The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Werner, Friedrich Ludwig Zacharias

WERNER, Friedrich Ludwig Zacharias, German dramatist: b. Königsberg, 18 Nov. 1768; d. Vienna, 17 Jan. 1823. After attending Kant's lectures in his native town, he became in 1793 chamber secretary in the Prussian service, and in 1805 obtained a government post in Berlin, but two years later he retired from the public service. In 1811 he joined the Roman Catholic Church, and in 1814 was consecrated priest at Aschaffenburg. Taking up his residence in Vienna, he became known as an eloquent preacher and later was appointed head of the chapter of the cathedral of Kaminiec. Werner's dramatic works reveal much of the power and pathos characteristic of Schiller, but overlaid to a constantly increasing extent, as he advanced in years, by mystical and undramatic elements. The chief of them are ‘Die Söhne des Thals’ (1804); ‘Das Kreuz an der Ostsee’ (1806); ‘Martin Luther oder die Weihe der Kraft’ (1807); ‘Attila’ (1808); ‘Wanda’ (1810); ‘Die Weihe der Unkraft’ (1813), a sort of retraction of the earlier play on Luther; ‘Kunigunde die Heilige’ (1815); ‘Der 24 Februar’ (1815); ‘Die Mutter der Makkabäer’ (1820).