mercenaries. When Rousseau was ten, his father, an avid hunter, got into a legal quarrel with a wealthy landowner on whose lands he had been caught trespassing. To avoid certain defeat in
11160-407: The period typically collaborated with others at some point, as critics agree Shakespeare did, mostly early and late in his career. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. In England, after the interregnum , and Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, there was a move toward neoclassical dramaturgy. Between
11284-402: The poet's burial: Two dim and paltry torches that the raging storm And rain at any moment threaten to put out. A waving pall. A vulgar coffin made of pine With not a wreath, not e'en the poorest, and no train – As if a crime were swiftly carried to the grave! The bearers hastened onward. One unknown alone, Round whom a mantle waved of wide and noble fold, Followed this coffin. 'Twas
11408-412: The precaution to throw any veil over his sentiments; and, as he scorns to dissemble his contempt for established opinions, he could not wonder that all the zealots were in arms against him. The liberty of the press is not so secured in any country... as not to render such an open attack on popular prejudice somewhat dangerous." After Rousseau's Emile had outraged the French parliament, an arrest order
11532-428: The prejudice of that city against Italian music; but I had also received from nature a sensibility and niceness of distinction which prejudice cannot withstand. I soon contracted that passion for Italian music with which it inspires all those who are capable of feeling its excellence. In listening to barcaroles , I found I had not yet known what singing was... Rousseau's employer routinely received his stipend as much as
11656-513: The priesthood, in 1773 he entered a military academy in Stuttgart and ended up studying medicine. His first play, The Robbers , was written at this time and proved very successful. After a brief stint as a regimental doctor, he left Stuttgart and eventually wound up in Weimar. In 1789, he became professor of History and Philosophy at Jena, where he wrote historical works. During the last seventeen years of his life (1788–1805), Schiller developed
11780-408: The reading of Plutarch's works and "the conversations between my father and myself to which it gave rise, formed in me the free and republican spirit". Witnessing the local townsfolk participate in militias made a big impression on Rousseau. Throughout his life, he would recall one scene where, after the volunteer militia had finished its manoeuvres, they began to dance around a fountain and most of
11904-449: The result of an almost obsessive dialogue with writers of the past, filtered in many cases through conversations with Diderot. In 1749, Rousseau was paying daily visits to Diderot, who had been thrown into the fortress of Vincennes under a lettre de cachet for opinions in his " Lettre sur les aveugles ", that hinted at materialism , a belief in atoms , and natural selection . According to science historian Conway Zirkle , Rousseau saw
12028-557: The subject matter significantly. For example, verisimilitude limits of the unities. Decorum fitted proper protocols for behavior and language on stage. In France, contained too many events and actions, thus, violating the 24-hour restriction of the unity of time. Neoclassicism never had as much traction in England, and Shakespeare 's plays are directly opposed to these models, while in Italy, improvised and bawdy commedia dell'arte and opera were more popular forms. One structural unit that
12152-584: The system was impractical, the Academy rejected it, though they praised his mastery of the subject, and urged him to try again. He befriended Denis Diderot that year, connecting over the discussion of literary endeavors. From 1743 to 1744, Rousseau had an honorable but ill-paying post as a secretary to the Comte de Montaigue, the French ambassador to Venice . This awoke in him a lifelong love for Italian music, particularly opera: I had brought with me from Paris
12276-422: The teenage Rousseau supported himself for a time as a servant, secretary, and tutor, wandering in Italy (Piedmont and Savoy) and France. During this time, he lived on and off with de Warens, whom he idolized. Maurice Cranston notes, "Madame de Warens [...] took him into her household and mothered him; he called her 'maman' and she called him 'petit.'" Flattered by his devotion, de Warens tried to get him started in
12400-459: The thought of Immanuel Kant with the thought of the German idealist philosopher, Karl Leonhard Reinhold . He elaborated upon Christoph Martin Wieland 's concept of die schöne Seele (the beautiful soul), a human being whose emotions have been educated by reason, so that Pflicht und Neigung (duty and inclination) are no longer in conflict with one another; thus beauty, for Schiller,
12524-524: The tradespeople. Much discussion was over the idea of the sovereignty of the people, of which the ruling class oligarchy was making a mockery. In 1707, democratic reformer Pierre Fatio protested this situation, saying "A sovereign that never performs an act of sovereignty is an imaginary being". He was shot by order of the Small Council. Jean-Jacques Rousseau's father, Isaac , was not in the city then, but Jean-Jacques's grandfather supported Fatio and
12648-440: The truth. Rousseau was born on 28 June 1712, and he would later relate: "I was born almost dying, they had little hope of saving me". He was baptized on 4 July 1712, in the great cathedral. His mother died of puerperal fever nine days after his birth, which he later described as "the first of my misfortunes". He and his older brother François were brought up by their father and a paternal aunt, also named Suzanne. When Rousseau
12772-402: The vicinity. The Neuchâtel Consistory summoned Rousseau to answer a charge of blasphemy. He wrote back asking to be excused due to his inability to sit for a long time due to his ailment. Subsequently, Rousseau's own pastor, Frédéric-Guillaume de Montmollin, started denouncing him publicly as an Antichrist. In one inflammatory sermon, Montmollin quoted Proverbs 15:8: "The sacrifice of the wicked
12896-544: The war ended in 1763, Schiller's father became a recruiting officer and was stationed in Schwäbisch Gmünd . The family moved with him. Due to the high cost of living—especially the rent—the family moved to the nearby town of Lorch . Although the family was happy in Lorch, Schiller's father found his work unsatisfying. He sometimes took his son with him. In Lorch, Schiller received his primary education. The quality of
13020-441: The word in his Epigram 49, which is thought to refer to John Marston or Thomas Dekker : Jonson described himself as a poet, not a playwright, since plays during that time were written in meter and so were regarded as the province of poets. This view was held as late as the early 19th century. The term "playwright" later again lost this negative connotation. The earliest playwrights in Western literature with surviving works are
13144-527: The world), Schiller resolves with the happy union of Formtrieb and Sinnestrieb , the "play drive", which for him is synonymous with artistic beauty, or "living form". On the basis of Spieltrieb , Schiller sketches in Letters a future ideal state (a eutopia ), where everyone will be content, and everything will be beautiful, thanks to the free play of Spieltrieb . Schiller's focus on the dialectical interplay between Formtrieb and Sinnestrieb has inspired
13268-453: Was ennobled in 1802 by the Duke of Saxe-Weimar, adding the nobiliary particle " von " to his name. He remained in Weimar, Saxe-Weimar until his death at 45 from tuberculosis in 1805. The first authoritative biography of Schiller was by his sister-in-law Caroline von Wolzogen in 1830, Schillers Leben (Schiller's Life). The coffin containing what was purportedly Schiller's skeleton
13392-532: Was Central Park's first installed sculpture . Chicago dedicated a statue to Schiller in its Lincoln Park. Schiller Park in Columbus, Ohio is named for Schiller, and has been centered on a statue of his likeness since it was donated in 1891. During the First World War, the name of the park was changed to Washington Park in response to anti-German sentiment, but was changed back several years later. It
13516-546: Was a grandchild of Emilie, Baron Alexander von Gleichen-Rußwurm (1865–1947), who died at Baden-Baden , Germany, in 1947. Schiller returned with his family to Weimar from Jena in 1799. Goethe convinced him to return to playwriting. He and Goethe founded the Weimar Theater , which became the leading theater in Germany. Their collaboration helped lead to a renaissance of drama in Germany. For his achievements, Schiller
13640-402: Was always deeply moved by religious services, for a time even dreamed of becoming a Protestant minister. Virtually all our information about Rousseau's youth has come from his posthumously published Confessions , in which the chronology is somewhat confused, though recent scholars have combed the archives for confirming evidence to fill in the blanks. At age 13, Rousseau was apprenticed first to
13764-543: Was brought in 1827 into the Weimarer Fürstengruft (Weimar's Ducal Vault), the burial place of the house of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach in the Historical Cemetery of Weimar and later also Goethe's resting place. On 3 May 2008, scientists announced that DNA tests have shown that the skull of this skeleton is not Schiller's, and his tomb is now vacant. The physical resemblance between this skull and
13888-450: Was dedicated in 1907. The sculpture was donated by U.S. German Societies of Saint Paul and private citizens of German descent to commemorate the renowned Johann von Schiller. His image has appeared on several coins and banknotes in Germany, including the 1964 German Democratic Republic 10 Mark banknotes, 1972 German Democratic Republic 20 Mark commemorative coins, and 1934 German Reich 5 Reichsmark commemorative coins. In September 2008,
14012-402: Was five, his father sold the house the family had received from his mother's relatives. While the idea was that his sons would inherit the principal when grown up and he would live off the interest in the meantime, in the end, the father took most of the substantial proceeds. With the selling of the house, the Rousseau family moved out of the upper-class neighbourhood and into an apartment house in
14136-465: Was himself performing in a comedy by himself, and also in a tragedy by Voltaire. Rousseau became so excited during the performance that he leaned too far and almost fell out of the box; Hume observed that the King and Queen were looking at Rousseau more than at the performance. Afterwards, Garrick served supper for Rousseau, who commended Garrick's acting: "Sir, you have made me shed tears at your tragedy, and smile at your comedy, though I scarce understood
14260-528: Was informally assured that he could move into this island house without fear of arrest, and he did so (10 September 1765). Here, despite the remoteness of his retreat, visitors sought him out as a celebrity. However, on 17 October 1765, the Senate of Bern ordered Rousseau to leave the island and all Bernese territory within fifteen days. He replied, requesting permission to extend his stay, and offered to be incarcerated in any place within their jurisdiction with only
14384-646: Was informed that he could not continue to reside in Bern, D'Alembert advised him to move to the Principality of Neuchâtel , ruled by Frederick the Great of Prussia. Subsequently, Rousseau accepted an invitation to reside in Môtiers , fifteen miles from Neuchâtel. On 11 July 1762, Rousseau wrote to Frederick, describing how he had been driven from France, from Geneva, and from Bern; and seeking Frederick's protection. He also mentioned that he had criticized Frederick in
14508-416: Was inspired by the great disenchantment Schiller felt about the French Revolution , its degeneration into violence and the failure of successive governments to put its ideals into practice. Schiller wrote that "a great moment has found a little people"; he wrote the Letters as a philosophical inquiry into what had gone wrong, and how to prevent such tragedies in the future. In the Letters he asserts that it
14632-502: Was intended to be a defense of religious belief. Rousseau's choice of a Catholic vicar of humble peasant background (plausibly based on a kindly prelate he had met as a teenager) as a spokesman for the defense of religion was in itself a daring innovation for the time. The vicar's creed was that of Socinianism (or Unitarianism as it is called today). Because it rejected original sin and divine revelation , both Protestant and Catholic authorities took offense. Moreover, Rousseau advocated
14756-666: Was issued by parliament against him, causing him to flee to Switzerland. Subsequently, when the Swiss authorities also proved unsympathetic to him—condemning both Emile , and also The Social Contract —Voltaire issued an invitation to Rousseau to come and reside with him, commenting that: "I shall always love the author of the 'Vicaire savoyard' whatever he has done, and whatever he may do...Let him come here [to Ferney]! He must come! I shall receive him with open arms. He shall be master here more than I. I shall treat him like my own son." Rousseau later expressed regret that he had not replied to Voltaire's invitation. In July 1762, after Rousseau
14880-566: Was not rich enough to raise his children, but in Book IX of the Confessions he gave the true reasons of his choice: "I trembled at the thought of intrusting them to a family ill brought up, to be still worse educated. The risk of the education of the foundling hospital was much less". Ten years later, Rousseau made inquiries about the fate of his son, but unfortunately no record could be found. When Rousseau subsequently became celebrated as
15004-436: Was paid by the King of Piedmont to help bring Protestants to Catholicism. They sent the boy to Turin , the capital of Savoy (which included Piedmont, in what is now Italy), to complete his conversion. This resulted in his having to give up his Genevan citizenship, although he would later revert to Calvinism to regain it. In converting to Catholicism, both de Warens and Rousseau were likely reacting to Calvinism's insistence on
15128-462: Was penalized for it. Rousseau's father, Isaac Rousseau, followed his grandfather, father and brothers into the watchmaking business. He also taught dance for a short period. Isaac, notwithstanding his artisan status, was well-educated and a lover of music. Rousseau wrote that "A Genevan watchmaker is a man who can be introduced anywhere; a Parisian watchmaker is only fit to talk about watches". In 1699, Isaac ran into political difficulty by entering
15252-522: Was so pleased by the work that he offered Rousseau a lifelong pension. To the exasperation of his friends, Rousseau turned down the great honor, bringing him notoriety as "the man who had refused a king's pension". He also turned down several other advantageous offers, sometimes with a brusqueness bordering on truculence that gave offense and caused him problems. The same year, the visit of a troupe of Italian musicians to Paris, and their performance of Giovanni Battista Pergolesi 's La serva padrona , prompted
15376-409: Was the cousin and houseguest of Rousseau's patroness and landlady Madame d'Épinay , whom he treated rather high-handedly. He resented being at Mme. d'Épinay's beck and call and detested what he viewed as the insincere conversation and shallow atheism of the Encyclopédistes whom he met at her table. Wounded feelings gave rise to a bitter three-way quarrel between Rousseau and Madame d'Épinay; her lover,
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