Franz Grillparzer

Vocation

Notable

Austrian dramatist who wrote tragedies that were belatedly recognized as the greatest works of the Austrian stage. Grillparzer’s father was a lawyer, a severe pedant and who died in debt in 1809; his markedly neurotic mother committed suicide 10 years later. In 1813 he entered the civil service as a clerk but Grillparzer had little capacity for an official career and regarded his position merely as a means of independence. Grillparzer was unusually gifted not only as a dramatic poet but also as a playwright capable of creating dramas suitable for performance. Des Meeres und der Liebe Wellen (1831; The Waves of Sea and Love), often judged to be Grillparzer’s greatest tragedy. The honors that were heaped on him in old age came too late. In 1861 he was elected to Vienna’s upper legislative house (Herrenhaus), Grillparzer became the most popular author of the day; he was ranked with Goethe and Schiller, and lauded as the national poet of Austria. His 80th birthday was the occasion for a national celebration, and his death in Vienna on 21 January 1872 was widely mourned. Link to Wikipedia biography