Sturm und Drang (literally: "storm and stress") was a mainly literary protest movement in German literature during the latter half of the 18th century. It takes its name from a play by F. M. von Klinger, Wirrwarr; oder, Sturm und Drang (1776). The ideas of Rousseau were a major stimulus of the movement, but it evolved more immediately from the influence of Herder, Lessing, and others. With Sturm und Drang, German authors became cultural leaders of Europe, writing literature that was revolutionary in its stress on subjectivity and on the unease of man in contemporary society. The movement was distinguished also by the intensity with which it developed the theme of youthful genius in rebellion against accepted standards, by its enthusiasm for nature, and by its rejection of the rules of 18th-century neoclassical style. The great figure of the movement was Goethe, who wrote its first major drama, G�tz von Berlichingen (1773), and its most sensational and representative novel, The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774). Other writers of importance were Klopstock, J. M. R. Lenz, and Friedrich M�ller. The last major figure was Schiller, whose Die R�uber and other early plays were also a prelude to romanticism.

Bibliography: See studies by R. Pascal (1953, repr. 1967) and M. O. Kirsten (1969). Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, Copyright (c) 2004. It marks the return of romanticism to what was seen as an overly rationalist literary tradition. The period is variously characterized as having lasted from 1767 - 1785 (most common view), 1769 - 1786, or 1765 - 1795. Its best known manifestation is the 1774 novel Die Leiden des jungen Werthers (The Sorrows of Young Werther) by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

The movement also informed some classical music of the period, resulting in stormy minor key writing in pieces such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Don Giovanni (in the overture and Don Giovanni's descent into hell) and certain symphonies by Joseph Haydn, such as the Symphony No. 45.

Other notable literary works include:

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

• Zum Schakespears-Tag (1771)
• Sesenheimer Lieder (1771)
• G�tz von Berlichingen (1773)
• Prometheus (1773; revised 1777)
• Ganymed (1774)

Friedrich Schiller

• Die R�uber (1781)
• Kabale und Liebe (1784)

Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz

• Der Hofmeister (1774)
• Die Soldaten (1776)

Johann Heinrich Voss

• German verse translation of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey

Christoph Heinrich H�lty

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