Graf von Loeben and the Legend of Lorelei Part 4

[95] In his _Die Marchen Clemens Brentanos_, Koln, 1895, H. Cardauns gives an admirable study of Brentano's _Marchen_, covering the entire ground concerning the question whether Brentano's ballad was original and pointing out the sources and the value of his, _Rheinmarchen_. Cardauns comes to the only conclusion that can be reached: Brentano located his ballad in a region replete with legends, but there is no positive evidence that he did not wholly invent his own ballad. The story that Hermann Bender tells about having found an old MS dating back to the year 1650 and containing the essentials of Brentano's ballad collapses, for this MS cannot be produced, not even by Bender who claims to have found it. See Cardauns, pp. 60-67. Reinhold Steig reviewed Cardauns' book in _Euphorion_ (1896, pp. 791-99) without taking in the question as to the originality of Brentano's ballad.

[96] P. 224.

[97] In Geibel's _Gesammelte Werke_, VI. 106-74, Geibel wrote the libretto for Felix Mendelssohn in 1846. Mendelssohn died before finis.h.i.+ng it; Max Bruch completed the opera independently in 1863. It has also been set to music by two obscure composers. Karl Goedeke gives a very unsatisfactory discussion of the matter in _Emanuel Geibel_, Stuttgart, 1860. pp. 307 ff.

[98] Hermann Seeliger says (p. 73): "Zu den Bearbeitungen, die sich an die Ballade von Brentano anlehnen, geh.o.r.en die Dichtungen von Geibel, Mohr, Roquette, Hillemacher, Fiebach und Sommer." Seeliger wrote his study for musicians, and his statement may be correct.

[99] Aside from the treatises on the Lorelei already mentioned, there are the following: _Zu Heines Balladen und Romanzen_, by Oskar Netoliczka, Kronstadt, 1891; this study does not treat the Lorelei; _Die Lurleisage_, by F. Rehorn, Frankfurt am Main, 1891; _Sagen und Geschichten des Rheinlandes_, by Karl Geib, Mannheim, 1836; the work is naturally long since superseded; _Kolnische Zeitung_ of July 12, 1867, by H. Grieben; _Kolnische Zeitung_ of 1855, by H. Duntzer; _H. Heine, ein Vortrag_, by H. Sintenis, pp. 21-26; _Die Lorelei: Die Loreleidichtungen mit besonderer Rucksicht auf die Ballade von Heinr. Heine_, by C. L. Leimbach, Wolfenb.u.t.tel, 1879. The last six of these works were not accessible, but, since they are quoted by the accessible studies, it seems that they offer nothing new. (The writer has since secured Leimbach's treatise of 50 small pages. It offers nothing new.)

[100] Adolf Seybert in his _Die Loreleisage_, Wiesbaden, 1863 and 1872 (Programm), contends that Frau Holla and the Lorelei are related. Fritz Strich in his _Die Mythologie in der deutschen Literatur von Klopstock bis Wagner_, Halle, 1910, says (pp. 307-9) that Brentano's ballad is "eine mythologische Erfindung Brentanos, zu der ihn der ech.o.r.eiche Felsen dieses Namens bei Bacharach anregte." He also says: "Ob nicht Heines Lied auf Brentanos Phantasie zuruckgewirkt haben mag?" The reference is to Brentano's _Marchen_. Strich's book contains a detailed account of the use of mythology in Heine, Loeben, and Brentano.

[101] Hermann Seeliger says (p. 8): "Ich meine, die ganze romantische Schule hatte ohne den Stoff vom Volke zu bekommen, ein Gedicht von solcher Schonheit wie das von Brentano weder gemacht noch machen konnen." Vis-a-vis such a statement, sociability ceases.