masterpiece that resists all pigeonholing." The novel could also be described as an example of what Graham Wolfe has called "theatre-fiction". Legacy The novel has had a significant impact on European literature. Romantic critic and theorist Friedrich Schlegel judged it to be of comparable importance for its age to the French Revolution and the philosophy of Johann Gottlieb Fichte. Arthur Schopenhauer cited Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship as one of the four immortal romances. Schopenhauer also mentions the book in his Aphorismen zur Lebensweisheit. Arguing against chasing transient pleasures, Schopenhauer says, "Where we were looking for pleasure, happiness and joy, we often find instruction, insight and knowledge, a lasting and real benefit in place of a fleeting one. This idea runs like a bass-note through Goethe's Wilhelm Meister; for this is an intellectual novel and is of a higher order than the rest." Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship provided the text for many lieder, among others by Beethoven, for example Sehnsucht: Gedicht von Goethe viermal in Musik gesetzt von L. van Beethoven, four settings of "Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt", WoO. 134 (1808), and by Schubert, for example , Gesänge aus Wilhelm Meister, Op. 62 (1826). Schubert set eight excerpts, several more than once. They are: "Was hör' ich draußen vor dem Tür" from Book 2, Ch. XI: "Wer nie sein Brot mit Tränen aß" from Book 2, Ch. XIII: No. 2 "Wer sich der Einsamkeit ergibt" from Book 2, Ch. XIII: and 478 No 1 "Kennst du das Land" from Book 3, Ch. I: "Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt" from Book 4, Ch. XI: , 359, 481, 656 and 877 Nos. 1 & 4 "An die Türen will ich schleichen" from Book 5, Ch. XIV: D. 478 No. 3 "Heiß mich nicht reden" from Book 5, Ch. XVI: and 877 No. 2 "So laßt mich scheinen, bis ich werde" from Book 8, Ch. II: , 727 and 877 No. 3 The 1866 opera Mignon by Ambroise Thomas is based on Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship. The romance from 1869 song-cycle by Russian composer Peter Ilych Tchaikovsky named "None but the Lonely Heart" (Net tolka tot kto znal) is the Russian translation of the song "Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt". The film The Wrong Move by Wim Wenders is a free adaptation of Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship. Minjona, a women's choir based at the University of Latvia, is dedicated to Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship. References External links Online