In this course we will read and study several major works of Goethe, Schiller and Lessing. The works will be approached from the perspective of the times in which they were written, how they reflect and define the major intellectual ideas of the period from 1749 and 1832 (the dates of Goethe's birth and death). Particular attention will be given to the transition from the so called Classical to the Romantic Period: the critique of the Classical by Romantic authors, the elevation of music as the highest form of artistic expression, the origins of psychology and "modernism" in the subjective irrationalism of the Romantics. Finally, we will also make efforts to view these works more critically from the cultural and political perspectives of our times. We will review the conflicting interpretations of these works by successive generations leading up to the second millennium and consider their relevance to the problems and issues of European unification and the globalization of economies we must now face.