SCHILLER.
Schiller's Interest in Śakuntalā--Turandot.
While the Orient, as we have seen, cast its spell over Germany's
greatest poet and inspired the lyric genius of his later years for one
of its most remarkable efforts, it remained practically without any
influence on his illustrious friend and brother-poet Schiller. If
Schiller had lived longer, it is not impossible that he too might have
contributed to the West-Eastern literature. As it is, however, he died
before the Oriental movement in Germany had really begun. At no time did
he feel any particular interest in the East. Once, indeed, he mentions
_Śakuntalā_. Goethe had drawn his attention to a German version of the
_Gītagōvinda_ and this reminded Schiller of the famous Hindu drama which
he read with the idea of possibly utilizing it for the theatre.[116]
This idea he abandons owing to the delicacy of the piece and its lack of
movement.
An attempt has been made to prove that to Kālidāsa's drama Schiller was
indebted for the motive of his "Alpenjäger," but it cannot be said to
have been successful.[117]
* * * * *
Though there was no direct Oriental influence on Schiller's poetry,
there is one dramatic poem of his which indirectly goes back to a
Persian source. It is _Turandot_. The direct source for this composition
was Gozzi's play of the same name in the translation of August Clemens
Werthes, which Schiller, however, used with such freedom that his own
play may be regarded as an original production rather than a version.
The Italian poet based his _fiaba_ on the story of Prince Kalaf in the
Persian tales of Pétis de La Croix.[118] Now, as has been pointed out
by scholars,[119] the name of the heroine, who gives the name to the
play, is genuinely Persian, _Tūrān-duχt_, "the daughter of Tūrān,"[120]
and although the scene is laid in China, most of the proper names, both
in Gozzi and Schiller, are not at all Chinese, but Persian or Arabic.
The oldest known model for the story is the fourth romance of Nidāmī's
_Haft Paīkar_, the story of Bahrāmgūr and the Russian princess, written
1197.[121] Whether Schiller was aware of the ultimate origin of the
legend or not, he certainly made no attempt to give Persian local color
to his piece, but on the contrary he studiously tried to impart to it a
Chinese atmosphere.[122] It is interesting nevertheless to notice that
when _Turandot_ was given at Hamburg (July 9 to Sept. 9, 1802) its real
provenence was recognized, and, accordingly Turandot was no longer the
princess of China, but that of Shīrāz, her father being transformed into
the Shāh of Persia and the doctors of the _dīvān_ into Oriental
Magi.[123] At Dresden the same thing happened, and here even Tartaglia
and Brigella, who had been allowed to retain their Italian names in
Hamburg, were made to assume the Oriental names of Babouk and Osmin. The
specifically Chinese riddles disappeared, and instead of Tien and Fohi,
Hormuz was now invoked.[124]
FOOTNOTES:
[116] A Letter dated from Weimar, Feb. 20, 1802. Briefwechsel zwischen
Schiller u. Goethe. Stuttg. (Cotta) s. A., vol. iv. p. 98.
[117] W. Sauer in Korrespondenzblatt f. d. Gelehrten u. Realschulen
Württembergs, XL. pp. 297-304. Against this view Ernst Müller in
Zeitschr. für vgl. Litteraturgesch., Neue Folge, viii. pp. 271-278.
[118] Les Mille et Un Jours, tr. Pétis de La Croix, ed.
Loiseleur-Deslongchamps, Paris, 1843, p. 69 seq.
[119] Hammer, Red. p. 116; Pizzi, Storia della Poesia Persiana, p. 429.
[120] Cf. name of Mihrāb's wife, Sīnduχt, Sh. N. tr. Mohl i. p. 192 et
passim; Pūrānduχt, daughter of Xusrau Parvīz, Mīrχvānd tr. Rehatsek,
vol. i. p. 403.
[121] See Ethé, Gesch. der pers. Litt. in Grdr. d. iran. Phil. ii. p
242.
[122] See Albert Köster's essay on Turandot in Schiller als Dramaturg,
Berl. 1891, p. 201.
[123] Köster, op. cit. p. 212.
[124] Ibid. p. 213.