Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Tasso

Alexander Mathäs (University of Oregon)

Ed. by Gerhard P. Knapp, University of Utah
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.4.1: German-language Writing and Culture: Germany, 500-present.
Vol. editors: Gerhard P. Knapp (University of Utah), Jennifer Marston William (Purdue University), Herbert Rowland (Purdue University), Jill E. Twark (East Carolina University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1790

Places

Germany (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Play

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Goethe originally based his play about the Italian Renaissance poet Torquato Tasso (1544-1595) on a biography by Giovanni Batista Manso (

Vita die Torquato Tasso

, 1621). He drafted the first and second act of

Tasso

in prose in 1780-81, but this version has been lost. During his trip to Italy Goethe replaced the prose text with a new version in iambic pentameter. After Goethe had read Pierantonio Serassi's biography of Tasso (1785), the play's focus shifted from the relationship between Tasso and the princess to the precarious position of the artist within courtly society. Goethe was able to draw on his personal experiences at the Weimar court in this dramatization of the artist's emotional and professional vulnerability. The play premiered in 1807 in Weimar. Its initial reception was…

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1720 words

Citation: Mathäs, Alexander. "Tasso". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 23 October 2005 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=1709, accessed 23 November 2024.]

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Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Tasso

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