Early life in Frankfurt (Großer Hirschgraben)|alt=Exterior of the Goethe House on Großer Hirschgraben in Frankfurt am Main, showing its multi-storey yellow facade with gray trim and rows of rectangular windows. Through his maternal grandmother, Goethe descended from the
Soldan family. Bernt Engelmann has said that "the German poet prince [i.e. Goethe] with oriental ancestors is by no means a rare exception." Goethe's grandfather, , moved from
Thuringia in 1687 and changed the spelling of his surname from Göthe to Goethe. In Frankfurt, he first worked as a tailor, then opened a tavern. His son and grandchildren subsequently lived on the fortune he earned. Friedrich Georg Goethe was married twice; his first marriage was to Anna Elisabeth Lutz, the daughter of a burgher, Sebastian Lutz, with whom he had five children, including Hermann Jakob Goethe. After the death of his first wife in 1705, he married Cornelia Schellhorn, née Walther, widow of the innkeeper Johannes Schellhorn (died 1704), with whom he had four more children, including Johann Caspar Goethe, father of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Goethe's father,
Johann Caspar Goethe, lived with his family in a large house (today the
Goethe House) in
Frankfurt, then a
free imperial city of the
Holy Roman Empire. Though he had studied
law in Leipzig and had been appointed Imperial Councillor, Johann Caspar Goethe was not involved in the city's official affairs. Johann Caspar married Goethe's mother,
Catharina Elisabeth Textor, in Frankfurt on 20 August 1748, when he was 38 and she was 17. All their children, with the exception of Johann Wolfgang and his sister
Cornelia Friederica Christiana, died at an early age. The young Goethe received from his father and private tutors lessons in subjects common at the time, especially languages (
Latin,
Greek,
Biblical Hebrew (briefly), French, Italian, and English). Goethe also received lessons in dancing,
riding, and
fencing. Johann Caspar, feeling frustrated in his own ambitions, was determined that his children should have every advantage he had missed. He also had a devotion to the theater, and was greatly fascinated by the
puppet shows that were annually arranged by occupying French Soldiers at his home and which later became a recurrent theme in his literary work ''
Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship''. He also took great pleasure in reading works on history and religion. Of this period, he wrote: Goethe also became acquainted with Frankfurt actors. Valerian Tornius wrote:
Goethe – Leben, Wirken und Schaffen. In early literary attempts, Goethe showed an infatuation with
Gretchen, who would later reappear in his
Faust, and the adventures with whom he would describe concisely in
Dichtung und Wahrheit. He adored Caritas Meixner, a wealthy
Worms merchant's daughter and friend of his sister, who later married the merchant G. F. Schuler.
Legal career |alt=Black-and-white portrait of Anna Katharina Schönkopf Goethe studied law at
Leipzig University from 1765 to 1768. He detested learning judicial rules by heart, preferring instead to attend the lessons of the university professor and poet
Christian Fürchtegott Gellert. In Leipzig, Goethe fell in love with
Anna Katharina Schönkopf, the daughter of a craftsman and innkeeper, writing cheerful verses about her in the
Rococo genre. In 1770, he released anonymously his first collection of poems,
Annette. His uncritical admiration for many contemporary poets evaporated as he developed an interest in
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing and
Christoph Martin Wieland. By this time, Goethe had already written a great deal, but he discarded nearly all of these works except for the comedy
Die Mitschuldigen. The inn
Auerbachs Keller and its legend of
Johann Georg Faust's 1525 barrel ride impressed him so much that Auerbachs Keller became the only real place in his
closet drama Faust Part One. Given that he was making little progress in his formal studies, Goethe was forced to return to Frankfurt at the end of August 1768. Back in Frankfurt, Goethe became severely ill. During the year and a half that followed, marked by several relapses, relations with his father worsened. During convalescence, Goethe was nursed by his mother and sister. In April 1770, Goethe left Frankfurt to finish his studies, this time at the
University of Strasbourg. In
Alsace, Goethe blossomed. No other landscape was to be described by him as affectionately as the warm, wide Rhineland. In Strasbourg, Goethe met
Johann Gottfried Herder. The two became close friends, and crucially to Goethe's intellectual development, Herder kindled his interest in
William Shakespeare,
Ossian and in the notion of
Volkspoesie (folk poetry). On 14 October 1772, Goethe hosted a gathering in his parents' home in honour of the first German "Shakespeare Day". His first acquaintance with Shakespeare's works is described as his personal awakening in the field of literature. On a trip to the village of
Sessenheim in October 1770, Goethe fell in love with
Friederike Brion, but the tryst ended in August 1771. Several of Goethe's poems, like "", "" and "", date to this period. At the end of August 1771, Goethe acquired the academic degree of the
Licentiate in Law from Strasbourg and was able to establish a small legal practice in Frankfurt. Although in his academic work he had given voice to an ambition to make
jurisprudence progressively more humane, his inexperience led him to proceed too vigorously in his first cases, for which he was reprimanded and lost further clientele. Within a few months, this put an early end to his law career. Around this time, Goethe became acquainted with the court of
Darmstadt, where his inventiveness was praised. It was from that world that there came Johann Georg Schlosser (who later became Goethe's brother-in-law) and
Johann Heinrich Merck. Goethe also pursued literary plans again; this time, his father did not object and even helped. Goethe obtained a copy of the biography of a
noble highwayman from the
German Peasants' War. In a couple of weeks, the biography was reworked into a colourful drama titled
Götz von Berlichingen, and the work struck a chord among Goethe's contemporaries. Since Goethe could not subsist on his income as one of the editors of a literary periodical (published by Schlosser and Merck), in May 1772, he once more took up the practice of law, this time at
Wetzlar. In 1774, he wrote the book which would bring him worldwide fame,
The Sorrows of Young Werther. The broad shape of the work's plot is largely based on what Goethe experienced during his time at Wetzlar with
Charlotte Buff and her fiancé,
Johann Christian Kestner, Despite the immense success of
Werther, it did not bring Goethe much financial gain since the protection later afforded by copyright laws at that time virtually did not exist. In later years, Goethe would counter this problem by periodically authorizing "new, revised" editions of his
Complete Works.
Early years in Weimar In 1775, on the strength of his fame as the author of
The Sorrows of Young Werther, Goethe was invited to the court of
Karl August, Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, who later became
Grand Duke in 1815. The Duke's mother,
Duchess Anna Amalia, had been the long-time regent on behalf of her son until 1775 and was one of the most important patrons of the arts in her day, making her court into a centre of the arts. Her court had hosted the renowned
theatre company of
Abel Seyler until a 1774 fire had destroyed
Schloss Weimar. Karl August came of age when he turned eighteen in 1775, although his mother continued to be a major presence at the court. So it was that Goethe took up residence in
Weimar, where he remained for the rest of his life and where, over the course of many years, he held a succession of offices, including superintendent of the ducal library. He was, moreover, the Duke's friend and chief
adviser. In 1776, Goethe formed a close relationship with
Charlotte von Stein, a married woman seven years older than him. The intimate bond with her lasted for ten years, after which Goethe abruptly left for Italy without giving his companion any notice. She was emotionally distraught at the time, but they were eventually reconciled. Aside from his official duties, Goethe was also a friend and confidant to Duke Karl August and participated in the activities of the court. For Goethe, his first ten years at Weimar could well be described as a garnering of a degree and range of experiences which perhaps could have been achieved in no other way. In 1779, Goethe took on the War Commission of the Grand Duchy of
Saxe-Weimar, in addition to the Mines and Highways commissions. In 1782, when the Duchy's
chancellor of the Exchequer left his office, Goethe agreed to act in his place and did so for two and a half years; this post virtually made him
prime minister and the principal representative of the Duchy. As head of the Saxe-Weimar War Commission, Goethe participated in the recruitment of mercenaries into the Prussian and British military during the American Revolution. The author Daniel Wilson claims that Goethe engaged in negotiating the forced sale of vagabonds, criminals, and political dissidents as part of these activities.
Italy , 1787|alt=Oval portrait of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe at age 38, painted in 1787 by Angelica Kauffman, showing him facing slightly left in a brown coat and white cravat. (Weimar 1811)|alt=Pastel portrait of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe painted in 1811 by Louise Seidler, showing him facing forward in dark clothing and a white neckcloth. |alt=Exterior view of the Goethe National Museum and Goethe's former residence in Weimar. Goethe's journey to the
Italian peninsula and Sicily from 1786 to 1788 was of great significance in his aesthetic and philosophical development. His father had made a similar journey, and his example was a major motivating factor for Goethe to make the trip. More importantly, however, the work of
Johann Joachim Winckelmann had provoked a general renewed interest in the classical
art of ancient Greece and
Rome. Thus, Goethe's journey had something of the nature of a
pilgrimage to it. During the course of his trip, Goethe met and befriended the artists
Angelica Kauffman and
Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein, as well as encountering such notable characters as
Lady Hamilton and
Alessandro Cagliostro. He also journeyed to Sicily during this time, and wrote that "To have seen Italy without having seen Sicily is to not have seen Italy at all, for Sicily is the clue to everything." While in Southern Italy and Sicily, Goethe encountered, for the first time genuine Greek (as opposed to Roman) architecture, and was quite startled by its relative simplicity. Winckelmann had not recognized the distinctness of the two styles. Goethe's diaries of this period form the basis of the non-fiction
Italian Journey.
Italian Journey only covers the first year of Goethe's visit. The remaining year is largely undocumented, aside from the fact that he spent much of it in
Venice. This "gap in the record" has been the source of much speculation over the years. In the decades which immediately followed its publication in 1816,
Italian Journey inspired countless German youths to follow Goethe's example. This is pictured, somewhat satirically, in
George Eliot's
Middlemarch.
Weimar at the border to the short-lived
Republic of Mainz, created under influence of the French Revolution and destroyed in the
Siege of Mainz in which Goethe participated.|alt=Watercolour depicting a liberty pole with ribbons beside a river landscape, with small figures and hills in the background. In late 1792, Goethe took part in the
Battle of Valmy against
revolutionary France, assisting Duke
Karl August of
Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach during the failed invasion of France. Again, during the
Siege of Mainz, he assisted Karl August as a military observer. His written account of these events can be found within his
Complete Works. In 1794,
Friedrich Schiller wrote to Goethe offering friendship; they had previously had only a mutually wary relationship ever since first becoming acquainted in 1788. This collaborative friendship lasted until Schiller's death in 1805. In 1806, Goethe was living in Weimar with his mistress
Christiane Vulpius, the sister of
Christian A. Vulpius and daughter of archivist Johann Friedrich Vulpius, and their son
August von Goethe. On 13 October,
Napoleon's army invaded the town. The French "spoon guards", the least disciplined soldiers, occupied Goethe's house: Days afterward, on 19 October 1806, Goethe legitimized their 18-year relationship by marrying Christiane in a quiet marriage service at the Jakobskirche in Weimar. They had already had several children together by this time, including their son, Julius August Walter von Goethe (1789–1830), whose wife,
Ottilie von Pogwisch, cared for the elder Goethe until his death in 1832. August and Ottilie had three children:
Walther Wolfgang Freiherr von Goethe (1818–1885), Wolfgang Maximilian von Goethe (1820–1883) and Alma Sedina Henriette Cornelia von Goethe (1827–1844). Christiane von Goethe died in 1816. Johann reflected, "There is nothing more charming to see than a mother with her child in her arms, and there is nothing more venerable than a mother among a number of her children."
Later life After 1793, Goethe devoted his endeavours primarily to literature. In 1812, he travelled to
Teplice and
Vienna, both times meeting his admirer
Ludwig van Beethoven, who had set music to
Egmont two years prior in 1810. By 1820, Goethe was on amiable terms with
Kaspar Maria von Sternberg. In 1821, having recovered from a near fatal heart illness, the 72-year-old Goethe fell in love with
Ulrike von Levetzow, 17 at the time. In 1823, he wanted to marry her, but because of the opposition of her mother, he never proposed. Their last meeting in
Carlsbad on 5 September 1823 inspired his poem "
Marienbad Elegy" which he considered one of his finest works. During that time he also developed a deep emotional bond with the Polish pianist
Maria Szymanowska, 33 at the time, and she separated from her husband. In 1821, Goethe's friend
Carl Friedrich Zelter introduced him to the 12-year-old
Felix Mendelssohn. Goethe, now in his seventies, was greatly impressed by the child, leading to perhaps the earliest confirmed comparison to
Mozart in the following conversation between Goethe and Zelter: Mendelssohn was invited to meet Goethe on several later occasions, and set a number of Goethe's poems to music. His other compositions inspired by Goethe include the overture
Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage (Op. 27, 1828), and the cantata
Die erste Walpurgisnacht (
The First Walpurgis Night, Op. 60, 1832).
Heinrich Heine, on his hiking tour through Germany (the trip immortalised in his work
Die Harzreise) was granted an audience with Goethe in 1824 in Weimar. Heine had been a great admirer of Goethe's in his early youth, sending him some of his earlier works with praising cover notes. The meeting is said to be of a strikingly unsuccessful nature, with Heine completely omitting the meeting in the
Harzreise, and speaking flippantly of it in much later life. == Death ==