Schubart, Christian Friedrich Daniel

▪ German poet

born March 24, 1739, Obersontheim, Swabia

died Oct. 10, 1791, Stuttgart, Württemberg

      German poet of the Sturm und Drang period, known for his pietistic and nationalistic leanings.

      He entered the University of Erlangen in 1758 but left after two years. After he attempted to earn a livelihood as a private tutor and an assistant preacher, his musical talents gained him the appointment of organist in Geislingen and subsequently in Ludwigsburg; but in consequence of a somewhat dissolute life, which found expression in a parody of the litany, he was expelled from the region. He then visited in turn Heilbronn, Mannheim, Munich, and Augsburg. In Augsburg he made a considerable stay, began his Deutsche Chronik (1774–78; “German Chronicle”) and eked out a subsistence by reciting from the latest works of prominent poets. Owing to a bitter attack upon the Jesuits, he was expelled from Augsburg and fled to Ulm, where, for obscure reasons (probably for a satirization of the Duke of Württemberg), he was arrested in 1777 and imprisoned without trial for 10 years in the fortress of Hohenasperg. Here he studied mystical works and composed poetry. His Sämtliche Gedichte (1785–86; “Collected Poems”) are characterized partly by the bombast of the Sturm und Drang period, partly by intense religious feelings of a pietistic nature, and partly by patriotic fervour. He was set at liberty in 1787, at the instance of Frederick II the Great, king of Prussia, and expressed his gratitude in Hymnus auf Friedrich den Grossen (“Hymn to Frederick the Great”). Schubart was now appointed musical director and manager of the theatre at Stuttgart, where he continued his Deutsche Chronik and began his autobiography, Schubarts Leben und Gesinnungen (1791–93; “Schubart's Life and Mind”), but he died before its completion.

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