The sorcerer's apprentice
The Sorcerer's Apprentice is a ballad by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (published in print in the last edition , 1827), which is one of his most popular works. It was created during Goethe's Weimar period, in 1797 , the so-called ballad year of classical music , which went down in literary history. The Sorcerer's Apprentice is one of Goethe's most famous poems. Even today it is often taught in schools.
Emergence
In the ballad year 1797, Friedrich Schiller and Goethe made the poetic form of ballad the subject of a conscious artistic will and aesthetic experiment. Both poets, who maintained a close and friendly relationship, entered into a " poet contest" for the enjoyment of a series of other ballads, including the "sorcerer's apprentice". a. also " The God and the Bajadere ", " The Bride of Corinth " and " The Treasure Digger ", all of which appeared in the 1798 Muses Almanac published by Friedrich Schiller .
motive
The motif of the ballad of the sorcerer's apprentice originally appears in the story "The Liar or the Unbeliever" by Lukian of Samosata . As a possible template or excitation is also an episode considered that the Prague Golem of Rabbi Loew has survived.
The passage in Lukian of Samosata that Goethe used in Wieland's translation reads:
“I finally found the opportunity to stay hidden in a dark corner and to catch the magic formula that he used to do so, which consisted of only three syllables. Without noticing me, he went into the market square after telling the pestle what to do. The next day, after he went out on business, I take the pestle, dress it, say the three syllables, and order him to fetch water. He immediately brought me a large jug full of it. Well, I said, I don't need any more water, I'll be a pestle again! But he did not listen to my speeches, but continued to carry water and carried it so long that at last the whole house was filled with it. I was beginning to get worried, Pankrates, if he came back I might resent it - as it happened then - and because I couldn't help myself, I took an ax and cut the pestle in two. But then I was badly hit; for now each half grabbed a jug and fetched water, so that I had two of them for a water carrier. In the middle my Pankrates comes back, and when he sees what happened, he gives them back their previous form; but he himself secretly got out of the dust and I never saw him again. "
content
The sorcerer's apprentice is alone and tries a spell from his master. He uses a spell to turn a broom into a servant who has to haul water. Initially, the sorcerer's apprentice is proud of his ability, but soon he notices that he is no longer able to cope with the situation.
Has the old sorcerer
gone away?
And now his spirits should
also live according to my will.
I notice
his word and works
and the custom,
and with strength of mind
I also do miracles.
Walle! Walle
Many a stretch
that, for the purpose,
water should flow
and
pour itself into the bath with rich, full gushes.
And now come, you old broom!
Take the bad rag covers;
have long been a servant:
now do my will!
Stand on two legs
with a head on top,
now hurry and go
with the water pot!
Walle! wallerand
some distance,
that, for the purpose,
flowed water
and with a rich, full gushes
to the bath pour out himself.
See, he runs down to the bank,
verily! is already at the river,
and with lightning speed
he is here again with rapid casting.
For the second time!
How the pool swells!
How every bowl
fills up with water!
Stand! stand!
for we have
fully measured
your gifts
! -
Oh, I can tell! Alas! alas!
I forgot the word!
Oh, the word whereupon in the end
it becomes what it was.
Oh, he runs and brings swiftly!
If only you were the old broom!
He always
brings in new casts quickly,
oh! and a hundred rivers
fall on me.
No,
I ca n't leave it any longer ;
want to catch him.
That is tricky!
Oh! now I'm getting more and more afraid!
What expression! what looks!
O you spawn of hell!
Should the whole house drown?
I see
streams of water running over every threshold .
A wicked broom that wo
n't listen!
Stick that you were,
stand still again!
Do
not want to leave in the end?
Want to get hold of
you,
want to hold you
and neatly
split the old wood with the sharp ax.
Look, he's coming back slowly!
As soon as I throw myself on you, oh
goblin, you lie down;
the smooth sharpness hits with a crash.
Truly, well met!
See, he's in two!
And now I can hope
and I breathe freely!
Alas! alas!
Both parts
stand up in a hurry,
already
completely finished as servants !
Help me, oh! you high powers!
And they run! It gets wet and wetter
in the hall and on the steps.
What a terrible body of water!
Lord and Master! hear me calling! -
Oh, here comes the master!
Lord, the need is great!
Those I called,
I can't get rid of the ghosts now.
“In the corner,
broom, broom!
Been there.
Because as ghosts
you are only called out for his purpose,
first the old master. "
construction
- Arrogance and self-importance
- Implementation of the project
- Power trip
- Fear and despair
- Helpless scolding
- Act of desperation and aggravation
- Cry for help
- Rescue by the magician
The refrain parts create the feeling and the image of water in the head of the reader, which seems to be splashing in the room. ( Walle, Walle : the frequent use of the consonant L; That water flows for the purpose : In addition, many S and Z sounds to represent the splashing and flowing of the water tonally).
Structure / form of speech / meter
The ballad consists of 14 stanzas which are indented into seven actual stanzas and seven stanzas in the form of a refrain . Each (full) stanza has 8 verses . The first part of each (actual) stanza consists of four verses with four-part trochaes , followed by four more verses with three-part trochaes. While the first four verses of the stanzas all have a sounding cadenza , in the last four verses of the stanzas sounding and blunt cadenzas alternate. The chorus part has six verses with four two-part trochaes and two four-part trochaes. The first four verses show a blunt cadence, the two closing verses a ringing cadence.
- 7 stanzas with 8 verses each
- 7 choruses with 6 verses each
- Rhyme scheme (stanza):[abab cdcd] (each in cross rhyme )
- The rhyme scheme in the chorus part of the stanzas is: [effgeg]
reception
Artistic appropriation
- The ballad of the “Sorcerer's Apprentice” inspired the French composer Paul Dukas to set the work to music in 1897 (see Dukas' The Sorcerer's Apprentice ).
- In 1832 Carl Loewe set this ballad to music together with Goethe's wedding song and The Walking Bell .
- In 1924 Ernst Barlach created two lithographs: The Sorcerer's Apprentice I / Conjuration and II / The Flood of Water.
- One of the most successful children's books by the graphic artist and illustrator Tomi Ungerer tells the story of the sorcerer's apprentice (1971).
- In 1985 Kurt Bartsch constructed his poem Liedervereinigung . He mixes verses from the hymns Risen from the ruins and the song of the Germans as well as the Ode to Joy with those from the sorcerer's apprentice .
- The poem was also set to music by Achim Reichel on his album Regenballade in 1978 .
- A setting especially for children can be found on the CD Ballads for Children by Lutz Görner.
- There is a hip-hop- style setting by the Young Poets and Thinkers (JDD). This version can be heard in the film Keinohrhasen .
- In 2009 Michael Wempner created the musical The Sorcerer's Apprentice , who integrated Goethe's ballad into the piece with music by Heike Wagner.
- In 2013, 2K Games released an expansion for the computer game Borderlands 2 in which the story served as a template for a level section.
- The German thrash metal band Hämatom processed the sorcerer's apprentice in 2013 in the song Bester Freund, Bester Feind .
Film adaptations
- 1940: Fantasia , USA, animated film by Walt Disney Studios in which the scenic implementation of the setting of "Sorcerer's Apprentice" by Paul Dukas is included. In it Mickey Mouse plays the sorcerer's apprentice fighting with broom and water, who is given irrepressible powers by his master’s magical hat.
- 2010: Duel der Magier , USA, feature film with Nicolas Cage . The film takes up the motif of the sorcerer's apprentice and comes very close to the Fantasia version in one scene of the film. The original title of the film is The Sorcerer's Apprentice , which is also the English title of the ballad.
- 2013: Der Zauberlehrling , Germany, short film produced by “Kultur Kubik” and “Second German Television (ZDF)”. Compared to previous film adaptations, this is based most on the ballad of 1797.
- 2017: Der Zauberlehrling , Germany, fairy tale film of the ZDF series Märchenperlen . According to ZDF, the film was "inspired by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe". Director: Frank Stoye with Max Schimmelpfennig and Felix von Manteuffel
The topos of contemporary man as a "sorcerer's apprentice"
The dictum "The I called the ghosts / I now Do not get rid of." Is now (mostly lack quoted in the form of "the spirits that I called") as topos used when an incipient development out of control and also its author can no longer be stopped.
interpretation
In the poem The Sorcerer's Apprentice, Goethe shows his skepticism towards the striving for autonomy that still determined his Sturm und Drang period . The attempt to rebel against the master's rule and to act independently leads to chaos due to the apprentice's massive competence deficits. Only the reflection on the old authority and the original order saves the situation. In this way, the sorcerer's apprentice is the counterpart to Prometheus . The poem reflects the ideas of Weimar Classics . The plot of the ballad remains self-contained, but can be transferred to numerous areas. In particular, the transfer to the knowledge of science and the consequences that cannot always be estimated are obvious. The sentence "I will not get rid of the spirits whom I have called" vividly describes the dilemmas of a science that is held responsible for the consequences of its research.
The ballad The Sorcerer's Apprentice is not only in a narrow temporal connection with the French Revolution : With its warning against the arbitrariness of people who are basically just "apprentices", Goethe reacted to the revolution in a similar manner to his friend Friedrich Schiller , who warns in his song of the bell published in 1799 : The master can break the form / With a wise hand, at the right time; / But woe if in torrents / The glowing ore frees itself!
A political dimension can also be seen in Kurt Bartsch's poem Liedervereinigung . About the daughter from Elysium , whom Bartsch had called in his poem instead of Germany, the late version of the Ode To Joy says: "Your magic binds again / What fashion strictly divides". The connection between the separated parts of Germany is thus associated with “magic”. Bartsch reinforces this association by “unity and justice and freedom / pouring into the bath”, whereby the realization of these three national goals appears as the work of “sorcerer's apprentices”. The dangerousness of this undertaking is made clear to those familiar with the original texts by the fact that in the early version of the Ode To Joy it says: "Your magic binds again / What is shared by Mode Schwerd ". Mere joy, which is expressed in the singing of the songs, should, according to the combined songs (this interpretation suggests Bartsch), connect what was separated by violence (namely Germany). Through the connection with Goethe's sorcerer 's apprentice , the idealism of the other three texts is ironicized .
literature
- Karl Moritz: German ballads . Analysis for German lessons. Paderborn: Ferdinand Schöningh, 1972. ISBN 3-506-72814-8
- Hartmut von Hentig : The mediatization of the mind: a warning to sorcerers' apprentices . Basel: Institute for Teaching Issues and Teacher Training (ULEF), 1984.
- Family musical by Kamil Krejci and Adrian Stern (WP 2014 Bernhardtheater Zurich)
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://Katja-Marek.de/zauberlehrling/
- ↑ Ernst Barlach: The Sorcerer's Apprentice I / conjuring
- ↑ Ernst Barlach: The Sorcerer's Apprentice (The Flood of Water)
- ^ Kurt Bartsch: Liedervereinigung . Red book. Berlin 1985
- ↑ The sorcerer's apprentice. (No longer available online.) In: ZDF. Archived from the original on December 24, 2017 ; accessed on April 21, 2018 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Universal Lexicon: That I called, the spirits
- ↑ Teacher's comment on “Those I called, the spirits…” - Science as opportunity and risk (PDF; 424 kB). Ernst-Klett-Verlag, 2010. p. 5
