The Maid of Orleans (play)
Encyclopedia
The Maid of Orleans is a tragedy
by Friedrich Schiller
, written in 1801 in Leipzig
. During his lifetime, it was one of Schiller's most frequently-performed pieces.
. It contains a prologue introducing the important characters, followed by five acts. Each dramatizes a significant event in Joan's life. The play, however, departs from history by having Joan breaking her chains after being sentenced to be burned at the stake. She rushes into the battle that is taking place just outside her prison cell, and is mortally wounded while fighting.
The line (III, 6; Talbot) is the origin of the English expression "Against stupidity, the gods themselves contend in vain."
Tragedy
Tragedy is a form of art based on human suffering that offers its audience pleasure. While most cultures have developed forms that provoke this paradoxical response, tragedy refers to a specific tradition of drama that has played a unique and important role historically in the self-definition of...
by 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...
, written in 1801 in Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
. During his lifetime, it was one of Schiller's most frequently-performed pieces.
Plot
The play loosely follows the life of Joan of ArcJoan of Arc
Saint Joan of Arc, nicknamed "The Maid of Orléans" , is a national heroine of France and a Roman Catholic saint. A peasant girl born in eastern France who claimed divine guidance, she led the French army to several important victories during the Hundred Years' War, which paved the way for the...
. It contains a prologue introducing the important characters, followed by five acts. Each dramatizes a significant event in Joan's life. The play, however, departs from history by having Joan breaking her chains after being sentenced to be burned at the stake. She rushes into the battle that is taking place just outside her prison cell, and is mortally wounded while fighting.
The line (III, 6; Talbot) is the origin of the English expression "Against stupidity, the gods themselves contend in vain."
Operatic adaptations
- Giovanna d'ArcoGiovanna d'ArcoGiovanna d'Arco is an operatic dramma lirico with a prologue and three acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Temistocle Solera....
(1845) by Giuseppe VerdiGiuseppe VerdiGiuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century... - The Maid of Orleans (1881) by Pyotr Ilyich TchaikovskyPyotr Ilyich TchaikovskyPyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Russian: Пётр Ильи́ч Чайко́вский ; often "Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky" in English. His names are also transliterated "Piotr" or "Petr"; "Ilitsch", "Il'ich" or "Illyich"; and "Tschaikowski", "Tschaikowsky", "Chajkovskij"...
- Das Mädchen aus DomrémyDas Mädchen aus DomrémyDas Mädchen aus Domrémy, Op. 72, is an opera in two acts by Giselher Klebe who with his wife, Lore Klebe, also wrote the libretto based on the play Die Jungfrau von Orléans by Friedrich Schiller....
(1976) by Giselher KlebeGiselher KlebeGiselher Wolfgang Klebe was a German composer. He composed more than 140 works, among them 14 operas, 8 symphonies, 15 solo concerts, chamber music, piano works, and sacred music.-Biography:...