[6] In 1776, Klinger submitted his tragedy Die Zwillinge (The Twins) to a contest hosted by the Hamburg theatre under the auspices of the actress Sophie Charlotte Ackermann and her son, the famous actor and playwright Friedrich Ludwig Schröder.

The play took first prize, earning Klinger enough critical acclaim to be appointed Theaterdichter to the Seylersche Schauspiel-Gesellschaft headed by Abel Seyler and held this post for two years.

In 1780, he went to Saint Petersburg, became an officer in the Imperial Russian Army, was ennobled and attached to the Grand Duke Paul, whom he accompanied on a journey to Italy and France.

In 1785, he was appointed director of the corps of cadets, and after marrying Elizaveta Alekseyeva (rumored to be a natural daughter of Catherine the Great and Prince Grigory Orlov), was made praeses of the Academy of Knights in 1799.

[11] Klinger was a man of vigorous moral character and full of fine feeling, though the bitter experiences and deprivations of his youth are largely reflected in his dramas.

In these works, Klinger gives calm and dignified expression to the leading ideas which the period of Sturm und Drang had bequeathed to German classical literature.