Stolberg, Christian, Count (1748–1821)

German poet, brother of Friedrich Leopold Stolberg. The Stolberg brothers were representatives of the idealistic Sturm und Drang movement. They collaborated on the volumes Gedichte/Poems 1779, Schauspiele mit Choren/Dramas with Chorus 1787, designed to reawaken interest in Greek drama, and Vaterländische Gedichte/Patriotic Poems 1815. Christian also wrote Gedichte aus dem Griechischen/Poems from the Greek 1782, and a translation of Sophocles in the same year.

While the Stolbergs were studying at the University of Göttingen, they joined the Göttinger Hain, a group of young poets dedicated to fostering the ideals of freedom, virtue, and a sense of national identity. This group prefigured the Sturm und Drang.