Sturm und Drang

Sturm und Drang (German pronunciation: [tm nt da], literally 'storm and
drive', 'storm and urge', though conventionally translated as 'storm and stress') is a proto-
Romantic movement in German literature and music that took place from the late 1760s
to 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 period is named
for Friedrich Maximilian Klinger's play Sturm und Drang, which was first performed by
Abel Seyler's famed theatrical company in 1777.
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 also significant figures. 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.
Historical background
Counter-Enlightenment
French neoclassicism (including French neoclassical theatre), a movement
beginning in the early Baroque, with its emphasis on the rational, was the principal target
of rebellion for adherents of the Sturm und Drang movement. Sentimentality and an
objective view of life gave way to emotional turbulence and individuality. Enlightenment
ideals of rationalism, empiricism, and universalism no longer captured the human
condition; emotional extremes and subjectivity became the vogue during the late 18th
century.
` Origin of the term
The term Sturm und Drang first appeared as the title of a play by Friedrich
Maximilian Klinger, written for Abel Seyler's Seylersche Schauspiel-Gesellschaft and
published in 1776. The theme of the play is 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 aesthetic. This
seemingly spontaneous movement became associated with 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
shocking the audience or imbuing them with extremes of emotion. The movement soon
gave way to 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, 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
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 save 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 from 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 Knigsberg,
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 bers Theater and Goethe's Von deutscher Baukunst and Zum
Schkespears Tag (sic). The most important contemporary document was the 1773
volume Von deutscher Art und Kunst. Einige fliegende Bltter, 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 Mser.
Sturm und Drang in literature
Characteristics
The protagonist in a typical Sturm und Drang stage work, poem, or novel is
driven to actionoften violent actionnot 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-aristocratic
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 Ruber
(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.
In music
The Classical period music (17501800) 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 melodic contours.
Tempos and dynamics change rapidly and unpredictably in order to reflect strong changes
of emotion. Pulsing rhythms 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.
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 opera. 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.
Haydn
A Sturm und Drang period is often attributed to the works of the Austrian
composer Joseph Haydn 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.
Mozart
Mozart's Symphony No. 25 (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 Wanhal
(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 Bach
0 Symphonies, keyboard concertos and sonatas including Symphony in E minor
Wq. 178 (175762)
Johann Christian Bach
1 Symphony in G minor op.6 No.6
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-romantic 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.
In theatre
The Sturm und Drang movement did not last long; according to Betty Waterhouse
it began in 1771 and ended in 1778 (Waterhouse v). The rise of the middle class in the
18th century led to a change in the way society and social standings were looked at.
Dramatists and writers saw the stage as a venue for critique and discussion of societal
issues. French writer Louis-Sbastien Mercier suggested that drama be used to promote
political ideas, a concept that would develop many years later. After the Seven Years
War, which ended in 1763, German spirit was extremely high and Germans felt a sense of
importance on a grander stage. The aristocracy gained power as the ruling class,
furthering the divide and increasing tensions between the classes (Liedner viii). With
these new ideals came the sense that a new form of art capable of dethroning the
extremely popular French neoclassicism was needed. Johann Georg Hamann, a noted
German philosopher and a major promoter of the Sturm und Drang movement, defended
the native culture of the Volk and maintained that language, the root of all our experience,
was richer in images and more powerful prior to the abstract eighteenth century
(Liedner viii). Germany did not have a common nationality, and the nation broke up into
hundreds of small states. The Sturm und Drang movement was a reaction to this lack of
nationality and often dealt with the idea of living life on a smaller scale and the desire to
become a part of something bigger.
The Sturm und Drang movement also paid a lot of attention to the language of a
piece of literature. It is no wonder that Shakespeare, with his brilliant use of language,
originality with complex plot lines and subplots, and multifaceted characters from all
social classes, was seen as a model for German writers (Wilson and Goldfarb 287). Many
writers of the Sturm und Drang movement considered themselves to be challengers of the
Enlightenment. However, the movement is actually a continuation of the Enlightenment.
Many Sturm und Drang plays showed interest in how society affects the individual, a
common theme in many Enlightenment plays as well. However, Sturm und Drang
makes its own distinctive contribution to 18th-century culture, bringing attention to the
power of the environment as well as to the contradictory and self-defeating attitudes
present in every segment of society (Liedner ix). Far before its time, the divergent style
of Sturm und Drang shrewdly explored depression and violence with an open plot
structure (Liedner ix). The Sturm und Drang movement rebelled against all the rules of
neoclassicism and the enlightenment, first recognized Shakespeare as a genius of
dramaturgy, and provided the foundation for 19th-century romanticism. Writers such as
Heinrich Leopold Wagner, Goethe, Lenz, Klinger, and Schiller used episodic structure,
violence, and mixed genres to comment on societal rules and morals, while doubting that
anything would change. The Sturm und Drang movement was brief, but it set a fire that
still burns intensely today.
Six main playwrights initiated and popularized the Sturm und Drang movement:
Leisewitz, Wagner, Goethe, Lenz, Klinger, and Schiller. The theatre director Abel Seyler,
the owner of the Seylersche Schauspiel-Gesellschaft, had an important role in promoting
the Sturm und Drang poets.