The singer
The singer is a ballad by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832). Written in 1783, it appeared in the eleventh chapter of the novel Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre .
Structure and language
The ballad consists of six stanzas of seven verses each. It contains many exclamations, mostly those that express delight and thus strongly emphasize the happy atmosphere and the emotional nature of the text. The many anaphors double the processes, as it were. So verses one and two begin with what , so that a double question comes first. The verses eight and nine offer a two-fold greeting ( Hail and Hail ). Together with the repetitions ( Is a reward, richly rewarding in verse 32), the anaphoric beginnings create catchiness and forcefulness .
Content and interpretation
A singer appears in the hall of a king who joyfully receives him. First of all, the singer welcomes his audience in good spirits, who are also delighted by his lecture that is about to begin. The king himself is so enthusiastic that he wants to give the singer a gold chain as a reward, a very valuable gift. But the singer refuses. He thinks that such a chain is more for a knight or chancellor, because he himself feels it is a burden (v.27). The singer feels free like a bird and so he doesn't need any other gift than what his art represents for him. The artist only asks for a cup of wine and then empties it with delight. He happily thanks him for the drink, says goodbye, and asks that his audience will keep him in their minds.
In contrast to the Middle Ages, being a traveling singer is not perceived as hard and is not sung for reward. An extremely honorable reward is even rejected in order to preserve one's own freedom, which is felt to be a special value. This also means the freedom to express one's thoughts. Nobody feels offended by the rejection of the chain or the somewhat mocking assignment of the gift to the knight and chancellor and the singer leaves in peace.
The subject matter of the poem resembles the ballad Des Singer Fluch by Ludwig Uhland . Here, too, it is about the dignity of the singer, but Uhland's ballad ends tragically. Uhland demonstrates the superiority of the singer over the king even more clearly. With Goethe it shows itself above all in the fact that the singer is at the center of the action and is the actual spokesman.
Settings
The singer was u. a. Set to music by Franz Schubert , Carl Loewe , Carl Friedrich Zelter , Conradin Kreutzer , Johann Friedrich Reichardt , Hugo Wolf and Zdeněk Fibich .
output
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: The singer . In: Hartmut Laufhütte (Ed.): German Ballads. Reclam, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-15-008501-2 .
literature
- Wilhelm Grenzmann: The singer . In: Rupert Hirschenauer, Albrecht Weber (ed.): Paths to the poem. Volume 2: Interpretation of Ballads. 2nd Edition. Munich and Zurich 1964, DNB 458589381 , p. 169 ff.
Web links
- The singer in the Gutenberg-DE project
- The singer at Zeno.org . after: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: Berlin edition. Poetic Works, Volume 1. Berlin 1960 ff, pp. 112–113.
Individual evidence
- ↑ The singer at The LiederNet Archive