Sturm und Drang (‘Storm and Stress’) German literary movement that takes its name from a play (1776) by F. M. von Klinger. Sturm and Drang rejected the prevailing neo-classicism in favour of subjectivity, artistic creativity, and the beauty of nature. Associated principally with the early works of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Friedrich Schiller, and Johann Gottfried von Herder, it is seen as a precursor of Romanticism. The movement influenced Haydn's group of minor-key symphonies.

Sturm und Drang / ˈshtoŏrm oŏn(d) ˈdräng/ • n. a literary and artistic movement in Germany in the late 18th century, influenced by Jean-Jacques Rousseau and characterized by the expression of emotional unrest and a rejection of neoclassical literary norms.

Sturm und Drang (Ger., ‘Storm and stress’). Term applied to period, roughly 1760–80, in Ger. literature and mus. when emotionalism was at height. Specially applied to works comp. by Joseph Haydn at that time, particularly syms. (roughly Nos. 40–59), and str. qts. These works are marked by new and audacious formal and harmonic features. Also used to describe much kbd. mus. by C. P. E. Bach.

Sturm und Drang a literary and artistic movement in Germany in the late 18th century, influenced by Jean-Jacques Rousseau and characterized by the expression of emotional unrest and a rejection of neoclassical literary norms. The phrase is German, and means literally ‘Storm and Stress’.

storm and stress See Sturm und Drang