Friedrich von Klinger | |
|---|---|
 Klinger, 1807 etching | |
| Born | Friedrich Maximilian Klinger (1752-02-17)17 February 1752 |
| Died | 9 March 1831(1831-03-09) (aged 79) |
| Occupation | Dramatist, novelist, military officer |
| Language | German |
| Education | University of Gießen |
| Literary movement | Sturm und Drang |
| Notable awards | |
| Spouse | Elisabeth Alexajef (m. 1788) |
Friedrich Maximilian von Klinger (17 February 1752 – 9 March 1831)[1] was a German dramatist and novelist. His playSturm und Drang (1776) gave its name to theSturm und Drang artistic epoch. He was a childhood friend ofJohann Wolfgang von Goethe and is often closely associated withJakob Michael Reinhold Lenz. Klinger worked as a playwright for theSeylersche Schauspiel-Gesellschaft for two years, but eventually left theKingdom of Prussia to become a General in theImperial Russian Army.
One of the few eighteenth-century authors from the lowersocial class, Klinger was born inFrankfurt am Main. His father, Johannes Klinger (1719–1760),[2] was a town constable in Frankfurt who came from Pfaffen-Beerfurth in theOdenwald where he was born as the son of themill owner,blacksmith andschoolmaster Johannes Klinger (1671–1743), who was married to Anna BarabraBoßler (1674–1747) since January 17, 1695.[3][4][5] His father died when Klinger was eight years old, forcing his mother Cornelia Fuchs Klinger, a sergeant's daughter, to support her son and two daughters by washing laundry from the Frankfurt elite—including, perhaps, Klinger's future friends and patrons, the Goethes of Hirschgrabenallee.[6] In spite of this misfortune, Klinger excelled in his studies and won a scholarship to study at thegymnasium, where he also worked as a tutor to earn money for his family.[7]
Klinger was the cousin ofHeinrich Philipp Boßler,[8][9][10] who is known as the authorized original publisher ofHaydn,Mozart andBeethoven.
Though there is little documentation of Klinger's earliest interactions withGoethe during their Frankfurt years, they appear to have made acquaintance by 1773, as Klinger had begun work on his first dramas,Otto andDas leidende Weib (The Suffering Wife) which, according to his Leipzig publisher, owe a great debt to Goethe's then-unpublishedGötz von Berlichingen mit der eisernen Hand. Weygand released the collection at its Easter book fair of 1775, calling them "plays in the Goethean/Lenzian Manner."[6] Additionally, it was only with Goethe's financial assistance that Klinger was able to enroll at theUniversity of Gießen in 1774 where he briefly studied to be a legal clerk.[6]
In 1776, Klinger submitted his tragedyDie Zwillinge (The Twins) to a contest hosted by the Hamburg theatre under the auspices of the actressSophie Charlotte Ackermann and her son, the famous actor and playwrightFriedrich Ludwig Schröder. The play took first prize, earning Klinger enough critical acclaim to be appointed Theaterdichter to theSeylersche Schauspiel-Gesellschaft headed byAbel Seyler and held this post for two years.[11]
In 1778, he joined the Austrian military and fought in theWar of the Bavarian Succession. In 1780, he went toSaint Petersburg, became an officer in theImperial Russian Army, was ennobled and attached to the Grand Duke Paul, whom he accompanied on a journey toItaly andFrance. In 1785, he was appointed director of the corps of cadets, and after marrying Elizaveta Alekseyeva (rumored to be a natural daughter ofCatherine the Great and PrinceGrigory Orlov), was made praeses of the Academy of Knights in 1799. In 1803, Klinger was nominated by Emperor Alexander curator of theImperial University of Dorpat, an office he held until 1817. In 1811, he became lieutenant-general. He then gradually gave up his official posts, and after living for many years in retirement, died in the imperial city ofDorpat in present-dayEstonia.[11]
Klinger was a man of vigorous moral character and full of fine feeling, though the bitter experiences and deprivations of his youth are largely reflected in his dramas. It was one of his earliest works,Sturm und Drang (1776), which gave its name tothis artistic epoch. In addition to this tragedy andDie Zwillinge (1776), the chief plays of his early period of passionate fervour and restless "storm and stress" areDie neue Arria (1776),Simsone Grisaldo (1776) andStilpo und seine Kinder (1780). To a later period belongs the fine double tragedy ofMedea in Korinth andMedea auf dem Kaukasos (1791). In Russia, he devoted himself mainly to the writing of philosophical romances, of which the best known areFausts Leben, Taten und Höllenfahrt (1791),Geschichte Giafars des Barmeciden (1792) andGeschichte Raphaeis de Aquillas (1793). This series was closed in 1803 withBetrachtungen und Gedanken über verschiedene Gegenstände der Welt und der Literatur. In these works, Klinger gives calm and dignified expression to the leading ideas which the period of Sturm und Drang had bequeathed to German classical literature.[12]
Klingers works were published in twelve volumes (1809–1815), also 1832–1833 and 1842. The most recent edition is in eight volumes (1878–1880); but none of these is complete. A selection will be found in A. Sauer,Stürmer und Dränger, vol. 1. (1883). See E. Schmidt,Lenz und Klinger (1878); M. Rieger,Klinger in der Sturm-und Drangperiode (1880); andKlinger in seiner Reife (1896).[15]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Klinger, Friedrich Maximilian von".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 15 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 846–847.
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