German Classicism and Drama After the French Revolution transformed itself into a reign of Terror, Goethe and Schiller re-evaluated their younger, radical Storm and Stress years, and re-examined the many dimensions of art and drama from anew. With the emergence of Weimar Classicism, discussion of art and drama which began in the Enlightenment were no longer being guided by questions of rules and reason. Discussions of art now centered around ideas. Goethe’s Italian Journeys (1786) mark the beginnings of German Classicism and give birth to a new, idealistic theory of art. The authors and thinkers of Classicism attempted to rescue the social harmony they saw promised by the Enlightenment, but destroyed by the French Revolution. (The authors and thinkers of Romanticism attempted the same, but saw the answer in making reason subservient to fantasy.) The term "Weimar Classicism" was first used in Gervinus' History of the National Poetic Literature of the Germans (1835-42), and the period is seen as a time of early German patriotism in search of a national identity, as well as the culmination of German intellectual culture (i.e. the "classical heritage" often disputed after World War II). Goethe directed the Weimar Theater (Germany's first national theater) from 1791-1817. He had complete control of the theater, including actors and performances; Schiller provided the repertoire. German classical drama dealt with the individual dignity of each person, of moral autonomy, of self-development and self-realization, of self-determination and freedom. Departing from the Enlightenment's concern with the private sphere (e.g. Lessing), Weimar Classicism attempted to reclaim the legacy of Greek tragedy. Schiller especially wanted to re-create the unity of private and public (i.e. political) spheres which appeared to be lost in modern life, but which both he and Goethe believed had existed in ancient GREECE. ►Within German classical drama we witness heroes who overcome their own inner fears as they struggle to realize their potential for freedom and moral autonomy. Fear is not located within the audience, but rather within the hero as an inner experience of the limits to self-determination. Classical drama appeals to the spectators' idealism, dreams and desires which are often restrained or hindered by reality. Classical drama is all about ideas, not rules. The philosophical background to German Classicism is found in Johann Winckelmann's Thoughts on the Imitation of Greek Works in Painting and Sculpture (1755) and his History of Ancient Art (1764). He argues that the beauty of Greek art lies with their ability to communicate ideas. Therefore they imitate more than just nature - they've added something to it. Winckelmann thought that Greek sculpture imitated "noble simplicity and tranquil grandeur"- best revealed in the statue group of Laokoön who remains calm despite the extreme suffering he endures from being strangled by serpents: ►"As the depth of the ocean always remain calm however much the surface may be agitated, so does the expression in the figures of the Greeks reveal a great and composed soul in the midst of passion."