Sturm und Drang

Sturm und Drang (literally: "storm and urge"; sometimes also called "storm and stress" in English-speaking countries) was a German literary movement that developed during the latter half of the 18th century. The period is most commonly characterized as having lasted from 1767–1785 although the dates 1769–1786 and 1765–1795 are also given. It takes its name from a play by F. M. von Klinger. While the ideas of Jean-Jacques Rousseau were a major stimulus of the movement, it developed more immediately as a reaction—often inspired by Johann Gottfried von Herder and Gotthold Ephraim Lessing—against what was seen as an overly rationalist literary tradition, and its rejection of the rules of 18th-century neoclassical style firmly situate it as part of the wider cultural movement known as romanticism.

Related Topics:
English - German literary - 18th century - 1767 - 1785 - 1769 - 1786 - 1765 - 1795 - Jean-Jacques Rousseau - Johann Gottfried von Herder - Gotthold Ephraim Lessing - Rationalist - Romanticism

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Sturm und Drang was revolutionary in its stress on personal subjectivity and on the unease of man in contemporary society, and it firmly established German authors as cultural leaders in Europe at a time when many considered France to be the center of literary development. The movement was also distinguished by the intensity with which it developed the theme of youthful genius in rebellion against accepted standards and by its enthusiasm for nature. The greatest figure of the movement was Goethe, who wrote its first major drama, Götz von Berlichingen (1773), and its most sensational and representative novel, Die Leiden des jungen Werthers (The Sorrows of Young Werther, 1774). Other writers of importance were Klopstock, J. M. R. Lenz, and Friedrich Müller. The last major figure was Schiller, whose Die Räuber and other early plays were also a prelude to romanticism.

Related Topics:
Die Leiden des jungen Werthers - The Sorrows of Young Werther

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The movement was also paralleled in music of the period, resulting in stormy minor key writing, chromatic harmonies, and a return to some of the contrapuntal writing which had been abandoned at the end of the Baroque era. Sturm und Drang was a part of a preceding, and largely overlapping, movement in music known by its German name, the empfindsamer Stil. Examples of Sturm und Drang composition include the symphonies No. 45 and 49 by Joseph Haydn, as well as his opus 20 set of string quartets; the opera Don Giovanni by Mozart (especially the overture, and the portion including Don Giovanni's descent into hell), as well as his G minor symphony K. 183 and his D minor piano concerto K. 466; also Mozart's early opera "La finta giardiniera" with its heroine abandoned in a desolate place and beset by wild animals as well as numerous compositions by C.P.E. Bach.

Related Topics:
Music - Minor key - Chromatic - Contrapuntal - Baroque - Empfindsamer Stil - No. 45 - 49 - String quartet - Don Giovanni - Mozart - C.P.E. Bach

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In the Harry Potter book series by J.K. Rowling, the words Sturm and Drang are reworked into "Durmstrang", the name of a Scandinavian magic school.

Related Topics:
Harry Potter - J.K. Rowling

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Other notable literary works include:

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Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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• Zum Shakespears-Tag (1771)
• Sesenheimer Lieder (1771)
• Götz von Berlichingen (1773)
• Prometheus (1773; revised 1777)
• Ganymed (1774)

Friedrich Schiller

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• Die Räuber (1781)
• Kabale und Liebe (1784)

Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz

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• Der Hofmeister (1774)
• Die Soldaten (1776)

Johann Heinrich Voss

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• German verse translation of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey

Christoph Heinrich Hölty

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