Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} - Plays and (German Library by Friedrich Schiller Biography. Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller was a German poet, philosopher, historian, and playwright. During the last seventeen years of his life, Schiller struck up a productive, if complicated, friendship with already famous and influential Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe. They frequently discussed issues concerning aesthetics, and Schiller encouraged Goethe to finish works he left as sketches. This relationship and these discussions led to a period now referred to as . They also worked together on , a collection of short satirical poems in which both Schiller and Goethe challenge opponents to their philosophical vision. Friedrich Schiller was born on 10 November 1759, in Marbach, Württemberg as the only son of military doctor Johann Kaspar Schiller (1733– 96), and Elisabeth Dorothea Kodweiß (1732–1802). They also had five daughters. 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 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 nearby 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 the lessons was fairly bad, and Friedrich regularly cut class with his older sister. Because his parents wanted Schiller to become a pastor, they had the pastor of the village instruct the boy in Latin and Greek. Pastor Moser was a good teacher, and later Schiller named the cleric in his first play Die Räuber () after him. As a boy, Schiller was excited by the idea of becoming 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 Schiller boy came to 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 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 the French Republic because of this play. In 1780, he obtained a post as regimental doctor in Stuttgart, a job he disliked. Following the performance of The Robbers in Mannheim, in 1781, Schiller 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, where he settled in 1787. In 1789, he was appointed professor of History and Philosophy in Jena, where he wrote only historical works. He died of tuberculosis in 1805, at the age of 45. Marriage and family. On 22 February 1790, Schiller married (1766–1826). Two sons (Karl Friedrich Ludwig and Ernst Friedrich Wilhelm) and two daughters (Karoline Luise Henriette and Luise Henriette Emilie) were born between 1793 and 1804. The last living descendant of Schiller was a grandchild of Emilie, Baron Alexander von Gleichen-Rußwurm, who died at Baden-Baden, Germany, in 1947. Weimar and playwriting. 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. Legacy and honors. For his achievements, Schiller was ennobled in 1802 by the Duke of Weimar, adding the nobiliary particle "von" to his name. He remained in Weimar, Saxe-Weimar until his death at 45 from tuberculosis. The first significant biography of Schiller was by his sister-in-law Caroline von Wolzogen in 1830. The coffin containing Schiller's skeleton is in the Weimarer Fürstengruft (Weimar's Ducal Vault), the burial place of Houses of Grand Dukes (großherzogliches Haus) of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach in the Historical Cemetery of Weimar. 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 the extant death mask as well as to portraits of Schiller, had led many experts to believe that the skull was Schiller's. In September 2008, Schiller was voted by the audience of the TV channel Arte as the second most important playwright in Europe after William Shakespeare. Schiller has become an inextricable part of pop culture at the American undergraduate college, Carleton College, in Northfield, Minnesota. Several secret student groups on campus own busts of Schiller, which they show at popular campus events. Other students are set on stealing these busts from the secret societies. The Carleton's beloved "DVD Fest" has, in past years, been renamed "The Golden Schillers. The college has also named its student dollars "Schillers", and the "Schiller Society" is part of the admissions office. Freemasonry. 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 Illuminati nor Mason, but if the fraternization has a moral purpose in common with one another, and if this purpose for human society 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. Philosophical Papers. Schiller wrote many philosophical papers on ethics and aesthetics. He synthesized the thought of with the thought of Karl Leonhard Reinhold. He elaborated Christoph Martin Wieland's concept of the Schöne Seele (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, is not merely an aesthetic experience, but a moral one as well: the Good is the Beautiful. His philosophical work was also particularly concerned with the question of human freedom, a preoccupation which also guided his historical researches, such as the Thirty Years' War and the Dutch Revolt, and then found its way as well into his dramas (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 is considered by most Germans to be Germany's most important classical playwright. Critics like F.J. Lamport and Eric 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. The Robbers (Die Räuber): The language of The Robbers is highly emotional, and the depiction of physical violence in the play marks it as a quintessential work of Germany's Romantic 'Storm and Stress' movement. The Robbers is considered by critics like Peter Brooks to be the first European melodrama. The play pits two brothers against each other in alternating scenes, as one quests for money and power, while the other attempts to create revolutionary anarchy in the Bohemian Forest. The play strongly criticises the hypocrisies of class and religion, and the economic inequities of German society; it also conducts a complicated inquiry into the nature of evil. (Die Verschwörung des Fiesco zu Genua): Intrigue and Love (Kabale und Liebe): The aristocratic Ferdinand von Walter wishes to marry Luise Miller, the bourgeois daughter of the city's music instructor. Court politics involving the duke's beautiful but conniving mistress Lady Milford and Ferdinand's ruthless father create a disastrous situation reminiscent of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Schiller develops his criticisms of absolutism and bourgeois hypocrisy in this bourgeois tragedy. Act 2, Scene 2 is an anti-British parody that depicts a firing-squad massacre. Young Germans who refused to join the Hessians and British to quash the American Revolutionary War are fired upon. Giuseppe Verdi's opera Luisa Miller is based on this play. Don Carlos: This play marks Schiller's entrée into historical drama. Very loosely based on the events surrounding the real Don Carlos of Spain, Schiller's Don Carlos is another republican figure—he attempts to free Flanders from the despotic grip of his father, King Phillip. The Marquis Posa's famous speech to the king proclaims Schiller's belief in personal freedom and democracy. The Wallenstein Trilogy: These plays follow the fortunes of the treacherous commander Albrecht von Wallenstein during the Thirty Years' War. (Maria Stuart): This "revisionist" history of the Scottish queen, who was Elizabeth I's rival, portrays Mary Stuart as a tragic heroine, misunderstood and used by ruthless politicians, including and especially, Elizabeth. The Maid of Orleans (Die Jungfrau von Orleans): about Joan of Arc (Die Braut von Messina) (Wilhelm Tell) (unfinished) The Aesthetic Letters. 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 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 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 a comment to Immanuel Kant's philosophy, Schiller transcends the dualism between Formtrieb and Sinnestrieb with the notion of Spieltrieb ("the "), 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 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 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, where he 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 the liberating force of the aesthetic function: it is envisaged as containing the possibility of a new reality principle. Ludwig van Beethoven said that 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. Two notable exceptions are Beethoven's setting of "An die Freude" (Ode to Joy) in the final movement of his Ninth Symphony, and Johannes Brahms' choral setting of "Nänie". In addition, several poems were set by Franz Schubert as Lieder, such as "Die Bürgschaft", mostly for voice and piano. In 2005 Graham Waterhouse set (The Glove) for cello and speaking voice. The Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi admired Schiller greatly and adapted several of his stage plays for his operas: I masnadieri is based on The Robbers; Giovanna d'Arco on The Maid of Orleans; Luisa Miller on Intrigue and Love; and Don Carlos on the play of the same title. Donizetti's Maria Stuarda is based on Mary Stuart, and Rossini's Guillaume Tell is an adaptation of William Tell. The 20th century composer Giselher Klebe adapted The Robbers for his first opera of the same name, which premiered in 1957. Schiller's burial. Here is a poem written about 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 the Spirit of Mankind. – Conrad Ferdinand Meyer. Friedrich von Schiller. Born Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller, this innovative dramatist, poet, moral idealist, and cultural fighter for the cause of freedom became a major force in German life. Schiller's family members… Read Full Biography. Biography ↓ Discography ↓ Songs ↓ Credits ↓ facebook twitter tumblr. Artist Biography by "Blue" Gene Tyranny. Born Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller, this innovative dramatist, poet, moral idealist, and cultural fighter for the cause of freedom became a major force in German life. Schiller's family members were Swabian Lutherans. His father was a field surgeon and officer in the employ of Duke Karl Eugen of Württemberg. At 13, the young man entered the Duke's military academy, called the Karlsschule, where he studied law and medicine. At 21, he joined a Stuttgart regiment. Schiller's first play was Die Räuber (The Robbers, 1781), which suffered from improbable character motivations, bombastic speeches, and artificial continuity. Schiller himself made fun of the play in later years. Hearing that Schiller left his regiment without permission to see the play in Mannheim, Duke Eugen ordered him arrested. Schiller fled (following a complex escape plan) to Mannheim. The Duke eventually decided to show himself as tolerant and stopped pursuing Schiller, which allowed Mannheim theaters to contract The Conspiracy of Fiesco at Genoa, Love and Intrigue (aka Passion and Politics), and his major drama in blank verse, Don Carlos (1787). Don Carlos was written the same year as Goethe's Iphigenie auf Tauris, which was also in blank verse and became the primary form for German theater during the Sturm und Drang period. Other plays about the struggle for freedom include Schiller's masterpiece the Wallenstein cycle (Wallenstein's Camp, The Piccolomini, and Wallenstein's Death) (1798-1799), Maria Stuart (1800), The Maid of Orleans (1801), and Wilhelm Tell (1804). Schiller authored 38 poems, philosophical works (influenced by Kant), essays (eg. "Letters on the Aesthetic Education of Mankind"), and historical studies; was appointed a professor of history at the University of Jena; and also edited several literary journals (The Hours, Anthology of the Year, The Muse's Almanach, and the Rheinische Thalia). Many composers were inspired to set Schiller's work to music. Perhaps the best- known setting is that created by Beethoven for the magnificent, heavenly vision of universal freedom in the poem An die Freude (Ode to Joy) in the fourth movement of his Symphony No. 9. Heinrich Kleist later refuted this poem in his "Germania an ihre Kinder" (Germany to Her Children), which imitated the exact same verse form and was filled with ghastly and despairing images of the misery that other nations had inflicted on that country. Beethoven also set Schiller's Death Walks Swiftly, the song of the monks from Wilhelm Tell. An astonishing number of splendid Schiller songs were generated by Franz Schubert. Between 1813 and 1819, 61 songs appeared for male, female, and unspecified voices, plus the Dithyrambe (Der Besuch) and Hymn on the Immortal for mixed chorus. Schubert often wrote two or three unique songs on the same text as his understanding of the poems matured. He created new solutions for the Ode to Joy and Laura at the Piano, a secret homage to the young Schiller's landlady Luise Vischer. The later Romantic Robert Schumann set only Schiller's Der Handschuh (The Glove), Op. 87, 1850. While the German composers seem mostly to have embraced Schiller's imagery of love and brotherhood, with some occasional supernatural shadows like Schubert's Eine Leichenfantasie (Corpse Fantasy) and Thekla: eine Geisterstimme (Tekla: A Spirit Voice), the Italian composers seem to have been drawn toward the theme of revolutionary struggle. For example, Rossini's opera Guillaume Tell (1829); Giuseppe Verdi with his operas Giovanna d'Arco (1845) based on Schiller's Die Jungfrau von Orleans, I Masnadieri (1847) after Die Raüber, Luisa Miller (1849) after Kabale und Liebe (Love and Intrigue), and Don Carlos (1867); and Donizetti's tragedia lirica Maria Stuarda of 1830. Schiller, Johann Christoph Friedrich von. Schiller, Johann Christoph Friedrich von (1759-1805). German, Poet, Playwright, Philosopher, and Historian. Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller was a man of many talents. Able to fill German theaters with enthusiastic audiences, he was also a respected professor of history. While profoundly influencing the thinkers of his time through his extensive writings on aesthetic education and its potential benefits to mankind, he was, at the same time, successful at writing poetry that could be appreciated by people of all social classes. After having enjoyed a happy childhood, Schiller was forced to enter a school established by Duke Karl Eugen of Württemberg for gifted sons of his officers and officials. Schiller detested the school emphasis on discipline, and his years there left him with a strong inclination toward melancholy and a permanent mistrust of people in power. Taking a degree in medicine in 1780, he became an assistant medical officer to a regiment located in Stuttgart. While still in school, Schiller began The Robbers , one of the best-known revolutionary dramas of German literature, and the play was first performed in 1781. Against the background of a tragedy of two brothers, Schiller launches a protest against political, social, and religious tyranny. Disowned by his father and mistreated by society, Karl Moor, the chief character of the drama, becomes the leader of a band of outlaws and terrorizes the countryside. In the end, he becomes convinced that physical force and anarchy will not reform society, and he surrenders to justice. Regarded as the most important play of the Sturm und Drang movement, Schiller’s work created quite an uproar when it was first performed. Schiller’s first literary success encouraged him in his efforts as a dramatist. Having angered the Duke by leaving Stuttgart without permission to see his play performed, Schiller fled to Mannheim, where he hoped to receive assistance from Heribert Baron von Dalberg, director of the Mannheim National Theater, which had staged the premiere of The Robbers . At first, Dalberg distanced himself from Schiller, but he later offered the young dramatist a contract with the Mannheim National Theater for three plays. The first drama that Schiller completed under contract was Fiesco; or, the Genoese Conspiracy (1783). Considered his least effective play, it portrays the rise and fall of Fiesco di Lavagna, who instigates an uprising against the ruler Andrea Doria in sixteenth-century Genoa; Fiesco, who reveals himself to be a tyrant, is ultimately assassinated. Schiller’s drama can be understood as a study of the seductive nature of power and ambition. His second play for the Mannheim National Theater was Intrigue and Love (1784), a domestic tragedy. It tells the story of Ferdinand and Luise, whose love is hindered by their parents and by differences in social class. Before the two lovers can flee, Ferdinand is tricked into believing that Luise has been unfaithful to him and poisons her. Both Ferdinand and Luise seem powerless to escape the constraints of their respective social classes. Schiller’s play was well received and remains popular to this day. Critics praise its realistic language, its social criticism, and its dramatic characterization. Schiller began working on the third play, Don Carlos , in 1782. Occupying him for several years and requiring numerous revisions, it was not completed until 1787. Schiller’s drama tells the story of King Philip II of Spain, his third wife, Elizabeth of Valois, and his son by an earlier marriage, Don Carlos, who is infatuated with his stepmother. Transcending the limitations of a family drama, the play condemns the abuse of power and advocates greater political freedom. Considered a turning point in Schiller’s career, Don Carlos , written in blank verse, belongs to the Classical period of German literature. In 1785, Schiller, who often experienced financial difficulties, received a generous offer of monetary assistance from Christian Gottfried Körner, and he spent the next few years in Dresden and Leipzig. Overjoyed at his good fortune, Schiller penned the hymn “Ode to Joy,” which Beethoven, Ludwig van later incorporated into his Ninth Symphony. During this time, Schiller completed his work on Don Carlos and wrote a novella, The Criminal from Lost Honor (1786), and a novel, The Ghost-Seer (1789). After two productive years in Dresden and Leipzig, Schiller moved to Weimar in 1787 and, except for a few years in Jena, lived there for the rest of his life. Turning his attention to writing history, Schiller, who tended to view the course of history as a series of power struggles, proved to be very astute at detecting motives for people’s actions. His first work was History of the Secession of the United Netherlands from Spanish Sovereignty (1788), which attracted JGoethe, Johann Wolfgang’s attention and led to Schiller’s appointment to the faculty of the University of Jena (1789-91). He also authored History of the Thirty Years’ War (1791-92), which supplied material for his drama Wallenstein (1798-99). In 1790, Schiller married Charlotte von Lengefeld. The beneficiary of a grant from the Danish court in 1791, Schiller began to study the philosophy of Kant, Immanuel, and between 1793 and 1801, he wrote a series of essays in which he formulated his own views on civilization, culture, human behavior, beauty, art, the artist, and freedom. The essays include On Grace and Dignity (1793), On the Aesthetic Education of Mankind, in a Series of Letters (1795), and On Naive and Sentimental Poetry (1795-96). The philosophical essays have been the subject of much debate, but at the very least, scholars agree that Schiller accepted the eighteenth-century view of humanity as capable of becoming refined and civilized, more moral and more harmonious. A number of Schiller’s poems from this period also express his philosophy, e.g., “The Artists,” “The Walk,” and “.” Gradually, Schiller’s interest in philosophical theory faded, and he returned to writing literature. In 1797, he wrote a number of ballads, including “The Diver,” “The Glove,” “The Ring of Polycrates,” and “The Cranes of Ibycus”: they are works that have not lost their dramatic flare and often provide a first introduction to Schiller’s genius. During the last five years of his life, four of Schiller’s most memorable dramas appeared. In 1799, he completed his Wallenstein trilogy ( Wallenstein’s Camp, The Piccolominis, and Wallenstein’s Death ), in which he analyzes the attraction and dangers of political power. In Mary Stuart (1800), Mary, Queen of Scots, accepts her punishment at the hands of Elizabeth, though she feels it is unjust, thereby atoning for wrongdoings of the past and experiencing a moral rebirth. The Maiden of Orleans (1801) is a so-called romantic tragedy, and in The Bride of Messina (1803), Schiller strives to equal the greatness of Greek drama. In William Tell (1804), one of his most popular plays, Schiller examines under what circumstances a revolution can be justified. In 1805, during this period of heightened creativity, Schiller died while working on Demetrius , the story of a false pretender to the seventeenth-century Russian throne. Schiller is regarded as the best playwright of the Sturm und Drang and Classical periods of German literature. His views on tragedy, art and the artist, the sublime, the creative powers of mankind, and spiritual freedom influenced generations of writers and readers throughout the world, including Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Humboldt, Wilhelm von, Carl Gustav Jung, Herbert Marcuse, and Friedrich Schlegel. Audiences today find Schiller’s poetic works as dynamic and thought-provoking as people in his own day. Walter Hinderer, Von der Idee des Menschen: Über Friedrich Schiller , 1998. Steven D. Martinson, Harmonious Tensions: The Writings of Friedrich Schiller , 1996. Lesley Sharpe, Friedrich Schiller: Drama, Thought, and Politics , 1991. Friedrich Schiller - Plays: Intrigue and Love and Don Carlos (German Library by Friedrich Schiller. The Robbers (Die Räuber): Franz Moor, who is discriminated because of his appearance and who the second son of the family, makes up an intrigue in order to take away his older brother Karl his right as the first son of the family. Karl, who is in Leipzig, has written a letter to his father in order to apologize for his easy- going life as a student. Franz replaces this letter through a letter written by a third person, who describes Karl as a man who has seduced a married woman, who has killed her fiancé and who is chased by the police. Karl’s father believes the information which is included in this letter and he wants Franz to talk to his brother. Now, Franz writes a letter to Karl which marks the ending between the relationship between Karl and his father. Karl is now deeply disappointed and decides to become the villain as his father sees him. He becomes a second Robin Hood; he and his henchmen try to help the suppressed, but some of his men are only interested in killing people. Therefore, Karl decides to give up his life as a villain but he has sworn faithfulness to his henchmen. That is way he decides to return to the castle of his father in order to see him and Amalia, his fiancée, again. But at that time, not Karl’s father is the one, who governs, but his brother Franz. Karl’s father is not allowed to eat much and Amalia is the only one who can resist Franz’s effort to make her his wife. Karl disguises himself in order to help Amalia and his father but Franz recognises him as his older brother and he is afraid to death. Karl’s henchmen attack the castle and at that point, Franz commits suicide. Karl discovers that he has become the victim of an intrigue. He rescues his father but he dies shortly after Karl has told him under which circumstances he has lead his life in the past. Amalia recognizes Karl as well but she is really disappointed and longs for death. Karl, who is connected to his henchmen, has to kill her. He lets a day labourer deliver him to the police so that the poor man can start a new life with the reward the police gives him for handing Karl over. Intrigue and Love (Kabale und Liebe) : Ferdinand von Walter, who is the son of an influential Royal at a German court, has fallen in love with Luise, who is the daughter of the musician Miller. Both fathers do not like the relationship between their children because this relationship does not fit into their conception: Luise and Ferdinand do not live the same lives. Additionally, Luise is not sure as well if this relationship is worth fighting for. In contrast to her, Ferdinand is the one who is really passionate and wants her to escape with him. However, Luise cannot combine this idea with her conscience and that is why Ferdinand starts doubting on the real feelings of Luise towards him. Because of the fact that Ferdinand´s father does not want that his son marries a daughter of a musician, he and his secretary Worm invent an intrigue which should help that Ferdinand marries Lady Milford, instead of Luise. Luise´s parents are taken to prison because of alleged insulting Ferdinand´s father. Worm explains Luise that her parents are going to be executed if she does not write a love letter to the lord stewart, von Kalb, in which she tells him her deep feelings for him. She is forced to sign an oath which obliges her to tell everyone that she has written this letter without being forced. Ferdinand finds this letter and is deeply disappointed and hurt. Desperation and anger make him blind and therefore, he longs for revenge. Luise decides to commit suicide in order to become free from the oath. While dying, she wants to tell Ferdinand the whole truth about Worm and the intrigue but her father does not want Luise to commit suicide. Consequently, she has to be silent when Ferdinand confronts her with all his anger, desperation and insults. Ferdinand poisons himself and Luise and at that point, she released from the oath and is finally free to talk about the intrigue. Dying, Luise forgives Ferdinand and he, who is closer to death than to life, can forgive his father as well. (Although it is a German trailer, you find at the end of this site a stage performance which shows how Intrigue and Love can be presented on stage.) Don Carlos In the summer residence, Don Carlos mets his old friend Marquis de Posa again. Posa, who has been travelling for a long time, has just arrived from Brussels. He wants Don Carlos to be send to the turbulent province Flandern in order to finish the on-going troubles between the Spanish Catholics and the Netherlands peacefully. But Carlos is not interested in the political issues because he has still been fallen in love with Elisabeth from Valois who was supposed to be his wife but Carlos´ father married her beforehand. Carlos´ father, King Philipp, is jealous because he knows the deep feelings of his son for his step-mother and therefore, he inhibits each attempt of Carlos to meet Elizabeth. Posa, who has been a friend of Elizabeth for a long time, arranges a meeting between Carlos and his step-mother in which Carlos confesses her how much he loves her. Elizabeth is shocked about Carlos´ behaviour and she explains him that she has learned to respect and to honour her husband and that her responsibility towards her country and her people is much stronger than her feelings she used to have for Carlos. Moreover, she wants him to stop focussing on his feelings but wants him to start being interested in political issues and his mother country. Back in Madrid, Carlos talks to his father in order to convince him to send him to Flandern. Philipp, who mistrusts his son and who is not willing to reconcile with him, decides to send Duke of Alba to Flandern. Additionally, King Philipp thinks that his son has a weak and self-destructive character. Carlos receives a love letter written by Princess Eboli. But my mistake, Carlos believes that this letter has been written by Elisabeth. Totally happy, he follows the demand to meet the one who has written the letter in a lonely room of the castle. But instead of seeing Elisabeth, Carlos just finds Princess Eboli, who does not recognize that Carlos does not want to see her but his step-mother, confesses him her love. Carlos gets to know from a letter written by the King to Eboli that he has made her to his mistress and therefore, she is forced to marry the Duke of Silva. Carlos is deeply touched by her destiny but the only thing he can offer her is his friendship and not his love. Additionally, Carlos confesses Eboli that he is in love with another woman. Carlos decides to take the letter from the King with him in order to show this letter to the Queen a bit later. Eboli realizes bit by bit that Elisabeth is the other woman and because of her jealousy, she decides to take revenge on Carlos and Elisabeth. Duke of Alba and padre Domingo have now allied each other against Carlos and they convince Eboli to reveal Carlos´ secret of being in love with the Queen. They want Eboli to steal letters written by Carlos to Elisabeth to have evidence for their accusations. At the same time, Carlos tells Posa about the incident that Eboli is love with him and that the King has not been faithful to Elisabeth. Posa does not want Carlos to show the letter to Elisabeth. He should, therefore, be focused on the political issues again. Because of the confession of Eboli and the rumour that his baby child is not his but Carlos´ child, the King decides to execute both, Elisabeth and Carlos. Because of the fact that King Philipp is just surrounded by dishonest people, he longs for someone he can rely on and whom he can trust. Therefore, he wants the Marquis de Posa to work for him. Firstly, Posa rejects this bargain and delivers a speech for humanity. Furthermore, he wants the King to change Spain which has been a place like a prison at that time into a place where freedom and justice reigns. The King is impressed by Posa and advanced him. He should spy on Carlos and Elisabeth. In pretence, Posa accepts the bargain of the King. He searches for Elisabeth who should convince Carlos to rebel against the King. Because of numerous misunderstandings and letters, Carlos is caught and brought to jail. During a conversation between Carlos and Posa about the truth, Posa is killed by a gun shot. King Philipp wants to reconcile with his son but Carlos, who is deeply shocked because of Posa´s death, is not willing to forgive his father. Philipp, who is deeply disappointed because of Posa´s betray, gives up all his humanity and commit Carlos to the inquisitor. Mary Stuart (Maria Stuart) Friedrich Schiller tells the story of Mary Stuart in this play. He uses historical facts but also fictional aspects to present the historical background. Mary Stuart is imprisoned in England – she is accused to have killed her husband Darnley. The real reason for her being in jail is that Elizabeth I. is afraid that Mary would become the new Queen of England. Mary’s cousin, Elizabeth I., hesitates over signing Mary’s death sentence. After Mary finds out that Mortimer, the nephew of her custodian, is on her side, she entrusts her life to the character Mortimer, who is supposed to give Earl of Leicester a letter from Mary, in which she pleads for help. Mary manages to meet Elizabeth I., which ends in a disaster because Mary does not want to accept all the wishes Elizabeth I. has. The situation gets even more complicated when Mortimer tries to free Mary out of the prison. Because of the fact that Mortimer fails, he finally commits suicide. Queen Elizabeth I. now signs Mary´s death sentence but she says that the only reason she does so is that she is forced by her own people to do so. There is no chance to rescue Mary and therefore, she is executed by Lord Burleigh. Friedrich Schiller (English) A giant of Romanticism and one of Germany’s most celebrated writers of all time, Friedrich von Schiller used his poetry and plays to promote key ideals of the Enlightenment, celebrating the beauty of life and the importance of withstanding tyranny in all forms. The bestselling Delphi Poets Series presents the complete poetical works and plays of Friedrich von Schiller, with beautiful illustrations and the usual Delphi bonus material. (Version 1) Please note: This eBook is now Dual Format. You will receive both Kindle and ePub versions after completing checkout. Description. * Beautifully illustrated with images relating to Schiller’s life and works. * Concise introductions to the plays and other works. * Images of how the poetry books were first printed, giving your eReader a taste of the original texts. * Excellent formatting of the poems. * Special chronological and alphabetical contents tables for the poetry. * Easily locate the poems you want to read. * Also includes the poetry in the original German language. * The complete plays, with individual contents tables. * Rare plays appearing for the first time in digital print, including Schiller’s last completed drama THE HOMAGE OF THE ARTS. * Includes Schiller’s fictional prose and non-fiction writings. * Features Carlyle’s famous biography – discover Schiller’s literary life. * Scholarly ordering of texts into chronological order and literary genres.