10 - Wilhelm Tell: The Triumph of Ambivalence

Summary

SCHILLER HAD HOPED THAT Wilhelm Tell, which was to be his last completed play, would be produced on the Berlin stage by Iffland, who had urged him to write plays that appealed to the theater-going public. He was confident that it would have an effect in the theater and was even prepared to write it in prose to help it achieve that. Because of delays created by Iffland's worries about the play's political content and certain dramaturgical questions, it had its first performance in Weimar on 17 March 1804, where however, it proved too long for the audience, forcing Schiller to make cuts for subsequent performances. But it also met with much approval, and Schiller himself was pleased, believing it to be more effective than any of his other plays. He commented that he was now beginning to master the art of theater, which seems excessively modest from an author who had penned eight significant plays; on the other hand, his words reveal the satisfaction he derived from knowing it was truly successful. Iffland, with whom Schiller conducted a detailed correspondence about aspects of staging and décor, played the title role and directed the production in Berlin, which had its premiere on 4 July 1804. This successful production was followed by others in Mannheim, Breslau, Hamburg, Frankfurt am Main, and Magdeburg.

With Wilhelm Tell Schiller was attempting to write a play that would please audiences and leave behind the austerity of Die Braut.