The Lorelei ( ; ), spelled Loreley in German, is a , steep

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

rock on the right bank of the River Rhine in the Rhine Gorge (or Middle Rhine) at Sankt Goarshausen in Germany, part of the Upper Middle Rhine Valley UNESCO World Heritage Site. The 1930s Loreley Amphitheatre is on top of the rock.

Etymology

The name comes from the old German words , Rhine dialect for "murmuring", and the

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

term "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 to act 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 boating accidents on the rock, by combining the German verb ('to lurk, lie in wait') with the same "ley" ending, with the translation "lurking rock". After the

German spelling reform of 1901 The German Orthographic Conference of 1901 (the Berlin II Orthographic Conference; german: Zweite Orthographische Konferenz or ') took place in Berlin from 17 until 19 June 1901. The results of the conference became official in the German Empire ...

, in almost all German terms, the letter "y" was changed to the letter "i", but some proper nouns have kept their "y", such as Bayern, Speyer, Spay, Tholey, ( Rheinberg-)Orsoy and including Loreley, which is thus the correct spelling in German.

Original folklore and modern myth

The rock and the murmur it creates have inspired various tales. An old legend envisioned dwarfs 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 Lore Lay, 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, thinking that she sees her love in the Rhine, falls to her death; the rock ever afterward retaining an echo of her name. Brentano had taken inspiration from Ovid and the Echo myth. In 1824,

Heinrich Heine Christian Johann Heinrich Heine (; born Harry Heine; 13 December 1797 – 17 February 1856) was a German poet, writer and literary critic. He is best known outside Germany for his early lyric poetry, which was set to music in the form of '' Lied ...

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 Siren or sirens may refer to: Common meanings * Siren (alarm), a loud acoustic alarm used to alert people to emergencies * Siren (mythology), an enchanting but dangerous monster in Greek mythology Places * Siren (town), Wisconsin * Siren, Wisco ...

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 the

art song An art song is a Western vocal music composition, usually written for one voice with piano accompaniment, and usually in the classical art music tradition. By extension, the term "art song" is used to refer to the collective genre of such songs ...

"Lorelei" that became well known in German-speaking lands. A

setting Setting may refer to: * A location (geography) where something is set * Set construction in theatrical scenery * Setting (narrative), the place and time in a work of narrative, especially fiction * Setting up to fail a manipulative technique to eng ...

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...

was also favored and dozens of other musicians have set the poem to music. During the Nazi regime and World War II, Heinrich Heine (born as a Jew) became discredited as author of the lyrics, in an effort to dismiss and hide Jewish contribution to German art. Lorelei also appears in the poem Waldesgespräch, which appears as a dialog in Joseph von Eichendorff's first novel, . The poem was set by Robert Schumann in his Liederkreis, op. 39. 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 ''Alcools'' (English: Alcohols) is a collection of poems by the French author Guillaume Apollinaire. His first major collection was published in 1913. The first poem in the collection, ''Zone'' (an epic poem of Paris), has been called "''the'' ...

'' which is later cited in Symphony No. 14 (3rd movement) of

Dmitri Shostakovich Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, , group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his Symphony No. 1 (Shostakovich), First Symphony in 1926 and was regarded throug ...

. The character continues to be referenced in pop culture.

Accidents

A barge carrying 2,400 tons of

sulphuric acid Sulfuric acid (American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphuric acid ( Commonwealth spelling), known in antiquity as oil of vitriol, is a mineral acid composed of the elements sulfur, oxygen and hydrogen, with the molecular formu ...

capsized on 13 January 2011, near the Lorelei rock, blocking traffic on one of Europe's busiest waterways.

Gallery

File:Lorelei-2002-jhw.jpg, The Lorelei rock in the Rhine Gorge File:Lorelei rock sign.JPG, Sign on the bank of the Rhine File:LoreleyEisgang1928-29.jpg, Ice at the Lorelei in the winter of 1928/29 File:Loreley in fog.JPG, The Lorelei in fog File:Tankerunglück Loreley 01-2011.jpg, Ship accident near the Lorelei, January 2011 File:Loreleyblick Maria Ruh 2020.jpg, Lorelei seen from the viewpoint ''Maria Ruh''

References

External links

Loreley Information about the Lorelei rock and surrounding area

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