Biography Wikipedia
Wikipedia:
The Lorelei (also spelled Loreley) (German pronunciation: [loːʁəˈlaɪ]) is a rock on the eastern bank of the Rhine near St. Goarshausen, Germany, which soars some 120 metres above the waterline. It marks the narrowest part of the river between Switzerland and the North Sea. A very strong current and rocks below the waterline have caused many boat accidents there.
Lorelei is also the name of a feminine water spirit, similar to mermaids or Rhine maidens, associated with this rock in popular folklore and in works of music, art and literature.
Etymology
The name comes from the old German words "lureln" (Rhine dialect for "murmuring") and the Celtic term "ley" (rock). The translation of the name would therefore be: "murmur rock" or "murmuring rock". The heavy currents, and a small waterfall in the area (still visible in the early 19th century) created a murmuring sound, and this combined with the special echo the rock produces which acted as a sort of amplifier, giving the rock its name. The murmuring is hard to hear today owing to the urbanization of the area. Other theories attribute the name to the many accidents, by combining the German verb "lauern" (to lurk, lie in wait) with the same "ley" ending, with the translation "lurking rock".
Original folklore and the creation of the modern myth
The rock and the murmur it creates have inspired various tales. An old legend envisioned dwarves living in caves in the rock.
In 1801 German author Clemens Brentano composed his ballad Zu Bacharach am Rheine as part of a fragmentary continuation of his novel Godwi oder Das steinerne Bild der Mutter. It first told the story of an enchanting female associated with the rock. In the poem, the beautiful Lorelei, betrayed by her sweetheart, is accused of bewitching men and causing their death. Rather than sentence her to death, the bishop consigns her to a nunnery. On the way thereto, accompanied by three knights, she comes to the Lorelei rock. She asks permission to climb it and view the Rhine once again. She does so and falls to her death; the rock still retained an echo of her name afterwards. Brentano had taken inspiration from Ovid and the Echo myth.
In 1824 Heinrich Heine seized on and adapted Brentano's theme in one of his most famous poems, Die Lorelei. It describes the eponymous female as a sort of siren who, sitting on the cliff above the Rhine and combing her golden hair, unwittingly distracted shipmen with her beauty and song, causing them to crash on the rocks. In 1837 Heine's lyrics were set to music by Friedrich Silcher in a song that became well known in German-speaking lands. A setting by Franz Liszt was also favored and over a score of other musicians have set the poem to music.
The Lorelei character, although originally imagined by Brentano, passed into German popular culture in the form described in the Heine-Silcher song and is commonly but mistakenly believed to have originated in an old folk tale. The French writer Guillaume Apollinaire took up the theme again in his poem "La Loreley", from the collection Alcools.
Accident
A barge carrying 2,400 tonnes of sulphuric acid capsized on January 13, 2011 near the town of St. Goarshausen, home to the Lorelei rock, which marks the narrowest part of the Rhine, blocking traffic on one of Europe's busiest waterways amid a frantic search for two crew members.
References in works of art
Works about, or referencing, the Lorelei:
German composer Felix Mendelssohn began an opera in 1846 based on the legend of the Lorelei Rhine maidens for Swedish soprano Jenny Lind, however, he died before he had the chance to finish it Two other completed operas from later that century were also written about the subject, Lurline by William Vincent Wallace and Loreley by Alfredo Catalani (first performed in 1860 and 1880 respectively)In Eichendorff's poem "Waldesgespräch", a rider meets a beautiful young woman in the forest who turns out to be "the witch Lorelei"; she tells him that he will never leave the forestSylvia Plath wrote a poem entitled "Lorelei" (part of the collection The Colossus and Other Poems, first published in 1960)A number of other musical works related to the subject of this article, along with others simply named "Lorelei", may be found in the disambiguation page.
