About the work
Johann Anton Leisewitz wrote "Julius von Tarent" in 1774 as a member of the Göttingen poets' circle known as the "Hain" and submitted the tragedy to a drama competition announced by Friedrich Ludwig Schröder for Hamburg's theatre in 1775. Published anonymously in 1776 by Weygand in Leipzig, it received its stage premiere on 19 June 1776 in Berlin, performed by the Döbbelin theatre company.
Plot
The feuding brothers Julius and Guido, sons of the Prince of Tarento, both love the commoner Blanca. Their father tries to defuse the conflict through an arranged match, but Guido's jealousy escalates into the murder of Julius. In despair over the deed, the prince has Guido killed as well and abdicates.
Cultural significance
Although it lost the Hamburg competition to Friedrich Maximilian Klinger's "Die Zwillinge," "Julius von Tarent" became one of the most frequently performed plays of its era; Lessing initially believed Goethe had written it. As one of the defining tragedies of the Sturm und Drang movement, it is regarded as a forerunner of Schiller's "Die Räuber."