Sturm und Drang
Encyclopedia
Sturm und Drang (ˈʃtʊʁm ʊnt ˈdʁaŋ) (literally "turbulence and urge(ncy)", although usually translated as "Storm and Stress") is a proto-Romantic movement in German literature
and music
taking place from the late 1760s through the early 1780s, in which individual subjectivity
and, in particular, extremes of emotion were given free expression in reaction to the perceived constraints of rationalism imposed by the Enlightenment
and associated aesthetic movements.
The philosopher Johann Georg Hamann
is considered to be the ideologue of Sturm und Drang, with Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz
, H. L. Wagner and Friedrich Maximilian Klinger
being significant figures too. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
was also a notable proponent of the movement, though he and Friedrich Schiller
ended their period of association with it by initiating what would become Weimar Classicism
.
, a movement beginning in the early Baroque
, and its preoccupation with rational
congruity was the principal target of rebellion for adherents of the Sturm und Drang movement. The overt sentimentalism and need to project an objective
, anti-personal characterization or image was found to be at odds with the latent desire to express troubling personal emotions and an individual, subjective perspective on reality. It was considered that the Enlightenment ideals of rationalism
, empiricism
, and universalism
had failed to adequately capture the human experience - its emotional extremes and the inherent impurity of personal motivations.
, published in 1776, about the unfolding American Revolution
, in which the author gives violent expression to difficult emotions and extols individuality and subjectivity over the prevailing order of rationalism. Though it is argued that literature and music associated with Sturm und Drang predate this seminal work, it was from this point that German artists became distinctly self-conscious of a new esthetic. This seemingly spontaneous movement was embraced by a wide array of German authors and composers of the mid to late Classical period
.
Sturm und Drang came to be associated with literature or music aimed at frightening the audience or imbuing them with extremes of emotion. The movement soon dovetailed into Weimar Classicism
and early Romanticism
, whereupon a socio-political concern for greater human freedom from despotism was incorporated along with a religious treatment of all things natural. There is much debate regarding whose work should or should not be included in the canon of Sturm und Drang. One point of view would limit the movement to Goethe, Johann Gottfried Herder
, Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz
, and their direct German associates writing works of fiction and/or philosophy between 1770 and the early 1780s. The alternative perspective is that of a literary movement inextricably linked to simultaneous developments in prose, poetry, and drama, extending its direct influence throughout the German-speaking lands until the end of the 18th century. Nevertheless, it should be noted that the originators of the movement came to view it as a time of premature exuberance that was then abandoned in favor of often conflicting artistic pursuits.
The literary topos of the "Kraftmensch" existed as a precursor to Sturm und Drang among dramatists beginning with F.M. Klinger
, the expression of which is seen in the radical degree to which individuality need appeal to no outside authority outside the self nor be tempered by rationalism
. These ideals
are identical to those of Sturm und Drang, and it can be argued that the later name exists to catalog a number of parallel, co-influential movements in German literature
rather than express anything substantially different than what German dramatists were achieving in the violent plays attributed to the Kraftmensch movement.
Major philosophical/theoretical influences on the literary Sturm und Drang movement were Johann Georg Hamann
(especially the 1762 text Aesthetica in nuce. Eine Rhapsodie in kabbalistischer Prose) and Johann Gottfried Herder
, both from Königsberg, and both formerly in contact with Immanuel Kant
. Significant theoretical statements of Sturm und Drang aesthetics by the movement's central dramatists themselves include Lenz' Anmerkungen übers Theater and Goethe's Von deutscher Baukunst and Zum Schäkespears Tag (sic). The most important contemporary document was the 1773 volume Von deutscher Art und Kunst. Einige fliegende Blätter, a collection of essays that included commentaries by Herder on Ossian and Shakespeare, along with contributions by Goethe, Paolo Frisi
(in translation from the Italian), and Justus Möser
.
in a typical Sturm und Drang stage work, poem, or novel
is driven to action—often violent action—not by pursuit of noble means nor by true motives, but by revenge
and greed. Goethe's unfinished Prometheus
exemplifies this along with the common ambiguity provided by juxtaposing humanistic
platitudes with outbursts of irrationality. The literature of Sturm und Drang features an anti-aristocrat
ic slant while seeking to elevate all things humble, natural, or intensely real (especially whatever is painful, tormenting, or frightening).
The story of hopeless love and eventual suicide presented in Goethe's sentimental novel
Die Leiden des jungen Werthers (1774) is an example of the author's tempered introspection regarding his love and torment. Friedrich Schiller
's drama, Die Räuber
(1781), provided the groundwork for melodrama
to become a recognized dramatic form. The plot portrays a conflict between two aristocratic brothers, Franz and Karl Moor
. Franz is cast as a villain attempting to cheat Karl out of his inheritance, though the motives for his action are complex and initiate a thorough investigation of good and evil. Both of these works are seminal examples of Sturm und Drang in German literature
.
contours. Tempo
s and dynamics
change rapidly and unpredictably in order to reflect strong changes of emotion. Pulsing rhythm
s and syncopation
are common, as are racing lines in the soprano
or alto
registers. Writing for string instruments features tremolo
and sudden, dramatic dynamic changes and accents.
. The obligato recitative is a prime example. Here, orchestral accompaniment provides an intense underlay of vivid tone-painting to the solo recitative
. Christoph Willibald Gluck
's 1761 ballet, Don Juan
, heralded the emergence of Sturm und Drang in music; the program notes explicitly indicated that the D minor finale was to evoke fear in the listener. Jean Jacques Rousseau's 1762 play, Pygmalion
(first performed in 1770) is a similarly important bridge in its use of underlying instrumental music to convey the mood of the spoken drama
. The first example of melodrama
, Pygmalion influenced Goethe and other important German literary figures.
Nevertheless, relative to the influence of Sturm und Drang on literature, the influence on musical composition
was limited, and many efforts to label music as conforming to this trend are tenuous at best. Vienna
, the center of German/Austrian music, was a cosmopolitan city with an international culture; therefore, melodically innovative and expressive works in minor keys by Mozart or Haydn from this period should generally be considered first in the broader context of musical developments taking place throughout Europe. The clearest musical connections to the self-styled Sturm und Drang movement can be found in opera
and the early predecessors of program music
, such as Haydn's "Farewell" Symphony.
from the late 1760s to early 1770s. Works during this period often feature a newly impassioned or agitated element; however, Haydn never mentions Sturm und Drang as a motivation for his new compositional style, and there remains an overarching adherence to classical form and motivic unity. Though Haydn may not have been consciously affirming the anti-rational ideals of Sturm und Drang, one can certainly perceive the influence of contemporary trends in musical theatre
on his instrumental works during this period.
(the 'Little' G-minor symphony, 1773) is one of only two minor-key symphonies by the composer. Beyond the atypical key, the symphony features rhythmic syncopation along with the jagged themes associated with Sturm und Drang. More interesting is the emancipation of the wind instruments in this piece, with the violins yielding to colorful bursts from the oboe and flute. However, it is likely the influence of numerous minor-key works by the Czech composer Johann Baptist Vanhal
(a Viennese contemporary and acquaintance of Mozart), rather than a self-conscious adherence to a German literary movement, which is responsible for the harmonic and melodic experiments in the Symphony no. 25.
Johann Christian Bach
Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach
Wilhelm Friedemann Bach
Joseph Haydn
Joseph Martin Kraus
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Johann Baptist Vanhal
Johann Gottfried Müthel
Ernst Wilhelm Wolff
works were fashionable in Germany from the 1760s on through the 1780s, illustrating a public audience for emotionally provocative artwork. Additionally, disturbing visions and portrayals of nightmares were gaining an audience in Germany as evidenced by Goethe's possession and admiration of paintings by Fuseli capable of 'giving the viewer a good fright.' Notable artists included Joseph Vernet, Caspar Wolf
, Philip James de Loutherbourg
, and Henry Fuseli
.
German literature
German literature comprises those literary texts written in the German language. This includes literature written in Germany, Austria, the German part of Switzerland, and to a lesser extent works of the German diaspora. German literature of the modern period is mostly in Standard German, but there...
and music
Music of Germany
Forms of German-language music include Neue Deutsche Welle , Krautrock, Hamburger Schule, Volksmusik, Classical, German hip hop, trance, Schlager, Neue Deutsche Härte and diverse varieties of folk music, such as Waltz and Medieval metal....
taking place from the late 1760s through the early 1780s, in which individual subjectivity
Subjectivity
Subjectivity refers to the subject and his or her perspective, feelings, beliefs, and desires. In philosophy, the term is usually contrasted with objectivity.-Qualia:...
and, in particular, extremes of emotion were given free expression in reaction to the perceived constraints of rationalism imposed by the Enlightenment
Age of Enlightenment
The Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...
and associated aesthetic movements.
The philosopher Johann Georg Hamann
Johann Georg Hamann
Johann Georg Hamann was a noted German philosopher, a main proponent of the Sturm und Drang movement, and associated by historian of ideas Isaiah Berlin with the Counter-Enlightenment.-Biography:...
is considered to be the ideologue of Sturm und Drang, with Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz
Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz
Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz was a Baltic German writer of the Sturm und Drang movement.-Life:...
, H. L. Wagner and Friedrich Maximilian Klinger
Friedrich Maximilian Klinger
Friedrich Maximilian von Klinger was a German dramatist and novelist.-Biography:Klinger was born of humble parentage in Frankfurt. His father died when he was a child, and his early years were a hard struggle. He was enabled, however, in 1774 to enter the university of Gießen, where he studied law...
being significant figures too. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer, pictorial artist, biologist, theoretical physicist, and polymath. He is considered the supreme genius of modern German literature. His works span the fields of poetry, drama, prose, philosophy, and science. His Faust has been called the greatest long...
was also a notable proponent of the movement, though he and 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...
ended their period of association with it by initiating what would become Weimar Classicism
Weimar Classicism
Weimar Classicism is a cultural and literary movement of Europe. Followers attempted to establish a new humanism by synthesizing Romantic, classical and Enlightenment ideas...
.
Counter-Enlightenment
French NeoclassicismNeoclassicism
Neoclassicism is the name given to Western movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw inspiration from the "classical" art and culture of Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome...
, a movement beginning in the early Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
, and its preoccupation with rational
Rationality
In philosophy, rationality is the exercise of reason. It is the manner in which people derive conclusions when considering things deliberately. It also refers to the conformity of one's beliefs with one's reasons for belief, or with one's actions with one's reasons for action...
congruity was the principal target of rebellion for adherents of the Sturm und Drang movement. The overt sentimentalism and need to project an objective
Objectivity (philosophy)
Objectivity is a central philosophical concept which has been variously defined by sources. A proposition is generally considered to be objectively true when its truth conditions are met and are "mind-independent"—that is, not met by the judgment of a conscious entity or subject.- Objectivism...
, anti-personal characterization or image was found to be at odds with the latent desire to express troubling personal emotions and an individual, subjective perspective on reality. It was considered that the Enlightenment ideals of rationalism
Rationalism
In epistemology and in its modern sense, rationalism is "any view appealing to reason as a source of knowledge or justification" . In more technical terms, it is a method or a theory "in which the criterion of the truth is not sensory but intellectual and deductive"...
, empiricism
Empiricism
Empiricism is a theory of knowledge that asserts that knowledge comes only or primarily via sensory experience. One of several views of epistemology, the study of human knowledge, along with rationalism, idealism and historicism, empiricism emphasizes the role of experience and evidence,...
, and universalism
Universalism
Universalism in its primary meaning refers to religious, theological, and philosophical concepts with universal application or applicability...
had failed to adequately capture the human experience - its emotional extremes and the inherent impurity of personal motivations.
Origin of the term
The term Sturm und Drang first appeared as the title to a play by Friedrich Maximilian KlingerFriedrich Maximilian Klinger
Friedrich Maximilian von Klinger was a German dramatist and novelist.-Biography:Klinger was born of humble parentage in Frankfurt. His father died when he was a child, and his early years were a hard struggle. He was enabled, however, in 1774 to enter the university of Gießen, where he studied law...
, published in 1776, about the unfolding American Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
, in which the author gives violent expression to difficult emotions and extols individuality and subjectivity over the prevailing order of rationalism. Though it is argued that literature and music associated with Sturm und Drang predate this seminal work, it was from this point that German artists became distinctly self-conscious of a new esthetic. This seemingly spontaneous movement was embraced by a wide array of German authors and composers of the mid to late Classical period
Classical antiquity
Classical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ancient Greece and ancient Rome, collectively known as the Greco-Roman world...
.
Sturm und Drang came to be associated with literature or music aimed at frightening the audience or imbuing them with extremes of emotion. The movement soon dovetailed into Weimar Classicism
Weimar Classicism
Weimar Classicism is a cultural and literary movement of Europe. Followers attempted to establish a new humanism by synthesizing Romantic, classical and Enlightenment ideas...
and early Romanticism
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
, whereupon a socio-political concern for greater human freedom from despotism was incorporated along with a religious treatment of all things natural. There is much debate regarding whose work should or should not be included in the canon of Sturm und Drang. One point of view would limit the movement to Goethe, Johann Gottfried Herder
Johann Gottfried Herder
Johann Gottfried von Herder was a German philosopher, theologian, poet, and literary critic. He is associated with the periods of Enlightenment, Sturm und Drang, and Weimar Classicism.-Biography:...
, Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz
Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz
Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz was a Baltic German writer of the Sturm und Drang movement.-Life:...
, and their direct German associates writing works of fiction and/or philosophy between 1770 and the early 1780s. The alternative perspective is that of a literary movement inextricably linked to simultaneous developments in prose, poetry, and drama, extending its direct influence throughout the German-speaking lands until the end of the 18th century. Nevertheless, it should be noted that the originators of the movement came to view it as a time of premature exuberance that was then abandoned in favor of often conflicting artistic pursuits.
Related aesthetic and philosophical movements
Friedrich Maximilian Klinger
Friedrich Maximilian von Klinger was a German dramatist and novelist.-Biography:Klinger was born of humble parentage in Frankfurt. His father died when he was a child, and his early years were a hard struggle. He was enabled, however, in 1774 to enter the university of Gießen, where he studied law...
, the expression of which is seen in the radical degree to which individuality need appeal to no outside authority outside the self nor be tempered by rationalism
Rationalism
In epistemology and in its modern sense, rationalism is "any view appealing to reason as a source of knowledge or justification" . In more technical terms, it is a method or a theory "in which the criterion of the truth is not sensory but intellectual and deductive"...
. These ideals
Ideal (ethics)
An ideal is a principle or value that one actively pursues as a goal. Ideals are particularly important in ethics, as the order in which one places them tends to determine the degree to which one reveals them as real and sincere. It is the application, in ethics, of a universal...
are identical to those of Sturm und Drang, and it can be argued that the later name exists to catalog a number of parallel, co-influential movements in German literature
German literature
German literature comprises those literary texts written in the German language. This includes literature written in Germany, Austria, the German part of Switzerland, and to a lesser extent works of the German diaspora. German literature of the modern period is mostly in Standard German, but there...
rather than express anything substantially different than what German dramatists were achieving in the violent plays attributed to the Kraftmensch movement.
Major philosophical/theoretical influences on the literary Sturm und Drang movement were Johann Georg Hamann
Johann Georg Hamann
Johann Georg Hamann was a noted German philosopher, a main proponent of the Sturm und Drang movement, and associated by historian of ideas Isaiah Berlin with the Counter-Enlightenment.-Biography:...
(especially the 1762 text Aesthetica in nuce. Eine Rhapsodie in kabbalistischer Prose) and Johann Gottfried Herder
Johann Gottfried Herder
Johann Gottfried von Herder was a German philosopher, theologian, poet, and literary critic. He is associated with the periods of Enlightenment, Sturm und Drang, and Weimar Classicism.-Biography:...
, both from Königsberg, and both formerly in contact with Immanuel Kant
Immanuel Kant
Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher from Königsberg , researching, lecturing and writing on philosophy and anthropology at the end of the 18th Century Enlightenment....
. Significant theoretical statements of Sturm und Drang aesthetics by the movement's central dramatists themselves include Lenz' Anmerkungen übers Theater and Goethe's Von deutscher Baukunst and Zum Schäkespears Tag (sic). The most important contemporary document was the 1773 volume Von deutscher Art und Kunst. Einige fliegende Blätter, a collection of essays that included commentaries by Herder on Ossian and Shakespeare, along with contributions by Goethe, Paolo Frisi
Paolo Frisi
Paolo Frisi was an Italian mathematician and astronomer.-Biography:Born in Melegnano, Frisi was educated at the local Barnabite monastery and afterwards in that of Padua...
(in translation from the Italian), and Justus Möser
Justus Möser
Justus Möser was a German jurist and social theorist.Having studied law at the universities of Jena and Göttingen, he settled in his native town as a lawyer and was soon appointed advocatus patriae by his fellow citizens...
.
Characteristics
The protagonistProtagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
in a typical Sturm und Drang stage work, poem, or novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
is driven to action—often violent action—not by pursuit of noble means nor by true motives, but by revenge
Revenge
Revenge is a harmful action against a person or group in response to a grievance, be it real or perceived. It is also called payback, retribution, retaliation or vengeance; it may be characterized, justly or unjustly, as a form of justice.-Function in society:Some societies believe that the...
and greed. Goethe's unfinished Prometheus
Prometheus (Goethe)
Prometheus is a poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, in which the character of the mythic Prometheus addresses God in misotheist accusation and defiance. The poem was written between 1772 and 1774 and first published in 1789 after an anonymous and unauthorised publication in 1785 by Friedrich...
exemplifies this along with the common ambiguity provided by juxtaposing humanistic
Humanism
Humanism is an approach in study, philosophy, world view or practice that focuses on human values and concerns. In philosophy and social science, humanism is a perspective which affirms some notion of human nature, and is contrasted with anti-humanism....
platitudes with outbursts of irrationality. The literature of Sturm und Drang features an anti-aristocrat
Aristocracy (class)
The aristocracy are people considered to be in the highest social class in a society which has or once had a political system of Aristocracy. Aristocrats possess hereditary titles granted by a monarch, which once granted them feudal or legal privileges, or deriving, as in Ancient Greece and India,...
ic slant while seeking to elevate all things humble, natural, or intensely real (especially whatever is painful, tormenting, or frightening).
The story of hopeless love and eventual suicide presented in Goethe's sentimental novel
Sentimental novel
The sentimental novel or the novel of sensibility is an 18th century literary genre which celebrates the emotional and intellectual concepts of sentiment, sentimentalism, and sensibility...
Die Leiden des jungen Werthers (1774) is an example of the author's tempered introspection regarding his love and torment. 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...
's drama, Die Räuber
Die Räuber
The Robbers was the first drama by German playwright Friedrich Schiller. The play was published in 1781 and premiered on January 13, 1782 in Mannheim, Germany. It was written towards the end of the German Sturm und Drang movement and has been considered by many critics, such as Peter Brooks, to...
(1781), provided the groundwork for melodrama
Melodrama
The term melodrama refers to a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or events which resemble them...
to become a recognized dramatic form. The plot portrays a conflict between two aristocratic brothers, Franz and Karl Moor
Karl Moor
Karl Moor was a Swiss Communist, and a channel for German financing of the 19th century European Bolshevik movement....
. Franz is cast as a villain attempting to cheat Karl out of his inheritance, though the motives for his action are complex and initiate a thorough investigation of good and evil. Both of these works are seminal examples of Sturm und Drang in German literature
German literature
German literature comprises those literary texts written in the German language. This includes literature written in Germany, Austria, the German part of Switzerland, and to a lesser extent works of the German diaspora. German literature of the modern period is mostly in Standard German, but there...
.
Notable literary works
- Johann Wolfgang von GoetheJohann Wolfgang von GoetheJohann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer, pictorial artist, biologist, theoretical physicist, and polymath. He is considered the supreme genius of modern German literature. His works span the fields of poetry, drama, prose, philosophy, and science. His Faust has been called the greatest long...
(1749–1832):- Zum Shakespears Tag (1771)
- Sesenheimer Lieder (1770–1771)
- PrometheusPrometheus (Goethe)Prometheus is a poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, in which the character of the mythic Prometheus addresses God in misotheist accusation and defiance. The poem was written between 1772 and 1774 and first published in 1789 after an anonymous and unauthorised publication in 1785 by Friedrich...
(1772–1774) - Götz von BerlichingenGötz von BerlichingenGottfried "Götz" von Berlichingen and also known as Götz of the Iron Hand, was a German Imperial Knight and mercenary....
(1773) - Clavigo (1774)
- Die Leiden des jungen WerthersThe Sorrows of Young WertherThe Sorrows of Young Werther is an epistolary and loosely autobiographical novel by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, first published in 1774; a revised edition of the novel was published in 1787...
(1774) - Mahomets Gesang (1774)
- Adler und Taube (1774)
- An Schwager Kronos (1774)
- Gedichte der Straßburger und Frankfurter Zeit (1775)
- Stella. Ein Schauspiel für Liebende (1776)
- Die Geschwister (1776)
- Friedrich SchillerFriedrich SchillerJohann 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...
(1759–1805):- Die RäuberDie RäuberThe Robbers was the first drama by German playwright Friedrich Schiller. The play was published in 1781 and premiered on January 13, 1782 in Mannheim, Germany. It was written towards the end of the German Sturm und Drang movement and has been considered by many critics, such as Peter Brooks, to...
(1781) - Die Verschwörung des Fiesko zu Genua (1783)
- Kabale und Liebe (1784)
- An die Freude (1785)
- Die Räuber
- Jakob Michael Reinhold LenzJakob Michael Reinhold LenzJakob Michael Reinhold Lenz was a Baltic German writer of the Sturm und Drang movement.-Life:...
(1751–1792)- Anmerkung über das Theater nebst angehängtem übersetzten Stück Shakespeares (1774)
- Der Hofmeister oder Vorteile der Privaterziehung (1774)
- Lustspiele nach dem Plautus fürs deutsche Theater (1774)
- Die Soldaten (1776)
- Friedrich Maximilian KlingerFriedrich Maximilian KlingerFriedrich Maximilian von Klinger was a German dramatist and novelist.-Biography:Klinger was born of humble parentage in Frankfurt. His father died when he was a child, and his early years were a hard struggle. He was enabled, however, in 1774 to enter the university of Gießen, where he studied law...
(1752–1831):- Das leidende Weib (1775)
- Sturm und Drang (1776)
- Die Zwillinge (1776)
- Simsone Grisaldo (1776)
- Gottfried August BürgerGottfried August BürgerGottfried August Bürger was a German poet. His ballads were very popular in Germany. His most noted ballad, Lenore, found an audience beyond readers of the German language in an English adaptation and a French translation.-Biography:He was born in Molmerswende , Principality of Halberstadt, where...
(1747–1794):- LenoreLenore (ballad)Lenore, sometimes translated as Leonora, Leonore or Ellenore, is a poem written by German author Gottfried August Bürger in 1773, and published in 1774 in the Göttinger Musenalmanach...
(1773) - Gedichte (1778)
- Wunderbare Reisen zu Wasser und zu Lande, Feldzüge und lustige Abenteuer des Freiherren von Münchhausen (1786)
- Lenore
- Heinrich Wilhelm von GerstenbergHeinrich Wilhelm von GerstenbergHeinrich Wilhelm von Gerstenberg was a German poet and critic.Gerstenberg was born in Tondern, Schleswig. After attending school in Husum and at the Christianeum Hamburg, and studying law at the University of Jena, he entered the Danish military service and took part in the Russian campaign of 1762...
(1737–1823):- Gedichte eines Skalden (1766)
- Briefe über Merkwürdigkeiten der Literatur (1766–67)
- Ugolino (1768)
- Johann Georg HamannJohann Georg HamannJohann Georg Hamann was a noted German philosopher, a main proponent of the Sturm und Drang movement, and associated by historian of ideas Isaiah Berlin with the Counter-Enlightenment.-Biography:...
(1730–1788):- Sokratische Denkwürdigkeiten für die lange Weile des Publikums zusammengetragen von einem Liebhaber der langen Weile (1759)
- Kreuzzüge des Philologen (1762)
- Johann Jakob Wilhelm HeinseJohann Jakob Wilhelm HeinseWilhelm Heinse , German author, was born at Langewiesen in Schwarzburg-Sondershausen ....
(1746–1803):- Ardinghello und die glückseligen Inseln (1787)
- Johann Gottfried HerderJohann Gottfried HerderJohann Gottfried von Herder was a German philosopher, theologian, poet, and literary critic. He is associated with the periods of Enlightenment, Sturm und Drang, and Weimar Classicism.-Biography:...
(1744–1803):- Fragmente über die neuere deutsche Literatur (1767–1768)
- Kritische Wälder oder Betrachtungen, die Wissenschaft und Kunst des Schönen betreffend, nach Maßgabe neuerer Schriften (1769)
- Journal meiner Reise im Jahre (1769)
- Abhandlung über den Ursprung der Sprache (1770)
- Von deutscher Art und Kunst, einige fliegende Blätter (1773)
- Volkslieder (1778–79)
- Vom Geist der Hebräischen Poesie (1782–1783)
- Ideen zur Philosophie der Geschichte der Menschheit (1784–1791)
In music
The Classical period music (1750–1800) associated with Sturm und Drang is predominantly written in a minor key to convey difficult or depressing sentiments. The principal themes tend to be angular, with large leaps and unpredictable melodicMelody
A melody , also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones which is perceived as a single entity...
contours. Tempo
Tempo
In musical terminology, tempo is the speed or pace of a given piece. Tempo is a crucial element of any musical composition, as it can affect the mood and difficulty of a piece.-Measuring tempo:...
s and dynamics
Dynamics (music)
In music, dynamics normally refers to the volume of a sound or note, but can also refer to every aspect of the execution of a given piece, either stylistic or functional . The term is also applied to the written or printed musical notation used to indicate dynamics...
change rapidly and unpredictably in order to reflect strong changes of emotion. Pulsing rhythm
Rhythm
Rhythm may be generally defined as a "movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions." This general meaning of regular recurrence or pattern in time may be applied to a wide variety of cyclical natural phenomena having a periodicity or...
s and syncopation
Syncopation
In music, syncopation includes a variety of rhythms which are in some way unexpected in that they deviate from the strict succession of regularly spaced strong and weak but also powerful beats in a meter . These include a stress on a normally unstressed beat or a rest where one would normally be...
are common, as are racing lines in the soprano
Soprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
or alto
Alto
Alto is a musical term, derived from the Latin word altus, meaning "high" in Italian, that has several possible interpretations.When designating instruments, "alto" frequently refers to a member of an instrumental family that has the second highest range, below that of the treble or soprano. Hence,...
registers. Writing for string instruments features tremolo
Tremolo
Tremolo, or tremolando, is a musical term that describes various trembling effects, falling roughly into two types. The first is a rapid reiteration...
and sudden, dramatic dynamic changes and accents.
History
Musical theater became the meeting place of the literary and musical strands of Sturm und Drang, with the aim of increasing emotional expression in operaOpera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
. The obligato recitative is a prime example. Here, orchestral accompaniment provides an intense underlay of vivid tone-painting to the solo recitative
Recitative
Recitative , also known by its Italian name "recitativo" , is a style of delivery in which a singer is allowed to adopt the rhythms of ordinary speech...
. Christoph Willibald Gluck
Christoph Willibald Gluck
Christoph Willibald Ritter von Gluck was an opera composer of the early classical period. After many years at the Habsburg court at Vienna, Gluck brought about the practical reform of opera's dramaturgical practices that many intellectuals had been campaigning for over the years...
's 1761 ballet, Don Juan
Don Juan
Don Juan is a legendary, fictional libertine whose story has been told many times by many authors. El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra by Tirso de Molina is a play set in the fourteenth century that was published in Spain around 1630...
, heralded the emergence of Sturm und Drang in music; the program notes explicitly indicated that the D minor finale was to evoke fear in the listener. Jean Jacques Rousseau's 1762 play, Pygmalion
Pygmalion (1762 play)
Pygmalion is the most influential dramatic work by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, other than his opera Le devin du village. Though now rarely performed, it was one of the first ever melodramas...
(first performed in 1770) is a similarly important bridge in its use of underlying instrumental music to convey the mood of the spoken drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
. The first example of melodrama
Melodrama
The term melodrama refers to a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or events which resemble them...
, Pygmalion influenced Goethe and other important German literary figures.
Nevertheless, relative to the influence of Sturm und Drang on literature, the influence on musical composition
Musical composition
Musical composition can refer to an original piece of music, the structure of a musical piece, or the process of creating a new piece of music. People who practice composition are called composers.- Musical compositions :...
was limited, and many efforts to label music as conforming to this trend are tenuous at best. Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, the center of German/Austrian music, was a cosmopolitan city with an international culture; therefore, melodically innovative and expressive works in minor keys by Mozart or Haydn from this period should generally be considered first in the broader context of musical developments taking place throughout Europe. The clearest musical connections to the self-styled Sturm und Drang movement can be found in opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
and the early predecessors of program music
Program music
Program music or programme music is a type of art music that attempts to musically render an extra-musical narrative. The narrative itself might be offered to the audience in the form of program notes, inviting imaginative correlations with the music...
, such as Haydn's "Farewell" Symphony.
Haydn
A Sturm und Drang period is often attributed to the works of the Austrian composer Joseph HaydnJoseph Haydn
Franz Joseph Haydn , known as Joseph Haydn , was an Austrian composer, one of the most prolific and prominent composers of the Classical period. He is often called the "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet" because of his important contributions to these forms...
from the late 1760s to early 1770s. Works during this period often feature a newly impassioned or agitated element; however, Haydn never mentions Sturm und Drang as a motivation for his new compositional style, and there remains an overarching adherence to classical form and motivic unity. Though Haydn may not have been consciously affirming the anti-rational ideals of Sturm und Drang, one can certainly perceive the influence of contemporary trends in musical theatre
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
on his instrumental works during this period.
Mozart
Mozart's Symphony No. 25Symphony No. 25 (Mozart)
The Symphony No. 25 in G minor, K. 183/173dB, was written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in October 1773, shortly after the success of his opera seria Lucio Silla. It was supposedly completed October 5, a mere two days after the completion of his Symphony No. 24, although this remains unsubstantiated...
(the 'Little' G-minor symphony, 1773) is one of only two minor-key symphonies by the composer. Beyond the atypical key, the symphony features rhythmic syncopation along with the jagged themes associated with Sturm und Drang. More interesting is the emancipation of the wind instruments in this piece, with the violins yielding to colorful bursts from the oboe and flute. However, it is likely the influence of numerous minor-key works by the Czech composer Johann Baptist Vanhal
Johann Baptist Vanhal
Johann Baptist Vanhal also spelled Wanhal, Waṅhall or Wanhall was an important classical music composer born in Nechanice, Bohemia to a Czech family.- Biography :...
(a Viennese contemporary and acquaintance of Mozart), rather than a self-conscious adherence to a German literary movement, which is responsible for the harmonic and melodic experiments in the Symphony no. 25.
Notable composers and works
Carl Philipp Emanuel BachCarl Philipp Emanuel Bach
right|250pxCarl Philipp Emanuel Bach was a German Classical period musician and composer, the fifth child and second son of Johann Sebastian Bach and Maria Barbara Bach...
- Symphonies, keyboard concertos and sonatas including Symphony in E minor Wq. 178 (1757-62)
Johann Christian Bach
Johann Christian Bach
Johann Christian Bach was a composer of the Classical era, the eleventh and youngest son of Johann Sebastian Bach. He is sometimes referred to as 'the London Bach' or 'the English Bach', due to his time spent living in the British capital...
- SymphonySymphonyA symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, scored almost always for orchestra. A symphony usually contains at least one movement or episode composed according to the sonata principle...
in G minor op.6 No.6
Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach
Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach
Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach , the ninth son of Johann Sebastian Bach, sometimes referred to as the "Bückeburg Bach"...
- OratorioOratorioAn oratorio is a large musical composition including an orchestra, a choir, and soloists. Like an opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias...
Die Auferweckung des Lazarus - CantataCantataA cantata is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir....
Cassandra
Wilhelm Friedemann Bach
Wilhelm Friedemann Bach
Wilhelm Friedemann Bach , the second child and eldest son of Johann Sebastian Bach and Maria Barbara Bach, was a German composer and performer...
- Adagio und Fuge in D minor Falk 65
Joseph Haydn
Joseph Haydn
Franz Joseph Haydn , known as Joseph Haydn , was an Austrian composer, one of the most prolific and prominent composers of the Classical period. He is often called the "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet" because of his important contributions to these forms...
- Symphony No. 49Symphony No. 49 (Haydn)The Symphony No. 49 in F minor was written in 1768 by Joseph Haydn during his Sturm und Drang period. It is popularly known as La passione...
in F minor La Passione (1768) - Symphony No. 44Symphony No. 44 (Haydn)The Symphony No. 44 in E minor, Hoboken 1/44, was completed in 1772 by Joseph Haydn. It is popularly known as Trauer...
in E minor Trauer (Mourning) (1772) - Symphony No. 45Symphony No. 45 (Haydn)Symphony No. 45 in F-sharp minor, known as the "Farewell" Symphony , was composed by Joseph Haydn in 1772....
in F sharp minor Farewell (1772) - Symphony No. 26Symphony No. 26 (Haydn)The Symphony No. 26 in D minor, Hoboken 1/26, is one of the early Sturm und Drang Symphonies written by Joseph Haydn. It is popularly known as the Lamentatione.- Background :...
in D minor Lamentatione - String Quartet No. 23 in F minorString Quartets, Op. 20 (Haydn)The six string quartets opus 20 by Joseph Haydn are among the works that earned Haydn the sobriquet "the father of the string quartet." The quartets are considered a milestone in the history of composition; in them, Haydn develops compositional techniques that were to define the medium for the next...
, Op. 20 No. 5 (1772)
Joseph Martin Kraus
Joseph Martin Kraus
Joseph Martin Kraus , was a composer in the classical era who was born in Miltenberg am Main, Germany. He moved to Sweden at age 21, and died at the age of 36 in Stockholm...
- Symphony in C minor Symphonie funebre
- Symphony in C-sharp minor
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
- Symphony No. 25 in G minorSymphony No. 25 (Mozart)The Symphony No. 25 in G minor, K. 183/173dB, was written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in October 1773, shortly after the success of his opera seria Lucio Silla. It was supposedly completed October 5, a mere two days after the completion of his Symphony No. 24, although this remains unsubstantiated...
, K. 183 (1773)
Johann Baptist Vanhal
Johann Baptist Vanhal
Johann Baptist Vanhal also spelled Wanhal, Waṅhall or Wanhall was an important classical music composer born in Nechanice, Bohemia to a Czech family.- Biography :...
- Symphony in D minor (Bryan d1)
- Symphony in G minor (Bryan g1)
- Symphony in A minor (Bryan a2)
- Symphony in E minor (Bryan e1)
Johann Gottfried Müthel
Johann Gottfried Müthel
Johann Gottfried Müthel was a German composer and noted keyboard virtuoso. Along with C.P.E. Bach, he represented the Sturm und Drang style of composition....
- Works for keyboard
Ernst Wilhelm Wolff
- Works for keyboard
In visual art
The parallel movement in the visual arts can be witnessed in paintings of storms and shipwrecks showing the terror and irrational destruction wrought by nature. These pre-romanticRomanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
works were fashionable in Germany from the 1760s on through the 1780s, illustrating a public audience for emotionally provocative artwork. Additionally, disturbing visions and portrayals of nightmares were gaining an audience in Germany as evidenced by Goethe's possession and admiration of paintings by Fuseli capable of 'giving the viewer a good fright.' Notable artists included Joseph Vernet, Caspar Wolf
Caspar Wolf
Caspar Wolf was a Swiss painter, known mostly for his dramatic paintings of Alps. He was strongly influenced by Albrecht von Hallers poem on the Alps, and the Sturm und Drang movement. After 1773 Wolf mostly painted glaciers, caves, waterfalls and gorges.Wolf was the son of a furniture maker, who...
, Philip James de Loutherbourg
Philip James de Loutherbourg
Philip James de Loutherbourg, also seen as Philippe-Jacques and Philipp Jakob and with the appellation the Younger was an English artist of German origin who became known for his elaborate set designs for London theatres.-Early life:He was born in Strasbourg, where his father, the representative...
, and Henry Fuseli
Henry Fuseli
Henry Fuseli was a British painter, draughtsman, and writer on art, of Swiss origin.-Biography:...
.
External links
- BBC audio file. Radio 4 discussion programme In our time.
- Sturm und Drang. The Columbia Encyclopedia
- Sturm und Drang. Literary Encyclopedia