Franz Seraphicus Grillparzer (January 15, 1791 - January 21, 1872), Austrian dramatic poet, was born in Vienna. January 15 is the 15th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1791 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... January 21 is the 21st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1872 was a leap year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Poets are authors of poems, or of other forms of poetry such as dramatic verse. ... Vienna (German: Wien [viːn]; Hungarian: Bécs) is the capital of Austria, and also one of Austrias nine federal states (Bundesland Wien). ...

Early Life

His father, severe, pedantic, a staunch upholder of the liberal traditions of the reign of Joseph II, was an advocate of some standing; his mother, a nervous, finely-strung woman, belonged to the well-known musical family of Sonnleithner. After a desultory education, Grillparzer entered in 1807 the University of Vienna as a student of jurisprudence; but two years later his father died, leaving the family in straitened circumstances, and Franz, the eldest son, was obliged to turn to private tutoring. In 1813 he received an appointment in the court library, but as this was unpaid, he accepted after some months a clerkship that offered more solid prospects, in the Lower Austrian revenue administration. Through the influence of Count Stadion, the minister of finance, he was in 1818 appointed poet to the Hofburgtheater, and promoted to the Hofkammer (exchequer); in 1832 he became director of the archives of that department, and in 1856 retired, from the civil service with the title of Hofrat. Grillparzer had little capacity for an official career and regarded his office merely as a means of independence. Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II Joseph II (March 13, 1741 – February 20, 1790) was Holy Roman Emperor from 1765 to 1790. ... It has been suggested that Barrister#Advocates in Scotland be merged into this article or section. ... 1807 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... University of Vienna, main building, seen from Beethovens apartment The University of Vienna (German: Universität Wien) in Austria was founded in 1365 by Rudolph IV and hence named Alma mater Rudolphina. ... Jurisprudence is the scientific study of law, including: Legal history, including legal historiography and hermeneutics; Legal philosophy; Legal science, e. ... 1813 is a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... Lower Austria (Niederösterreich) is one of the nine federal states or Bundesländer in Austria. ... Johann Philipp von Stadion (June 18, 1763, Mainz - May 15, 1824, Baden, Austria) was a statesman, foreign minister, and diplomat who served the Habsburg empire during the Napoleonic Wars. ... 1818 is a common year starting on Thursday. ...

Early Works up to Das goldene Vlies

In 1817 the first representation of his tragedy Die Ahnfrau made him famous, but before this he had written a long tragedy in iambics, Blanca von Castilien (1807-1809), which was obviously modelled on Schiller's Don Carlos; and even more promising were the dramatic fragments Spartacus and Alfred der Grosse (1809). Die Ahnfrau is a gruesome fate-tragedy in the trochaic measure of the Spanish drama, already made popular by Adolf Müllner in his Schuld; but Grillparzer's work is a play of real poetic beauties, and reveals an instinct for dramatic as opposed to merely theatrical effect, which distinguishes it from other fate-dramas of the day. Unfortunately, its success led to the poet being classed for the best part of his life with playwrights like Müllner and Houwald. Die Ahnfrau was followed by Sappho (1818), a drama of a very different type; in the classic spirit of Goethe's Tasso, Grillparzer unrolled the tragedy of poetic genius, the renunciation of earthly happiness imposed upon the poet by his higher mission. In 1821, Das goldene Vlies finally was finished, a trilogy which had been interrupted in 1819 by the death of the poet's mother, who, in a fit of depression, had taken her own life, and a subsequent visit to Italy. Opening with a powerful dramatic prelude in one act, Der Gastfreund, Grillparzer depicts in Die Argonauten Jason's adventures in his quest for the Fleece; while Medea, a tragedy of noble classic proportions, contains the culminating events of the story which had been so often dramatized before. The theme is similar to that of Sappho, but the scale on which it is represented is larger; it is again the tragedy of the hearts desire, the conflict of the simple happy life with that sinister power, be it genius or ambition, which upsets the equilibrium of life. The end is bitter disillusionment, the only consolation renunciation. Medea, her revenge stilled, her children dead, bears the fatal Fleece back to Delphi, while Jason is left to realize the nothingness of human striving and earthly happiness. 1817 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... This article refers to the literary work. ... An iamb is a metrical foot used in formal poetry. ... Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (November 10, 1759 - May 9, 1805), usually known as Friedrich Schiller, was a German poet, philosopher, historian, and dramatist. ... Spartacus was a Roman slave who led a large slave uprising in what is now Italy, then the Italian Peninsula, during 73 BC-71 BC. His army of escaped gladiators and slaves defeated several Roman legions in what is known as the Third Servile War, one of the three slave... Statue of Alfred the Great at Winchester Alfred (849? – 26 October 899) or Ælfred was king of the southern Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex from 871 to 899. ... A trochee is a metrical foot used in formal poetry. ... Ambiguity Dramatic can be : Dramatic, or full of drama. ... For other usages see Theatre (disambiguation) Theater (American English) or Theatre (British English and widespread usage among theatre professionals in the US) is that branch of the performing arts concerned with acting out stories in front of an audience using combinations of speech, gesture, music, dance, sound and spectacle — indeed... Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (pronounced [gø tə]) (August 28, 1749–March 22, 1832) was a German writer, politician, humanist, scientist, and philosopher. ... 1821 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... In Greek mythology, the ram with the Golden Fleece (Okros Satsmisi in Georgian) was given to Nephele of Thessaly by Hermes for her to transport her children, Helle and Phrixus, away from Ino. ... Look up Depression on Wiktionary, the free dictionary Depression may refer to one of the following: Clinical depression, a medical condition which includes decreased interest in pleasurable activities Depression (mood), an everyday term for a sad mood Depression (geology), a sunken or depressed geological formation Depression (economics) is a more... In music, the prelude is a musical form, a short dance/movement or an introductory idea to a larger work. ... The Black Sea near the shore of Colchis. ... This article is about the Greek mythological hero Jason. ... Medea by Evelyn De Morgan In Greek mythology Medea was the daughter of King Aeetes (Georgian Ayeti) of Colchis (Georgian Kolkheti, now a territory of modern Georgia) and niece of Circe, and later wife to Jason. ... Ancient Greek bust of Sappho the Eresian. ...

Historical tragedies

For his historical tragedy König Ottokars Glück und Ende (1823, but owing to difficulties with the censor, not performed until 1825), Grillparzer chose one of the most picturesque events in Austrian domestic history, the conflict of Otakar II of Bohemia with Rudolph of Habsburg. With an almost modern realism he reproduced the motley world of the old chronicler, at the same time not losing sight of the needs of the theatre; the fall of Ottokar is but another text from which the poet preached the futility of endeavour and the vanity of worldly greatness. A second historical tragedy, Ein treuer Diener seines Herrn (1826, performed 1828), attempts to embody a more heroic gospel; but the subject of the superhuman self-effacement of Bankbanus before Duke Otto of Meran proved too uncompromising an illustration of Kant's categorical imperative of duty to be palatable in the theatre. With these historical tragedies began the darkest ten years in the poet's life, they brought him into conflict with the Austrian censor - a conflict which grated on Grillparzer's sensitive soul, and was aggravated by his own position as a servant of the state; in 1826, he paid a visit to Goethe in Weimar, and was able to compare the enlightened conditions which prevailed in the little Saxon duchy with the intellectual thraldom of Vienna. To these troubles were added more serious personal worries. In the winter of 1820-1821, he had met for the first time Katharina Fröhlich (1801-1879), and the acquaintance rapidly ripened into love on both sides; but whether owing to a presentiment of mutual incompatibility, or merely owing to Grillparzer's conviction that life had no happiness in store for him, he shrank from marriage. Whatever the cause may have been, the poet was plunged into an abyss of misery and despair to which his diary bears heartrending witness; his sufferings found poetic expression in the fine cycle of poems bearing the significant title Tristia ex Ponto (1835). 1823 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Censorship is the use of governmental power to control speech and other forms of human expression. ... 1825 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... Otakar II (also spelled Ottokar or PÅ™emysl Otakar/Ottokar) (c. ... The brass of the tomb of Rudolph I in Speyer Rudolph I (Rudolph of Habsburg) (May 1, 1218 – July 15, 1291) was a German king, who played a vital role in raising the Habsburg family to a leading position among the royal dynasties of Germany. ... Immanuel Kant Immanuel Kant (April 22, 1724 – February 12, 1804) was a Prussian philosopher, generally regarded as one of Europes most influential thinkers and the last major philosopher of the Enlightenment. ... 1826 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (pronounced [gø tə]) (August 28, 1749–March 22, 1832) was a German writer, politician, humanist, scientist, and philosopher. ... Weimar is a city in Germany. ...

Slip into depression

Yet to these years we owe the completion of two of Grillparzer's greatest dramas, Des Meeres und der Liebe Wellen (1831) and Der Traum, ein Leben (1834). In the former tragedy, a dramatization of the story of Hero and Leander, be returned to the Hellenic world of Sappho, and produced what is perhaps the finest of all German love-tragedies. His mastery of dramatic technique is here combined with a ripeness of poetic expression and with an insight into motive which suggests the modern psychological drama of Hebbel and Ibsen; the old Greek love-story of Musaeus is, moreover, endowed with something of that ineffable poetic grace which the poet had borrowed from the great Spanish poets, Lope de Vega and Calderón. Der Traum, ein Leben, Grillparzers technical masterpiece, is in form perhaps even more Spanish; it is also more of what Goethe called a confession. The aspirations of Rustan, an ambitious young peasant, are shadowed forth in the hero's dream, which takes up nearly three acts of the play; ultimately Rustan awakens from his nightmare to realize the truth of Grillparzer's own pessimistic doctrine that all earthly ambitions and aspirations are vanity; the only true happiness is contentment with ones lot and inner peace. Der Traum, ein Leben was the first of Grillparzer's dramas which did not end tragically, and in 1838 he produced his only comedy, Weh dem, der lügt. But Weh dem, der lügt, in spite of its humour of situation, its sparkling dialogue and the originality of its idea - namely, that the hero gains his end by invariably telling the truth, where his enemies as invariably expect him to be lying - was too strange to meet with approval in its day. Its failure was a blow to the poet, who turned his back for ever on the German theatre. Christian Friedrich Hebbel (March 18, 1813 – December 13, 1863), was a German poet and dramatist. ... Henrik Johan Ibsen (March 20, 1828–May 23, 1906) was an extremely influential Norwegian playwright who was largely responsible for the rise of the modern realistic drama. ... Musaeus was the name of three Greek poets. ... Lope de Vega (also Félix Lope de Vega Carpio or Lope Félix de Vega Carpio) (25 November 1562 – 27 August 1635) was a Spanish playwright and poet. ... Pedro Calderon de la Barca Pedro Calderón de la Barca (January 17, 1600 – May 25, 1681), Spanish dramatist and poet, was born in Madrid. ... 1838 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Comedy is the use of humor in the performing arts. ...

Later life and final masterpieces

In 1836, Grillparzer paid a visit to Paris and London, in 1843 to Athens and Constantinople. Then came the Revolution which struck off the intellectual fetters under which Grillparzer and his contemporaries had groaned in Austria, but the liberation came too late for him. Honors were heaped upon him; he was made a member of the Academy of Sciences; Heinrich Laube, as director of the Burgtheater, reinstated his plays on the repertory; in 1861, he was elected to the Austrian Herrenhaus; his eightieth birthday was a national festival, and when he died in Vienna, on the January 21, 1872, the mourning of the Austrian people was universal. With the exception of a beautiful fragment, Esther (1861), Grillparzer published no more dramatic poetry after the fiasco of Weh dem, der lügt, but at his death three completed tragedies were found among his papers. Of these, Die Jüdin von Toledo, an admirable adaptation from the Spanish, has won a permanent place in the German classical repertory; Ein Bruderzwist in Habsburg is a powerful historical tragedy and Libussa is perhaps the most mature, as it is certainly the deepest, of all Grillparzer's dramas; the latter two plays prove how much was lost by the poets divorce from the theatre. 1836 was a leap year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... The Eiffel Tower has become a symbol of Paris throughout the world. ... The clock tower of the Palace of Westminster, which contains Big Ben London is the capital city of the United Kingdom and of England. ... 1843 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... The Acropolis in central Athens, one of the most important landmarks in world history. ... Map of Constantinople. ... Heinrich Laube (September 18, 1806 - August 1, 1884), German dramatist, novelist and theatre-director, was born at Sprottau in Silesia. ... Burgtheater (Postcard) The Burgtheater (English: Castle Theater), originally known as Theater an der Burg, then from 1918 known as the Hof-Burgtheater, is the Austrias Federal Theater in Vienna and one of the most important German language theatres in the world. ... 1861 is a common year starting on Tuesday. ... Between 1867 and 1918, the Reichsrat was the parliament of Cisleithania, the Austrian part of Austria-Hungary, which was officially known as the kingdoms and lands represented in the Reichsrat (German die im Reichsrat vertretenen Königreiche und Länder). ... January 21 is the 21st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1872 was a leap year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... 1861 is a common year starting on Tuesday. ... LibuÅ¡e (Czech; in German Libussa or Libuscha) is a mythical ancestor of the PÅ™emyslid dynasty and the Czech people as whole. ...

Assessment

Although Grillparzer was essentially a dramatist, his lyric poetry is in the intensity of its personal note hardly inferior to Lenau's; and the bitterness of his later years found vent in biting and stinging epigrams that spared few of his greater contemporaries. As a prose writer, he has left one powerful short story, Der arme Spielmann (1848), and a volume of critical studies on the Spanish drama, which shows how completely he had succeeded in identifying himself with the Spanish point of view. Nikolaus Lenau was the nom de plume of Nikolaus Franz Niembsch von Strehlenau (August 25, 1802 - August 22, 1850), and Austrian poet. ... This article is in need of attention. ...

Grillparzer's brooding, unbalanced temperament, his lack of will-power, his pessimistic renunciation and the bitterness which his self-imposed martyrdom produced in him, made him peculiarly adapted to express the mood of Austria in the epoch of intellectual thraldom that lay between the Napoleonic wars and the Revolution of 1848; his poetry reflects exactly the spirit of his people under the Metternich regime, and there is a deep truth behind the description of Der Traum, ein Leben as the Austrian Faust. His fame was in accordance with the general tenor of his life; even in Austria a true understanding for his genius was late in coming, and not until the centenary of 1891 did the German-speaking world realize that it possessed in him a dramatic poet of the first rank; in other words, that Grillparzer was no mere Epigone of the classic period, but a poet who, by a rare assimilation of the strength of the Greeks, the imaginative depth of German classicism and the delicacy and grace of the Spaniards, had opened up new paths for the higher dramatic poetry of Europe. The Napoleonic Wars was a series of wars fought during Napoleon Bonapartes rule of France. ... —Alexis de Tocqueville, Recollections The European Revolutions of 1848, in some countries known as the Spring of Nations, were the bloody consequences of a variety of changes that had been taking place in Europe in the first half of the 19th century. ... Klemens Wenzel von Metternich Klemens Wenzel Nepomuk Lothar Fürst von Metternich-Winneberg-Beilstein (May 15, 1773 - June 11, 1858) (sometimes rendered in English as Prince Clemens Metternich) was an Austrian politician and statesman and perhaps the most important diplomat of his era. ... Faust or Faustus is the protagonist of a popular German tale that has been used as the basis for many different fictional works. ... 1891 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... Classicism door in Olomouc, The Czech Republic. ...

He is honored in Austria with a pastry, the Grillparzertorte.

Works

• Blanca von Castilien (1807-1809)
• Spartacus (1809)
• Alfred der Grosse (1809)
• Die Ahnfrau (1817)
• Sappho (1818)
• Das goldene Vlies (1821), trilogy consisting of
  • Der Gastfreund
  • Die Argonauten
  • Medea
• König Ottokars Glück und Ende (1823)
• Ein treuer Diener seines Herrn (1826)
• Des Meeres und der Liebe Wellen (1831)
• Der Traum, ein Leben (1834)
• Tristia ex Ponto (1835)
• Weh dem, der lügt (1838)
• Libussa (1847; perf.1874)
• Der arme Spielmann (1848)
• Ein Bruderzwist im Hause Habsburg (1848; perf.1872)
• Esther (1848; perf.1861)
• Die Jüdin von Toledo (1851; perf.Prague 1872)

Prague (Czech: Praha, see also other names) is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. ...

See also

• List of Austrian writers
• List of Austrians

This is a list of Austrian writers and poets. ... The following list is an election of famous Austrians. ...

External link

• Works by Grillparzer from Project Gutenberg
• Works by Grillparzer from the eLibrary Austria Project (elib Austria full txts)
• Literary Encyclopedia: Grillparzer, Franz
• CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Franz Grillparzer
• Grillparzer-Lebenslauf (German)

Project Gutenberg (PG) was launched by Michael Hart in 1971 in order to provide a library, on what would later become the Internet, of free electronic versions (sometimes called e-texts) of physically existing books. ...

References

• This article incorporates text from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, which is in the public domain.