Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (1759- 1805). 1905 illustration of the German poet and playwright Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller. While Schiller studied medicine he read Rousseau and Goethe, as well as writing a play about revolutionaries (The Robbers). Gaining his degree in 1780, he became the regimental doctor in Stuttgart, Germany. The following year he was arrested and forbidden to publish further work following his play's first performance. Schiller fled to Jena, where he became a professor of History & Philosophy at the university. He meet Goethe in 1799, who convinced him to return to playwriting, and they formed the Weimar Theatre. His Ode to Joy became the basis for a movement in Beethoven's ninth symphony.