Die Karlsschüler

Karlsschüler, Die, a play by H. Laube, first performed at Dresden in November 1846, and published in 1847. It was extremely popular, owing its success to its subject; for it is a sentimentalized account of the young Schiller's conflict with Duke Karl Eugen, and of his escape from Württemberg on 16 September 1782. Schiller is in love with Laura, a ward of the Duke. The Duke disapproves and interviews Schiller, who delivers a swingeing denunciation of tyrants. Schiller escapes, and the Duke is told in a letter (from W. H. von Dalberg) how great a genius the young man is. Much of the play is written in a hollow rhetorical prose.