Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805)

This is a fine translation of Friedrich Schiller's The Robbers and the three plays of the Wallenstein trilogy. The book includes a nice introduction to Schiller and to the plays themselves.

The Robbers was Schiller's first tragedy and was written when he was very young. The influence of Shakespeare is very obvious with hints of Macbeth, Othello and Hamlet. There are even lines in the piece that echo lines from Macbeth almost exactly. The play itself is good and contains in the character of Franz a first-class villain who uses deceit as well as Iago. Unfortunately, the final scenes are a bit over the top and diminish the overall play.

The Wallenstein trilogy depicts the final days of Wallenstein who led the Catholic forces fighting in the Thirty Years War. The Emperor has lost faith in Wallenstein and finds out that he had been talking about joining forces with their Swedish enemies. This leads the Emperor to issue orders to depose Wallenstein and have him brought to justice dead of alive.

The first play in the trilogy, Wallenstein's Camp, is very short and depicts a number of scenes with Wallenstein's camp followers. It serves as a good preview of the rest of the trilogy since it shows the personal loyalty the soldiers feel towards Wallenstein as a result of his leadership and his ability to get them paid or otherwise rewarded for their soldering. Scenes also include some local peasants who complain about how Wallenstein's army has taken so much from them that they have been left hungry and destitute.

The second play in the trilogy, The Piccolomini, focuses on a father and son who are military leaders in Wallenstein's army. The son has just fallen in love with Wallenstein's daughter which means that many scenes are devoted to the pining away of the two lovers. The main purpose of this five act play is to set the scene for how the characters are torn between their admiration and loyalty to Wallenstein versus the loyalty that they have sworn to the Emperor in Vienna. A few characters are actively working to get Wallenstein to use his army to rebel against the Emperor. Their are also hints that Wallenstein wants to form an alliance with the Swedes, who lead the Protestant troops, in order to bring the war to an end after it has created so much destruction in the first 16 years.

The final play in the trilogy, Wallenstein's Death, is also five acts and really depends upon the stage-setting from the first two plays in the trilogy. It jumps immediately into the negotiations with the Swedes and the efforts of two military leaders to convince Wallenstein to finally rebel against the Emperor. Unlike in the previous two plays, Wallenstein plays the major role in this play. Numerous scenes focus on the tortured process, including his consultancy of astrologers, for Wallenstein to finally decide to rebel. Well into the play, Wallenstein's hand is forced when messages between Wallenstein and the Swedes fall into the hands of the Emperor who sends notes giving the authority for the army to PIccollomini with orders to arrest Wallenstein. Unfortunately for Wallenstein, he finds that once he has revealed his intention is to rebel against the Emperor, the majority of his army chooses to remain loyal to the Emperor.

These works are classics in German literature and also provide a useful dip into the Thirty Years War. The play is, of course, literary but generally follows the historical facts. It does, however, provide the motivations of Wallenstein that are not historically known.… (altro)