National Romanticism: The Formation of National Movements

Franz Grillparzer: Field-marshal Radetzky

FRANZ GRILLPARZER: FIELD-MARSHAL RADETZKY Title: Feldmarschall Radetzky (Field-marshal Radetzky) Originally published: Constitutionelle Donau-Zeitung, no. 68, (8 June 1848). Language: German Modern edition: Franz Grillparzer, Sämtliche Werke, ed. by Peter Frank and Karl Pörnbacher, 4 vols., (München: Hanser, 1960–1965), vol. 1, pp. 218–319. About the author Franz Grillparzer [1791, Vienna – 1872, Vienna]: dramatist, writer and poet. He was the son of an influential Viennese lawyer, Wenzel Grillparzer. He attended the University of Vienna, where he studied philology and law. In 1813, he worked in the Court Library and (after holding various other offices) in 1823 he became a clerk in the treasury. From 1832 until his retirement in 1856, Grillparzer was the director of the state archives. He was also the founding member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in 1847. From 1861, he became a life member of the Upper Chamber of the Reichsrat. The publication in 1816 of a part of his translation of Calderón’s drama, ‘Life is a Dream,’ in the newspaper Wiener Moden-Zeitung impressed Joseph Schreyvogel (1768–1832), the literary and artistic director of the Burgtheater, who became Grillparzer’s spiritual mentor. In 1819, Grillparzer wrote the highly acclaimed tragedy Sappho. Grillparzer’s most prolific period was between 1820 and 1831. His first historical drama, König Ottokars Glück und Ende (‘King Ottokar’s luck and end’) (1823), in which he described the futility and the vanity of worldly greatness, caused him problems with Austrian censorship. Although Grillparzer was critical of the Metternich regime, he did not become a supporter of the revolution in 1848. One of his most famous poems from that period, Feldmarschall Radetzky, was a paean to the field marshal who crushed the revolution in the Italian provinces of the Austrian Empire. Although he acquired an iconic status after 1850, it was not until the centenary of 1891 that the German-speaking world realized that it possessed in him a dramatic poet of world value. Grillparzer was no mere epigone of the classic period, but a poet who, by assimilating the ancient Greek example with the imaginative forms of German classicism and lyricism of the Spanish poetry, had established a new pattern for the dramatic verse in European literature. Main works: Die Ahnfrau [The ancestress] (1817); Sappho (1819); Das goldene Vliess [The Golden Fleece] (1821); König Ottokars Glück und Ende [King Ottokar’s FRANZ GRILLPARZER: FIELD-MARSHAL RADETZKY 437 luck and end] (1823); Der Traum ein Leben [A dream is life] (1831); Tristia ex Ponto (1835); Feldmarschall Radetzky [Field-marshal Radetzky] (1848); Selbst-biographie [Autobiography] (1872); Die Jüdin von Toledo [The Jewess of Toledo], (written between 1847–1851, published in 1872); Ein Bruderzwist im Hause Habsburg [A Brother-quarrel in the House of Habsburg] (written between 1847–1851, published in 1872); and Libussa (written between 1847–1851, published in 1872). Context The revolution of 1848 put an end to the Metternich regime in Austria. If in Vienna revolutionaries were mainly concerned with overthrowing Metternich , other national groups of the Empire, such as Hungarians, Czechs, Italians and Romanians, were rather preoccupied with achieving their national demands. Many Austrian intellectuals, although sympathetic to the ideals of the revolution, considered the demands for national independence expressed by other nations during the revolution of 1848 as undermining the very existence of the Austrian Empire. They thus welcomed the victories of the imperial army under Josef Radetzky (1766–1858) against the Italian revolutionaries . For the supporters of the Habsburgs in Vienna, Radetzky was the providential person restoring the order disrupted by the revolutionary chaos. Animated by this form of Habsburg patriotism, Johann Strauss the Elder (1804– 1849), for instance, composed the ‘Radetzky March,’ which came to symbolize the unique nature of the House of Habsburg. It is in this historical context that Grillparzer expressed his pro-Habsburg allegiance. While he was an ardent critique of the Metternich regime in the 1830s, it was not, however, the first time that Grillparzer made public his edging towards political conservatism. Already in König Ottokars Glück und Ende, he explored the theme of royal suffering and redemption. Nevertheless, with the outbreak of the revolution Grillparzer became acutely aware of the radical transformation the Austrian state was experiencing. Between midMarch and mid-July 1848, he drafted four open letters, intended as warnings to the Viennese population about the dangers of disorder. For example, in the poem, Mein Vaterland (My Country), which appeared in the first number of...