On August 28, 2024, the world community celebrates the 275^th birth anniversary of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the prominent German poet, playwright, theatre director, writer, thinker, philosopher, statesman, scientist-polymath and man of universal talents.

The future author of "Faust" was born in 1749 in one of the largest cities in Germany – Frankfurt am Main. His father, Caspar Goethe, was a lawyer and served as an imperial counselor. Mother, Catharina Elisabeth Goethe, born Catharina Elisabeth Textor – the daughter of the city official and supreme judge ran the household. The house in which the writer lived has survived to this day. Nowadays it is his official memorial house. From the age of seven Johann attended school for three years, and from the age of ten he and his sister Cornelia were getting a well-rounded home education – they were taught by eight different teachers. The children studied natural sciences, history of religion, drawing. Johann favored chemistry and biology, foreign languages, and early began to write poetry. In addition, the boy mastered fencing, horse riding, playing the piano and cello, and danced with pleasure. Goethe's family had a library of about 2,000 volumes. In the autumn of 1765 Johann became a student of the Leipzig University, one of the most prestigious educational institutions in Germany. His father insisted that his son should be the successor of the dynasty, so Johann studied at the Faculty of Law. In the summer of 1768, the young man worsened tuberculosis, and he returned home. Two years later, after his recovery, Johann travelled to Strasbourg, where he finally received his Diploma of Law.

In Strasbourg, the young Goethe matured as a poet and made acquaintances with future participants of the movement ‘Sturm und Drang’ In the new city, the young Goethe formed as a poet and made acquaintances with future prominent figures of the era of ‘Storm and onslaught’. This literary trend was almost identical to the then emerging in Europe sentimentalism: the rationalists were replaced by admirers of emotions and feelings.

During this period, Goethe's play about a Swabian knight, Götz von Berlichingen, was published, which brought him his first literary success. The next work, ‘Die Leiden des jungen Werthers’ (The Sorrows of Young Werther), made Johannes famous throughout Europe. This epistolary novel is about a young man who fell in love unrequitedly and committed suicide.

In 1775, Goethe moved to Weimar at the invitation of his friend Karl August, the future Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach. Since 1779, he served as a Privy Counselor, from 1782 – a Chancellor of the Treasury of the Duchy, in the same year he raised to the nobility. Actually literary work for Goethe at this time receded into the background: simultaneously with administrative and economic activities in Weimar and Jena, he was engaged in the natural sciences. Administrative activities include, above all, managing the museum and library collections, directing the Weimar theatre, developing the University of Jena and engagement of prominent scientists and philosophers in Germany. During first ten years of his stay in Weimar, Goethe took an active part in the political life of the duchy, managed the military board, and supervised road construction. Goethe's work on the dramas ‘Egmont’ and ‘Iphigenia in Tauris’, as well as the beginning of work on ‘Faust’, belonged to this period. The most significant lyrical works of this period are "Poems to Lida" (An Lida) and ballads, in which the motifs of the mysterious essence of nature, which brings happiness and at the same time destructive, prevail. In the autumn of 1786, tired of his duties at court, Goethe for two years went to Italy. The era of the so-called "Weimar Classicism" (1786-1805) in German literature began with the Italian journey of the writer. The last decade of the 18^th and the first years of the 19^th centuries are marked by the close co-operation between Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Friedrich Schiller, which continued until the death of Schiller death in 1805. On Schiller's advice, Goethe completes the first novel about Wilhelm Meister - "Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship" (Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship, 1793-1796), resumes work on "Faust". Together they work on a cycle of epigrams and ballads. Following the advice of Schiller, Goethe completed the first novel about Wilhelm Meister – "Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship" (1793-1796) and resumed work on "Faust". Together they worked on a cycle of epigrams and ballads.

Goethe transferred the chemical term "selective affinity" – the phenomena of the accidental attraction of elements to the sphere of human relations with that in order to show the effectiveness and unity of the spontaneous laws of nature not only in the sphere of chemical sciences, but also in the "realm of reason" and in the world of love. Goethe's ideas had a tremendous influence on the development of European insights. His works inspired his fellow humanist writers and philosophers. Goethe's poems were often referred to by legendary composers including Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, Richard Wagner and Franz Liszt.

The philosophical tragedy "Faust" is considered the pinnacle of Goethe's work. He worked on it for almost 60 years; the second part of the work was published only after the author's death. In "Faust" the writer turned to folk and Christian motifs, used numerous historical and the author most fully displayed his literary talent – theorists of literature call it the pinnacle of German-language poetry. Goethe's tragedy has been published in many languages of the world and is considered a cultural treasure of all mankind. It was translated into Russian by Valery Bryusov, Afanasy Fet, Anatoly Mamontov, Alexander Strugovshchikov and other talented poets. The most renowned Russian-language version belongs to Boris Pasternak.

In addition to literature, Goethe was fond of drawing and left behind more than two thousand drawings and watercolours. During his life, the poet published many works on mineralogy, biology, geology, physics and meteorology. Goethe also went down in history as a passionate florist. He is considered one of the record holders for the number of flowers planted. When out for a walk in Weimar, Goethe poured flower seeds into his pockets and scattered them wherever he went. Some of the locals, who were not very good at naming flowers, said that Goethe's flowers bloomed. Since then it has been known in Germany that the poet's favourite violets are called Goethe's flowers.

In the spring of 1832, Johann Goethe went for a walk in an open carriage and caught a bad cold. He was 82 years old at the time. The disease greatly weakened the already broken health of Goethe, and led to death. On March 22, 1832, the writer died. Doctors determined that the cause was cardiac arrest.

Goethe's wife was the modiste Christiane Vulpius. Marriage was not a barrier to Goethe's amorous pursuits. Despite the poet's amorousness, he had the only acknowledged child, and the genealogical lineage was interrupted after a generation.

Monuments were erected in honor of Goethe in many countries. Not only educational institutions, such as the University of Frankfurt, but also a crater on Mercury, the mineral ‘goethite’ and a rose variety – bear the writer's name. There is the Goethe Institute in Germany, a non-governmental organization dealing with the promotion of the German language in various countries.

A selection of fragments of musical works to the lyrics of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe is posted in the Museum Phonotheque.