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Schiller Friedrich

The German playwright Friedrich von Schiller (1759-1805) was born in Marbach am Neckar in Württemberg. Many of his ancestors were winegrowers. His father Johann K. Schiller (1723-1796), as head of the court gardens and nurseries of Duke Carl Eugen von Württemberg (1728-1793), published a book on viticulture in 1767. And his mother Elisabeth D. Schiller was the daughter of an innkeeper. He therefore had a strong background in this field and wrote the album verse "Der Name Wirtemberg, schreibt sich vom Wirt am Berg. A Wirtemberger without wine, can he be a Wirtemberger?"

Schiller Friedrich - Porträt und Vers vom Wirtemberger

By ducal order, Schiller had to enter the Karlsschule military academy (Stuttgart) in 1773. In this institution, wine or rather the consumption of wine was prescribed for him, so to speak, on the basis of the school regulations. Duke Carl Eugen, as a great promoter of viticulture, had ordered that the pupils be given up to half a litre of wine a day with their meals, depending on their age. According to the doctors' advice, "the consumption of wine in the hot weather is good for the young people". In a letter of 29 August 1787 to his editor Christian G. Körner (1756-1831), Freirdich Schiller describes a celebration in honour of Johann W. von Goethe (1749-1832): "We ate heartily, and Goethe's health was drunk by me in Rhine wine ". Goethe remarked to his secretary: "Schiller never drank much, he was moderate".

Schiller obtained his daily supply of wine from the wine merchants Zapf in Jena and Fröhlich in Erfurt, and also through Goethe from Ramann in Erfurt. A letter of thanks to his publisher Johann Friedrich Cotta (1764-1832) proves what a good wine meant to him: "I have received a delicate white port wine from Bremen, for which I thank you, dearest friend, most obligingly. It is a true oil of life that will strengthen heart and intestines". Friedrich Schiller also mentioned various wines in some of his most famous works, for example the Malaga in "Kabale und Liebe", a Burgundy in "Die Räuber" as well as in the second part of the Walleinstein drama "Die Piccolomini" in the following dispute: Terzky: The wine speaks from him! Do not hear him, I beg you. Isolani: The wine doesn't invent anything, it just talks it up.

The 13-verse poem "The Victory Feast" was written in May 1803. It was intended as a thoughtful social song or table song for an educated group of men. In it, Schiller praises wine: "Drink it down, the drink of the bounty, And forget the great pain. Wonderful is Bacchus' gift, balm for the torn heart". After his death, an inventory was made in his wine cellar: 61 bouteilles of Malaga, 35 Bourgogne (Burgundy), 22 Champagne, 10 white Port, 2 Leistenwein (presumably from the Innere Leiste vineyard in Würzburg), 17 Ruster (Burgenland, Austria), 6 Oedenburger (Sopron, Hungary), 34 Franconian wines, 4 half Falerners (presumably from Italy), 5 Rum and 4 Muskateller. See also under Literature.

Friedrich Schiller: by Ludovike Simanowiz, IDW, Public domain, Link

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Dominik Trick

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Dominik Trick
Technischer Lehrer, staatl. geprüfter Sommelier, Hotelfachschule Heidelberg

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