Ghost battle

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The Hunnenschlacht (also known as the ghost battle ) by Wilhelm von Kaulbach , around 1850

Ghost battles are fabulous manifestations of the idea that the fallen rise from their graves at night and continue the battle both in the air and at the site of the battle . The phenomenon of the ghost battle is said to have arisen in particular on the great battlefields of world history, such as the marathon , on the Catalaunian fields , on the theaters of the 30-year war or on the battlefield of Jena and Auerstedt . On certain nights you should be able to hear the noise of battle or the neighing of horses and also the screams of pain from the injured. "The superstitious omens associated with aerial battles and ghost battles are also considered harbingers of war , and storms , fast-moving clouds and hail are also supposed to point to a battle of the spirits ."

Myth of the ghost battles

Valhalla ( Emil Doepler )
French troops after the battle of Jena and Auerstedt ( Edouard Detaille )

The legends about ghost battles have been part of the repetitive so-called iteration legends since ancient times ; in terms of content, they deal with significant battle phenomena. With the Teutons , Romans , Latvians and Lappen the legend was part of the community culture. In these myths it is told that the fallen in their earlier form, as skeletons or schemes, reappeared on the former battlefield, the graves, on a mountain, at the crossroads or in the nocturnal airspace. Already Pausanias (around 115–180) reported that 400 years after the Battle of Marathon (490 BC) the clang of weapons and the noise of battle were heard annually on the day of the battle. The stories from the environment of the Viking sagas tended to heroic sagas , in which the great fury was emphasized. The "honorably fallen", known as Einheriar , lived as heroes in Valhalla and were considered to be Odin's entourage . During the day they practiced fighting. For Otto Höfler (1901–1987), who ascribes this to the religion of the Germanic warriors' associations, the Einheriar are a “feralis exercitus” (“ army of the dead ”), their eternal struggle is supposed to enhance the idea of ​​the spirit battle. In the Slavic habitat the idea developed that the ghost battle takes place under the surface of the earth . In the legends it is reported that warlike chants rang out from the earth and the sounds of battle were heard inside the earth. For the Christian Church , the spirit battle culminated in demonic behavior and was regarded as a punishment for their sins , because the fallen could not find peace because they had died without absolution . According to the idea at the time, they could not find peace because the opposing parties contested each other for resting places.

reception

Painting and symphony

The German architect , painter and writer Leo von Klenze (1784–1864) recommended Wilhelm von Kaulbach (1805–1874) to take up the theme of a ghost battle. In 1834 Kaulbach completed the box and was commissioned by Count Raczyński (1788–1874) to carry out the painting; under the title Hunnenschlacht it finally made him famous. Kaulbach was friends with the composer Franz Liszt (1811–1886), who took his work in 1856 as a template for the symphonic poem No. 11 of the same name . Liszt takes up the place in the legend where the "spirits of the fallen, filling the air from earth to heaven, continued the furious fight for three days and nights before they found rest".

Poetry and music

In his notes on his literary and musical activities (1862), Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) wrote a poem in the “ Prolog to October 18, 1862” in which he recorded the events of a ghost battle (extracts):

"... The bloody day has long since faded,
And battle and victory devoured the night;
The dead have no rest, no rest,
They rush towards the ghost battle
They roar up like a storm roar,
Embrace each other, grapple with hatred:
Meanwhile the mermaid is in horror
Her evening song sings at Strome.
... The holy glow is kindled
And now blazes in bright fires;
To the ghost battle, to the spirit battle
There it is draft, there it billows, there it storms without end.
... O roar, holy spirit battle,
And draw blood on the mockers!
You mighty weather, that at night
Unloaded stormy and lightning!
And the whole world may tremble
When she sees the ghosts that pale
How she, lit by the flash of lightning,
Get out of their grave depths! ... "

“Die Geisterschlacht” for male choir and orchestra by Edmund Kretschmer (1830–1908) composed in 1865, based on a poem - for the first German song festival in Dresden - by Hermann Waldow (1803–1885) was created for a mass choir. After that time, this work is said to have had a great impact “in its striking, clear statement on the topic of longing for a unified Germany”.

Play "Ghost Battle"

In the play “Ghost Battle” by Pavel Kohout , whose cast consists of a lady , a different perspective on the ghost battle is shown. This is not about great historical battles and slaughter on a battlefield, but about a spiritual and spiritual conflict:

“A game of life and death. A mini-monodrama of a love-hate drama in which love wins. A woman wakes up at the bedside of her husband, a well-known writer who is in intensive care after a stroke. After he tore the drip out of his arm that morning, his life is in acute danger. The presence of his wife should act to awaken his senses again. Your speech becomes a reckoning of 33 years spent together. She bitterly tells her motionless husband about her unfulfilled dreams and longings and accuses him of having used her as his muse. She talks herself into a rage. She reveals to him that she has discovered his secret: he has had an affair with a young concert cellist for three years. Anger follows resignation. In a desperate phone call, she tells her rival that she is ready to do without her husband if she can bring him back to life. "

- Pegasus theater and media publisher

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ulrike Müller-Kaspar (ed.): The great handbook of superstition, from eel to cypress. tosa published by Carl Ueberreuter , Vienna 2007, p. 230.
  2. ↑ See: Hans Meyer Waage - Zwerge. (= Manual dictionaries: On German Folklore. Volume 1). Verlag Walter de Gruyter , 1974, ISBN 3-11-006597-5 . (Google books, accessed July 19, 2015)
  3. ↑ cf. Wolfram Steinbeck: Music based on pictures. To Franz Liszt's Hunnenschlacht. In: Elisabeth Schmierer et al. (Ed.): Tones, colors, shapes. About music and the fine arts . Laaber 1998, pp. 17-38.
  4. ^ Lina Ramann : Franz Liszt. Als Künstler und Mensch , Volume 2.2, Book 4, Chapter 14: The symphonic seals , Breitkopf & Härtel, Leipzig 1892.
  5. ↑ Post-processed records (autumn 1862 - summer 1864), Volume 3 by Friedrich Nietzsche: Works. Department 1, eds. Johann Figl and Hans Gerald Hödl , with the assistance of Hans Gerald Hödl and Ingo W. Rath, Verlag Walter de Gruyter , ISBN 3-11-091234-1 , [1] , Google books, accessed on 9. July 2015.
  6. ^ Siegfried Raschke: Edmund Carl Franz Kretschmar . In: Saxon Biography , Institute for Saxon History and Folklore eV, edit. by Martina Schattkowsky, online edition: http://www.isgv.de/saebi , accessed on August 26, 2015.
  7. ↑ PEGASUS: Profile ( Memento of the original from July 21, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) 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. via Pavel Kohout "The Ghost Battle", accessed on August 26, 2015. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.pegasus-agency.de