Weimar Classicism

• 1. The Invitation To Weimar

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  In 1771, Duchess Anna Amalia of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel extended a formal invitation to the Seyler Theatre Company. Abel Seyler led this troupe to her court in the city of Weimar. The company included prominent actors and playwrights such as Konrad Ekhof. This event marked the infancy of what would become known as Weimar Classicism. The Seyler Theatre Company stayed at Anna Amalia's court until 1774. Contemporary accounts described it as the best theatre company that existed in Germany during that time period from 1769 to 1779. The troupe pioneered serious German theatre and opera alongside the movement itself. That movement was named for a play written specifically for the company. The following year, the Duchess invited Christoph Martin Wieland to Weimar. He arrived to educate her two sons. Wieland had just published his modern work Der goldne Spiegel oder die Könige von Scheschian. He became an important friend and collaborator of both Seyler and later Goethe.

• 2. The Alliance Of Two Giants

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  Goethe moved to Weimar in 1775 at the age of twenty-six. He served as a tutor for princes before becoming a central figure in the movement. His works steadily matured after arriving there. They aligned more with an aesthetic ideal approaching classical antiquity. Goethe traveled to Italy in 1786 to pursue this ideal geographically. He aimed to rediscover himself as a writer through formal training in Rome. While he failed as an artist, Italy appeared to have made him a better writer. Immediately after his return in the spring of 1788, he freed himself from previous duties. He met Schiller in Rudolstadt in September of that same year. This encounter was rather disillusioning for both men. Goethe considered Schiller a hothead while Schiller saw Goethe's poetic approach in stark contrast to his own. In 1794, Schiller and Goethe finally became friends and allies. They launched a project to establish new standards for literature and the arts in Germany. Between 1786 and Schiller's death in 1805, they worked to recruit a network of writers, philosophers, scholars, artists, and even representatives of natural sciences such as Alexander von Humboldt.

• 3. Gehalt And The Aesthetic Form

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  Goethe and Schiller established specific philosophical concepts to define their artistic standards. Gehlat referred to the inexpressible felt-thought or import alive within the artist. It is implicit with form and not reducible to its Inhalt. Gestalt described the aesthetic form where the import of the work stratifies. Sense relationships prevail within the employed medium abstracted from the world. Stoff designated forms taken from the world or created by the artist. Schiller and Goethe reserved this term almost solely for these forms. In a work of art, Stoff should be indifferent so it does not arouse undue interest. It must deflect attention from the aesthetic form only if necessary. Indeed, Stoff needs to exist in a complete state of unicity with the Gestalt of the art-symbol. This unity cannot be abstracted except at the cost of destroying the aesthetic relations established by the artist. These principles allowed them to reconcile vivid feeling emphasized by Romanticism with clear thought emphasized by the Enlightenment. They implied Weimar Classicism was intrinsically un-Platonic.

• 4. The Canon Of Primary Works

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  Schiller wrote his plays Wallenstein in 1799 and Mary Stuart in 1800. He followed these with The Maid of Orleans in 1801 and William Tell in 1804. Goethe produced works such as Wilhelm Meister, Faust, and West-östlicher Divan during this period. His play Egmont began in 1775 but published in 1788. Iphigenie auf Tauris appeared as a stage play published in 1787. Torquato Tasso ran from 1780 to its publication in 1790. Römische Elegien were written between 1788 and 1790. Hermann und Dorothea emerged as a hexametric epic poem in 1798. Schiller's Die Horen served as an edited periodical running from 1795 to 1796. Musenalmanach featured many contributions under editorship from 1796 to 1797. Xenien consisted of poems published in 1796. Propyläen operated as a periodical from 1798 to 1801. Wieland contributed novels like Die Geschichte der Abderiten published in Leipzig between 1774 and 1780. Herder released essays titled Ideen zur Philosophie der Geschichte der Menschheit from 1784 to 1791.

• 5. Women Writers In The Horen

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  The Weimar movement was notable for its inclusion of female writers within the Die Horen periodical. Caroline von Wolzogen, Schiller's sister-in-law, serially published a novel titled Agnes von Lilien there. Other women published by Schiller included Sophie Mereau. Friederike Brun also appeared in these pages alongside Amalie von Imhoff. Elisa von der Recke and Louise Brachmann contributed their works as well. Janet Besserer Holmgren documented these women writers in her study on patrons and promotion of Weimar Classicism. These authors helped shape the cultural landscape during the movement's peak years. Their presence challenged traditional gender roles in German literary circles of the late eighteenth century. The periodical provided a platform for voices often excluded from mainstream philosophical discourse. This inclusion demonstrated the breadth of humanism sought by Goethe and Schiller.

• 6. Legacy And National Identity

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  This alliance later became known as Weimar Classicism after its formation. It came to form part of the foundation of nineteenth-century Germany's understanding of itself as a culture. The movement influenced political unification of Germany significantly over time. Critics like Friedrich Nietzsche examined its impact decades later in works such as Friedrich Nietzsche and Weimar Classicism. Ernst Cassirer explored Goethe and the geschichtliche Welt in his 1932 publication. The movement attempted to reconcile vivid feeling with clear thought through binary synthesis. Goethe continuously criticized Romanticism through essays such as On Dilettantism. His objections partly elucidated the nature of his ideas in art. They intermingled with his scientific thinking to give coherence to his work. Modern scholars continue to analyze how this era shaped national identity. The legacy persists in discussions about German literature and cultural history today.