European Adventures - 9. Goethe and Schiller

9. Goethe and Schiller

Weimar Market and Tourist Information

Weimar used to be in East Germany but you would not know it today. It’s a bustling town. 

Outside Weimar is Buchenwald, a former concentration camp, now a Memorial with the camp, grounds and buildings open to the public. 

Weimar was the city of Goethe, of Schiller and Friederich Nietzsche has archives here, Franz Liszt was a Music Director here, Carl Maria von Weber composed, and J. C. Bach played the Organ in the local church.

Weimar

The Bauhaus (Design School) of Architecture and Decorations style was ‘invented’ here, still today the University bears the name Bauhaus. 

The Weimar Republic was a concept that tried to live with the Reparations that the Allied Countries forced onto Germany after WW1. Hitler stopped this in 1933.

Weimar is chock full of history.

First we ate breakfast, my favorite meal; we ate it outside on the terrace.

Main Square, Weimar

So what were we going to see given all those choices? 

We took the bus into town; the bus stop was immediately in front of the hotel so it was easy getting into town. Then we walked a bit, and it is a great walking city. Many streets are blocked off from traffic, pedestrians only. We studied a tourist map we found at the hotel and followed whatever was closest to the main bus stop in town. No real plan just looked at what was ‘closest’. 

Schiller's House From 1799 - 1802

The Schiller Home was 1^st on the list, Schiller lived in this house for 2 years but to me it had no meaning, today there is a shop at the bottom of the house.To me Schiller is known for his Poem ‘Das Lied von der Glocke’, (The Song of the Bell) you might know him for his play “William Tell’.

It was different with the Goethe House. Now here is a house that gives you an insight into the man’s head. You can see how he lived, what he liked what he ‘thought’ about. 

Goethe and Schiller

Schiller and Goethe were acquainted for almost 17 years had a kind of friendship. They collaborated on some short stories or a collection of poems in the xenia meter.  

But they were two quite different Individuals. Both however began the ‘Sturm und Drang’ movement that came before the Romantic era. It’s like the difference in Music between a Vivaldi and a late Beethoven or a Brahms. Sturm and Drang allows the expression of ‘extreme’ emotional expressions, something quite new at the time.

Goethe's House (All the Yellow Is His House)

Goethe was a mental powerhouse. He was not just a statesman, philosopher, scientist, historian, playwright; he was a poet and writer. I remember the first book I read by Goethe: “The Sorrows of Young Werther” and it still sticks in my head. Goethe was the author of “Faust” the fellow who sells his soul to the devil to gain worldly wealth. 

Carol and I spent close to 3 hours just walking through Goethe’s house and his gardens. He loved to garden. I was

Part of Goethe's Garden

intrigued with just trying to understand the mind of this man who thought in so many different ways. Goethe was a ladies’ man, well maybe even more than just the ladies but I guess his religion held him back somewhat. Goethe sure was multi-faceted. He had an amazing mind during an amazing time in Germany, during the Enlightenment Years, the Romantic Era. He challenged his opponents with his philosophical vision, wrote, and discussed his point of view. His writings are now being taught in schools as the Weimar Classics. 

Opera House With Goethe and Schiller's Statue Behind the Street Light

Carol and I visited the City Opera and there in front was the statue of the great minds of the time, Schiller and Goethe, discussing life. The Opera in Weimar is still the central venue for Art today. The lobby had a long list of events that were to be

presented here, not just opera.

 

We moved on to Schiller’s permanent home but got stuck visiting the townhouse of Anna Amalia instead. She was a woman who loved art.

Duchess Anna Amalia

Her collections of books were housed in a very ornate Baroque library with close to a million volumes; some exceedingly rare. A fire in 2014 destroyed some of the most valuable books. Anna Amalia was one of the very few female composers I know about. She wrote an opera, a few marches and mostly oboe, flute and organ concerts. For her time, she was an outstanding woman; another powerhouse of Germany. She was the sister of the King of Prussia, Frederick ll. Her court became the center of the German Theater at the time.

We were troopers; we walked a lot, stood a lot, learned a lot.

But after our lunch at an outside café, we started to peter out. We walked for another few hours to just see the town itself and then find the Nietzsche Archives but then gave up. We kind of crawled back to the bus stop and there was no way we were going to visit Buchenwald, too. We can only do so much.

Awesome Cafe Latte

We had a light supper and then took the bus back to the hotel.

Weimar is too stuffed with history and ‘famous’ people and sights to do in just one day.

We have to come back…. Some other time !