Die Bürgschaft
Encyclopedia
The Hostage is a 1798 ballad
by German
poet Friedrich Schiller
. He took the idea out of the medieval Latin
collection of anecdotes and tales, the Gesta Romanorum
.
polis
of Syracuse. After a failed attempt by Moerus to kill the tyrant Dionysius
, he is sentenced to death. However, he is granted a delay in order to consign his sister to her designated husband. Moerus' friend remains with Dionysius to guarantee Moerus' return. To the astonishment of Dionysius, after many obstacles, Moerus returns to save his friend. Ashamed by this deed, Dionysius admits the moral value of fidelity
and asks to be considered as a friend in their midst.
In the late 1930s Berthold Brecht wrote a verse commentary Über Schillers Gedicht "Die Bürgschaft", ironically praising the golden age in which contract had such moral force that the tyrant realizes that he is hardly needed. This has been set to music by Hans Eisler.
set it to music twice: first as a song in 1815, and then as an opera in 1816. The opera ends, for an unknown reason, in the middle of the third act.
Ballad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many...
by German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
poet Friedrich Schiller
Friedrich Schiller
Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller was a German poet, philosopher, historian, and playwright. During the last seventeen years of his life , Schiller struck up a productive, if complicated, friendship with already famous and influential Johann Wolfgang von Goethe...
. He took the idea out of the medieval Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
collection of anecdotes and tales, the Gesta Romanorum
Gesta Romanorum
Gesta Romanorum, a Latin collection of anecdotes and tales, was probably compiled about the end of the 13th century or the beginning of the 14th...
.
Synopsis
The ballad is set in Ancient GreekAncient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
polis
Polis
Polis , plural poleis , literally means city in Greek. It could also mean citizenship and body of citizens. In modern historiography "polis" is normally used to indicate the ancient Greek city-states, like Classical Athens and its contemporaries, so polis is often translated as "city-state."The...
of Syracuse. After a failed attempt by Moerus to kill the tyrant Dionysius
Dionysius I of Syracuse
Dionysius I or Dionysius the Elder was a Greek tyrant of Syracuse, in what is now Sicily, southern Italy. He conquered several cities in Sicily and southern Italy, opposed Carthage's influence in Sicily and made Syracuse the most powerful of the Western Greek colonies...
, he is sentenced to death. However, he is granted a delay in order to consign his sister to her designated husband. Moerus' friend remains with Dionysius to guarantee Moerus' return. To the astonishment of Dionysius, after many obstacles, Moerus returns to save his friend. Ashamed by this deed, Dionysius admits the moral value of fidelity
Fidelity
"Fidelity" is the quality of being faithful or loyal. Its original meaning regarded duty to a lord or a king, in a broader sense than the related concept of fealty. Both derive from the Latin word fidēlis, meaning "faithful or loyal"....
and asks to be considered as a friend in their midst.
Versions
In the original version, written in 1798 and published in 1799, the main character is named Moerus. In 1804 Schiller re-worked the ballad and changed the name of Moerus to Damon. It was translated into English in 1902.In the late 1930s Berthold Brecht wrote a verse commentary Über Schillers Gedicht "Die Bürgschaft", ironically praising the golden age in which contract had such moral force that the tyrant realizes that he is hardly needed. This has been set to music by Hans Eisler.
Musical settings
Franz SchubertFranz Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer.Although he died at an early age, Schubert was tremendously prolific. He wrote some 600 Lieder, nine symphonies , liturgical music, operas, some incidental music, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music...
set it to music twice: first as a song in 1815, and then as an opera in 1816. The opera ends, for an unknown reason, in the middle of the third act.