The Schaubühne viewed as a moral institution

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Friedrich Schiller's speech was published under the title The Schaubühne as a moral institution , which he had given on June 26, 1784 to the German Society of the Electoral Palatinate . The central question was: "What can a good standing stage actually achieve?"

Circumstances and intent

In January 1784 Schiller was accepted into the Electoral Palatinate German Society , a language society whose members tried to improve morals and purify the German language. Schiller's position at the Mannheim theater began to become increasingly dubious in the summer of 1784. With his speech he hoped to recommend himself for the vacant position as secretary of this society. The associated salary could have materially supported his existence as a freelance playwright. At that time, the members of the society viewed theater mainly as a place for entertainment and "amusement". With his speech, Schiller wanted to draw attention to the fact that theater also has an intellectual, moral and emotional effect on the moral attitudes of visitors.

content

To this end, Schiller makes three overarching claims in his speech.

  • A stage is a moral institution and a school of practical wisdom.

The moral influence of the stage educates and instructs people through the demonstration of the manifold human virtues, follies, sufferings and vices, it “protects his heart against weaknesses” and rewards him “with a wonderful increase in courage and experience”, “humanity and tolerance ".

  • A stage is a socio-political institution and an instrument of enlightenment.

In addition to its function of moral education for people, the Schaubühne is also a tool for “higher plans”. It is the "common channel into which the light of wisdom streams down from the thinking part of the people", from its pulpit "the opinions of the nation about government and rulers can be corrected". “Because it wanders the whole area of ​​human life, exhausts all situations of life and shines down into every corner of the heart; because it unites all ranks and classes in itself, “the stage could unite the countries of the empire into one (cultural) nation.

  • A stage is an aesthetic institution.

Since human nature cannot stand “to be continuously tortured by business”, it demands “equally incapable of continuing in the state of the animal any longer than to continue the finer work of the intellect”, according to an intermediate state, which is the animal with the spiritual Nature connects and facilitates “the alternating transition from one state to another”. The aesthetic sense for the beautiful in general and the Schaubühne in particular provide this benefit. It is she who "gives nourishment to every soul force without overstretching a single one, [which] unites the formation of the mind and the heart with the noblest entertainment" and who "fraternizes people through an all-weaving sympathy, dissolves them again into one gender". It is she who makes people feel what it is like "to be human".

criticism

Schiller's tendency to enlarge, his tendency to exaggerate, to digress into a distant ideal shows how much the young playwright was keen to win over the masters of society for the theater. In this context, Rüdiger Safranski says:

Schiller recommends art as the ultimate relaxation exercise to the serious gentlemen from the “German Society”; they should, as he addresses them with an enthusiastic conclusion, throw off “every fetter of artistry and fashion”, free themselves from the urge of everyday fate and feel how they are fraternized in play through “all-weaving sympathy”. All that's missing is for him to ask them to step forward, hold hands and dance the big dance.

However, his audience was hardly impressed by Schiller's enthusiastic speech. There was no collaboration between the company and the Mannheim theater. Nor was Schiller offered a secretary position.

Web links

Wikisource: What can a good standing stage actually do?

(Title of the first print in Thalia)

literature

  • Rüdiger Safranski: Schiller or The Invention of German Idealism . Hanser, Munich 2004 ISBN 3-446-20548-9 (biography)