Friedrich Schiller

The Profile

Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805) was a German playwright, poet, philosopher, and historian, a central figure of Weimar Classicism alongside Goethe.

Key figure of Weimar Classicism with Goethe; author of An die Freude (set by Beethoven in the Ninth Symphony); served as professor of history at the University of Jena.

A single, impassioned review celebrates Schiller’s Die Räuber as a Sturm und Drang thunderclap where good and evil blur. The critic evokes Shakespeare, Rousseau, Kant, Nietzsche, and Dostoevsky to frame Karl and Franz’s tragic collision of freedom and law. There’s awe at Schiller’s youthful force, notes on censorship and arrest after the explosive premiere, and a nod to Beethoven’s ‘Ode to Joy.’ The piece insists no one remains indifferent to Schiller’s words.