“No sooner had I arrived in Strasbourg than I ran to see its magnificent bell tower. I hastened to climb on its platform from where, by a beautiful sun, I contemplated at my ease this superb country which I had to live for a long time, this large and beautiful city ”.
When the young Johann Wolfgang von Goethe moved to Strasbourg in April 1770, he first met the expectations of his father who wanted him to embark on a career as a lawyer, even as a diplomat. His dream ? May his son one day be assigned to the court of Versailles, whose magnificence then impresses all of Europe. We know that his fate will follow a different path, but no less prestigious.
“By choosing Strasbourg, Goethe found himself both in a city that had become French but had retained a solid Germanic background. He was both in France, and a little bit on German soil. This should reassure him even if he was at ease in the language of Molière, ”comments Florian Siffer, conservation attaché at the Museums of Strasbourg.
He co-signed with Aude Therstappen, from the National and University Library of Strasbourg, this exhibition which marks the 250e anniversary of the stay in Strasbourg of one of the great German intellectual figures. Since it cannot be opened to the public, due to the health crisis, a video of more than 11 minutes, available on YouTube, offers a virtual tour.
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L’embryon du Sturm und Drang
We learn that if his stay in Strasbourg was quite short – from April 1770 to August 1771 – it was nonetheless decisive for the young Goethe. “It’s in Strasbourg, as he later recounts in his autobiography, Poetry and truth , Poetry and Truth , published from 1811, that he realizes that his life will follow a different course than law, even if he obtains his license in August 1771. But he now knows that German literature and culture will be his priority ”, continues Florian Siffer.
While France shines throughout Europe thanks to the universalism of the Enlightenment, Goethe claims its Germanity and sees in the splendor of the cathedral the embodiment of German genius – which is quite pleasant when you know that the Gothic appeared in Île-de-France.
“It is above all through the figure of Erwin de Steinbach, the designer of the large rose window, that Goethe affirms the impetus of individual creative genius. He makes him a mythical figure that he celebrates in his book, German architecture , published shortly after his departure from Strasbourg and which announces the movement of the Sturm und Drang. As such, we can consider Strasbourg as one of the crucibles of nascent romanticism, ”says Florian Siffer.
When Goethe wrote to Frédérique Brion …
Of this young man who gains in confidence and now projects himself as a renovator of German letters, a portrait offers a meditative representation: painted by Georg Melchior Kraus in 1775, it appears in the collections of the Goethe-Nationalmuseum in Weimar. And welcome the visitor from Goethe in Strasbourg. The awakening of a genius , an exhibition rooted at the same time in history and fine arts, document and work of art.
Made up of 120 pieces, the hanging addresses Goethe’s stay in Strasbourg through his encounters. That of the German poet and philosopher Johann Gottfried von Herder, the great inspirer of the Sturm und Drang, had a decisive impact on Goethe’s intellectual development. “It is through him that he is interested in the popular songs that he records throughout the countryside,” says Aude Therstappen.
The liaison maintained with Frédérique Brion, the pretty daughter of the pastor of Sessenheim, is not forgotten. We discover the draft of the only letter from Goethe written to his beloved that has reached us.
Strasbourg on the eve of the Revolution and the memory of Goethe in the city (the graffiti on the platform of the cathedral) are also mentioned. Just like the project, when Alsace bent under the Nazi boot, of a Goethe museum installed in its old building in Strasbourg. “It will not see the light of day,” says Florian Siffer. As Goethe embodied the German genius, the Nazis imagined making him an anti-French propaganda figure, but he was never against the French. Goethe admired Voltaire, and Napoleon awarded him the Legion of Honor ”.
The exhibition, scheduled until March 29, at the Heitz gallery in the Palais Rohan in Strasbourg, is visible on YouTube – “Virtual tour of the Goethe exhibition in Strasbourg, the awakening of a genius”. www.musees.strasbourg.eu
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