Die Piccolomini / The Piccolomini – Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Friedrich Schiller
This is the second part of the Wallenstein trilogy by German playwright and mastermind Friedrich Schiller. The work as a whole produced a profound impression, and it is certainly Schiller’s masterpiece in dramatic literature. He brings out with extraordinary vividness the ascendency of Wallenstein over the wild troops whom he has gathered around him, and at the same time we are made to see how the mighty general’s schemes must necessarily end in ruin, not merely because a plot against him is skilfully prepared by vigilant enemies, but because he himself is lulled into a sense of security by superstitious belief in his supposed destiny as revealed to him by the stars. Wallenstein is the most subtle and complex of Schiller’s dramatic conceptions, and it taxes the powers of the greatest actors to present an adequate rendering of the motives which explain his strange and dark career. The love-story of Max Piccolomini and Thekla is in its own way not less impressive than the story of Wallenstein with which it is interwoven.
This is the bilingual edition of this literary masterpiece including the English and German versions of the play.
Die Piccolomini / The Piccolomini
Format: Paperback.
Die Piccolomini / The Piccolomini.
ISBN: 9783849673512.
Available at amazon.com and other venues.
Plot summary of The Piccolomini (from wikipedia)
The main action of the trilogy begins with the second play. The viewpoint changes from that of the ordinary soldiers to that of the commanders who, awaiting orders, meet in an encampment near Pilsen. Most of them prefer Prince Wallenstein to the emperor. The former has repeatedly ignored the latter’s orders, which is why he has ordered the prince to cede part of his huge army. Unwilling, Wallenstein considers resignation and, to pressure the emperor into making peace, is secretly negotiating with the Swedish enemy. Spurring him on are his closest comrades, his brother-in-law Terzky and Illo, who scheme to get all the commanders to sign a document pledging their loyalty to Wallenstein. This document purports to have a proviso making the signatories’ loyalty to Wallenstein subsidiary to their loyalty to the emperor, but Terzky and Illo secretly remove that proviso from the copy the signatories actually sign.
Wallenstein lets his comrades in on his plans but – unknown to him – one of them, Octavio Piccolomini, remains loyal to the emperor, for whom he is spying.[2] The emperor has authorised Piccolomini to replace Wallenstein as commander-in-chief, but Piccolomini decides to do so only if Wallenstein takes an open stand against the emperor. Imperial informers having managed to capture one of Wallenstein’s negotiators en route to the Swedes, his removal becomes imminent. The situation comes to a head because Octavio’s son Max Piccolomini (a fictional creation by Schiller) and Wallenstein’s daughter Thekla (a historical character) are in love. A devotee of Wallenstein, who treats him well, Max can’t believe his father’s claim that Wallenstein intends to betray the emperor. “Piccolomini” ends with Max’s decision to challenge Wallenstein directly about his plans.
(The text of the last section was taken from a Wikipedia entry and is available under the the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.)
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