Franz grillparzer biography

In 1817 the first performance of Grillparzer’s tragedy Die Ahnfrau ( The Ancestress) evoked public interest. Previously he had written a play in blank verse, Blanka von Castilien ( Blanche of Castile ), that already embodied the principal idea of several later works—the contrast between a quiet, idyllic existence and a life of action.

Franz Grillparzer was born in Vienna, Austria. His father, the advocate E. J. Grillparzer, was a severe pedant and a staunch upholder of the liberal traditions of the reign of Joseph II.

Apart from his critical studies on Spanish drama and a posthumous autobiography, Grillparzer’s finest prose work is Der arme Spielmann (1848), the story of a poor musician who cheerfully accepts life’s failures and dies through his efforts to help others.

Some critics consider Medea Grillparzer's highest achievement. For his historical tragedy King Ottokar's Fortune and End (German: König Ottokars Glück und Ende, written 1823, but owing to difficulties with the censor, not performed until February 19, 1825), Grillparzer dramatized the conflict of Ottokar II of Bohemia with Rudolph I of Germany.