Friedrich Schiller, the Mannheim National Theater and the Idea of Freedom

German studies scholar Prof. Dr. Ulrich Kittstein has published a new book on Friedrich Schiller called “Das Wagnis der Freiheit” (The gamble of freedom), in which Mannheim and the National Theater figure prominently.

Cover des Buches "Das Wagnis der Freiheit. Schillers Dramen in ihrer Epoche." von Ulrich Kittstein. Zu sehen ist eine Porträt-Gemälde von Friedrich Schiller.

In his new monograph, which offers an accessible read for non-experts, Kittstein concentrates on in-depth analyses of Schiller’s plays and on 18th-century theater life, introducing readers to the world of the Mannheim and Weimar theaters.

“Schiller was a stage- and practice-oriented playwright,” says Kittstein. “He always had the theater of his era and the expectations of the audience in mind.” For example, he tailored the plays he wrote in Mannheim to the technical possibilities and the ensemble of the Mannheim National Theater, which was among the leading and most progressive theaters in Germany at the time. Unlike the large court stages in Stuttgart and Ludwigsburg, for example, which still presented many French plays, Mannheim was already staging mainly original German works. One example is Schiller’s dramatic play “Die Räuber” (The Robbers), which premiered at the National Theater in 1782.

Freedom as the main theme

The main theme in Kittstein’s book is Schiller’s understanding of freedom. “Freedom is the universal key to his work,” says Kittstein. The poet explored this theme in various dimensions: as a political, moral and aesthetic problem. His own relationship to freedom remained ambivalent. On the one hand, he supported the bourgeois emancipation movements of his era, but on the other hand, he had seen freedom turn into terror in the wake of the French Revolution. “To Schiller, therefore, freedom is always a risk, a gamble,” says Kittstein.

That also applied to the poet’s personal life. Because he clashed with the censors over the “Robbers,” he had to leave Stuttgart in 1782 to escape the oppression of Duke Karl Eugen of Württemberg. It was only in Weimar that he achieved complete independence, earning enough money from writing to provide for himself and his family. “This, too, is part of the historical context and has left its mark on his work,” according to his biographer.

The book Das Wagnis der Freiheit. Schillers Dramen in ihrer Epoche was published by WBG Academic, now a part of Herder Verlag.

Text: Yvonne Kaul / August 2024