Die Huldigung der Künste (The Homage of the Arts) is a dramatic poem written by Friedrich Schiller

Friedrich Schiller

Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller was a German poet, philosopher, historian, and playwright. During the last seventeen years of his life , Schiller struck up a productive, if complicated, friendship with already famous and influential Johann Wolfgang von Goethe...

. It was his last completed dramatic work and premiered on 12 November 1804 in Weimar

Weimar

Weimar is a city in Germany famous for its cultural heritage. It is located in the federal state of Thuringia , north of the Thüringer Wald, east of Erfurt, and southwest of Halle and Leipzig. Its current population is approximately 65,000. The oldest record of the city dates from the year 899...

. Its final sentence, expressing Schiller's artistic credo, is Denn aus der Kräfte schön vereintem Streben / Erhebt sich, wirkend, erst das wahre Leben.

At the time of its composition, Charles Frederick, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach

Charles Frederick, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach

Charles Friedrich, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach was a Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach.-Biography:Born in Weimar, he was the eldest son of Charles Augustus, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach and Luise Auguste of Hesse-Darmstadt.Charles Frederick succeeded his famous father as Grand Duke...

 had just married Maria Pavlovna, sister of tsar Alexander I of Russia

Alexander I of Russia

Alexander I of Russia , served as Emperor of Russia from 23 March 1801 to 1 December 1825 and the first Russian King of Poland from 1815 to 1825. He was also the first Russian Grand Duke of Finland and Lithuania....

. Then working with Johann Wolfgang Goethe at the Weimar court, Schiller was commissioned to write a short piece in honour of the couple and the occasion. Under great pressure of time, he thus wrote Die Huldigung der Künste in four days for this purpose.

Plot

A farming family wants to hold a great festival in honour of their new queen in order to give her a fitting welcome. A tree is planted as a symbol of the country. Then the seven arts (architecture, sculpture, painting, poetry, music, dance and drama) greet the new sovereign

Sources

Text of Die Huldigung der Künste on Project Gutenberg

Project Gutenberg

Project Gutenberg is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks". Founded in 1971 by Michael S. Hart, it is the oldest digital library. Most of the items in its collection are the full texts of public domain books...

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