Die Lorelei

 

Die Lorelei

 

 

What it may mean I do not know.

I am so sad, I find.

There’s a story from years ago

That will not leave my mind.

 

The air is cool and darkness falls

And quietly flows the Rhein.

The peak of the mountain sparkles

In the evening rays that shine.

 

High on the cliff the maiden sits

In beauty and wonder there.

Her golden jewels all gleam with light

As she combs her golden hair.

 

She combs it with a golden comb

And sings a song in her bower

A song that fills in wonder

With a melody of power.

 

The boatman in his little boat

Hears the sad song with grief

And only gazing to the height

Sees not the rocky reef.

 

There is now no boat nor boatman.

In the end the waves have won.

And this from the rock with her singing,

The Lorelei has done.

 

 

Heinrich Heine wrote this poem in 1824 taking the story from an old legend. It has been set to music many times, notably by Clara Schumann and Franz Liszt.

 

In Heine’s poem not a word can be bettered. Not a word is out of place. There is even one of five syllables! ‘The evening rays that shine’ is ‘Abendsonnenschein’. How sensible and yet how musical German can be!

 

Turner painted the Lorelei rock on his visit to the Rhein in 1817.  This was before Heine wrote his poem so the story was already well known.

 

Visit the Lorelei if you can. It is opposite the town of St Goer. It is best to see it from a boat but take care if you start to hear a young woman singing!