Big Schiller Shoe!

It seems as though I may be following in the footsteps of 

Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (1759-1805)!  

What is it with the way our paths cross?  Has anyone noticed? 

Fritz Schiller was born near Stuttgart, lived for a time in Ludwigsburg near Stuttgart, went to high school in Stuttgart, worked for a time in Frankfurt and from 1788 to 1805 Schiller lived in Weimar, where he worked closely with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

Although born in California, I lived in Stuttgart as a high school student when my father ran a music program in Ludwigsburg for American Students. I lived in Frankfurt and in Stuttgart while completing a music degree at the Frankfurt Conservatory. Next week I start a Bach Cantata Project in Weimar!

And that's not all! Not only do our geographic peregrinations overlap, but our musical/literature paths cross as well!

In 1839, the city of Stuttgart erected a statue in Schiller's honor, on what is now known as Schillerplatz. In 1907, St. Paul's significant German immigrant community contributed a statue of Schiller to the City of St. Paul, where it graced the entrance to the city's landmark Como Park. I have lived in St. Paul since 1984, when we moved back to the US from living in Stuttgart! That statue was intended to mark Schiller's literary contribution to the universal values of Brotherhood and Freedom, and Schiller's influence on the philosophy on America's Founding Fathers. Over time, the statue's condition deteriorated, and as a public art project, the statue was restored and rededicated last year.

You may be aware that Germany's "Reunification Anthem" - indeed the Freedom Anthem for a United Europe - is Beethoven's 9th Symphony, which features Schiller's "Ode to Joy" text in the climactic choral fourth movement. I conducted my Minnesota Chorale in "Ode to Joy" on a snowy May 11, 2013 as part of the refurbished statue's dedication ceremony. And that very same "Ode to Joy" figured prominently in our Grammy-nominated Minnesota Chorale recording of Beethoven's 9th Symphony with the Minnesota Orchestra.

Schiller Statue in Saint Paul, Minnesota

Kathy Saltzman Romey & Fritz Schiller in 2013 - Who looks better?

Did Schiller want to be an American?   Would America exist without Schiller?