1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Schubart, Christian Friedrich Daniel

SCHUBART, CHRISTIAN FRIEDRICH DANIEL (1730–1791), German poet, was born at Obersontheim in Swabia (now the kingdom of Württemberg) on the 24th of March 1739, and entered the university of Erlangen in 1758 as a student of theology. He led a dissolute life, and after two years' stay was summoned home by his parents. After attempting to earn a livelihood as private tutor and as assistant preacher, his musical talents gained him the appointment of organist in Geislingen, and subsequently in Ludwigsburg; but in consequence of his wild life and blasphemy, which found expression in a parody of the litany, he was expelled the country. He then visited in turn Heilbronn, Mannheim, Munich and Augsburg. In the last-named town he made a considerable stay, began his Deutsche Chronik (1774–1778) and eked out a subsistence by reciting from the latest works of prominent poets. Owing to a bitter attack upon the Jesuits, he was expelled from Augsburg and fled to Ulm, where he was arrested in 1777 and confined in the fortress of Hohenasperg. Here he met with lenient treatment, and he beguiled the time by a study of mystical works and in composing poetry. His Sämtliche Gedichte appeared in two volumes at Stuttgart in 1785–1786 (new edition by G. Hauff, Leipzig, 1884, in Reclam’s Universal-Bibliothek); in this collection most of the pieces are characterized by the bombast of the “Sturm und Drang” period. He was set at liberty in 1787, at the instance of Frederick the Great, king of Prussia, and expressed his gratitude in Hymnus auf Friedrich den Grossen. Schubart was now appointed musical director and manager of the theatre at Stuttgart, where he continued his Deutsche Chronik and began his autobiography, Schubarts Leben und Gesinnungen (2 vols., 1791–1793), but before its completion he died at Stuttgart on the 10th of October 1791. His Gesammelte Schriften und Schicksale appeared in 8 vols. (Stuttgart, 1839–1840).

See D. F. Strauss, Schubarts Leben in seinen Briefen (2 vols., 1849; 2nd ed., 1878); G. Hauff, Christian Daniel Schubart (1885); and E. Nägele, Aus Schubarts Leben und Wirken (1888).