FRIEDRICH

See also:

• LUDWIG, KARL FRIEDRICH WILHELM (1816—1895)
• LUDWIG, OTTO (1813-1865)

LUDWIG

See also:

• ZACHARIAS, ST

ZACHARIAS

See also:

• WERNER, ABRAHAM GOTTLOB (1750-1817)
• WERNER, ANTON ALEXANDER VON (1843– )
• FRIEDRICH LUDWIG ZACHARIAS WERNER (1768–1823)

WERNER (1768–1823)  , German poet, dramatist and preacher, was born on the 18th of November 1768 at Konigsberg in Prussia . From his mother, who died a religious maniac, Werner inherited a weak and unbalanced nature, which his education did nothing to correct . At the university of his native place he studied law; but Rousseau and Rousseau's German disciples were the influences that shaped his view of life . For years he oscillated violently between aspirations towards the state of nature, which betrayed him into a series of rash and unhappy marriages, and a sentimental admiration—in common with so many of the Romanticists—for the Roman Catholic Church, which ended in 1811 in his conversion . Werner's talent was early recognized and obtained for him, in spite of his character, a small government post at Warsaw, which he exchanged after-wards for one at Berlin . In the course of his travels, and by correspondence, he got into touch with many of the men most eminent in literature at the time; and succeeded in having his plays put on the stage, where they met with much success . In 1814 he was ordained priest, and, exchanging the pen for the pulpit, became a popular preacher at Vienna, where, during the famous congress of 1814, his eloquent but fanatical sermons were listened to by crowded congregations . He died at Vienna on the 17th of January 1823 . Werner was the only dramatist of the Romantic movement who—thanks to the influence of Schiller—was able to sub-ordinate his exuberant imagination to the practical needs of the stage . His first tragedy, Die Sohne des Tals (1803-1804), is in two parts, and it was followed by Das Kreuz an der Osisee (18o6) . More important is the Reformation drama Martin Luther, oder die Weihe der Kraft (1807), which, after his con-version to Catholicism, Werner recanted in a poem Weihe der Unkraft (1813) . His powerful one-act tragedy, Der vierundzwanzigste Februar (1815, but performed 181o), was the first of the so-called " fate tragedies." Attila (1808), Wanda (181o) and Die Mutter der Makkabaer (182o) show a falling-off in Werner's powers .

Z . Werner's Theater was first collected (without the author's consent) in 6 vols . (1816-1818); Ausgewahlte Schriften (15 vols., 184o-1841), with a

biography by K . J . Schutz . See also J . E . Hitzig, Lebensabriss F . L . Z . Werners (1823); H . Duntzer, Zwei Bekehrte (1873); J .

Minor, Die Schicksalstragodie in ihren Hauptvertretern (1883) and the same author's volume, Das Schicksalsdrama (in Kiirschner's Deutsche Nationalliteratur, vol . 151, 1884); F . Poppenberg, Zacharias Werner (1893) .