born May 9, 1752, Hannover, Hanover
[Germany]
died Sept. 10, 1806, Braunschweig,
Brunswick
German dramatist whose most important
work, Julius von Tarent (1776), was the
forerunner of Friedrich Schiller’s
famous Sturm und Drang masterpiece Die
Räuber (1781; The Robbers).
Leisewitz studied law at the
University of Göttingen from 1770 and
joined the Göttinger Hain group in 1774.
He entered the Brunswick administrative
service, in which he rose to high
position. His tragedy Julius von Tarent
shows Gotthold Ephraim Lessing’s
influence. The play, treating the
favourite Sturm und Drang theme of
fratricide, postulated a fundamental
conflict between the political state and
the individual heart. It exhibits
calculated restraint and finely drawn
characters. Leisewitz’s short dramatic
sketches Die Pfändung (1775; “The
Distraint”) and Der Besuch um
Mitternacht (1775; “The Midnight Visit”)
pursue the Sturm und Drang trend toward
the theme of social injustice, which he
had divorced from the tragic conflict in
Julius von Tarent.
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