Count and nun
Graf und Nun is a folk ballad that addresses the tragic consequences of class differences ( class rules ).
Start of text of a variant
I stand on a high mountain,
look down into the deep valley;
Then I saw a
little ship hovering with three counts sitting in it.
The very youngest who was underneath, who sat
in the little ship,
who commanded his love to drink
from a Venedian glass.
[...]
And when they came in front of a monastery,
probably in front of the high Tohr, he
asks about the youngest nuns who were
in the monastery.
The Nünngen came out,
in a snow-white dress,
her hair was cut off,
her red mouth was pale.
The boy he sits down,
He sat on a stone,
He cries the bright tears
Broke his heart in two.
[...]
Written down in Alsace in 1771 by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe; after the Weimar manuscript, ed. by Hermann Strobach, Weimar 1982 [continuous writing without stanzas].
Plot of the folk ballad
Action elements of different variants are in round brackets (compare variability (folk poetry) ), explanatory additions in square brackets. - A count woos a woman, toasts her with wine [lures her] (gives her a ring as a souvenir [that could be a promise of marriage]). She refuses (because she is too poor; she [!] Is rejected because she is too poor) and wants to go to the monastery. [Distinctive change of scenery:] At “midnight” the count has “heavy dreams”; the "horses are saddled" [typical sequence epic formulas { epic formula } of the folk ballad]. [Again a striking change of scene with epic formulas:] In front of the monastery (he knocks) he is turned away; she is supposed to remain a nun (or become a nun; he threatens to set fire to the convent), she is already dressed, her hair is cut off. His heart breaks (he “leans against the wall” and cries [a regional song formula often used in variations from Franconia]. She offers him something to drink, he dies from it [!]; She gives him a ring to say goodbye; he commits suicide, he kills her [!]); she buries him [all possible endings of the song can occur, even if they seem absolutely illogical to us in terms of content].
Lore
With a large number of recordings (over 2,000 variants are documented; half of them with melodies according to several very different melody types) this folk ballad is by far one of the most documented German examples of all. It has been widespread in all “song landscapes” and thus reflects the general interest in this topic.
A short text mark “I stood on a mountain, I saw in deep valley” in Schmeltzel's “Quodlibet” from 1544 does not necessarily have to refer to “Count and Nun”; there are several other songs with this text beginning. But the “Antwerp Songbook”, also from 1544, has “Ic stunt op hoogen bergen ...” a quite parallel, older Dutch song about a poor girl who prefers to go to the monastery than to meet the rider (and it is supposedly translated from German). The German folk ballad, however, only took on a tangible form according to the evidence at the end of the 18th century (Goethe 1771 from Alsace, plus melody from Reichardt 1782; Brothers Grimm from Hesse around 1809; Meinert from Moravia 1817 and so on). This folk ballad may have become popular very quickly and has spread as a fashion song at short notice and widely, up to the present day. For example, records among the Volga Germans were published in 1999.
With the beginning of the text "I stood on a high mountain, probably saw the deep, deep Rhine ..." is the song in the text edition of the Romantics " Des Knaben Wunderhorn ", Volume 1, 1806, p. 257. Goethe finds this text " somewhat more puzzling ”, although he himself copied“ Count and Nun ”in Alsace in 1771; it is “puzzling” why Goethe does not remember it and does not note it at this point. Basically, Goethe was deeply impressed by the stylistic features of the folk ballad , and these have significantly influenced his own poetry (compare to the art ballad , especially The King in Thule ).
The song can be found in early books of useful songs such as the "Schweizer Kühreihen" from 1818 and in "Deutsche Lieder für Jung und Alt" (German songs for young and old) also from 1818. The more recent tradition of this (printed) tradition goes, for example, about the "All leaves wither ..." in “Zupfgeigenhansl” from 1911/1930 until the most recent reception in the folk movement of the 1970s (Fiedel Michel 1976, Hein and Oss Kröher 1979).
Theme and presentation
This folk ballad does not have an "exciting plot" in the conventional sense like high literature, although its ballad-like means of representation are of a dramatic nature (compare epic formula ). The folk ballad is not a poetic individual performance which, like a modern novel, aims to “surprise” a reader, but an established collective tradition. Their action was familiar to the listener and co-singer and had a high recognition value , especially in the local, tradition-bound singing community (children are similarly happy about the "correctly" repeated wording of a fairy tale). It is not the action that counts, but the topic, here the class difference. The people, count and nun, suffer from this [not: act in it], whether they live or die. The fact that the gap between the stands cannot be bridged seems “natural”, perhaps even “God's will”. The social conditions of the ruling class difference were practiced with such a song text as a social “norm” and passed on to the next generation. In this sense, this folk ballad contains traditional, prejudice-laden empirical knowledge.
Instead of believing the promises of a “count”, a young woman prefers to go to the monastery. When the Count tries to get her out of there, she is not ready and may consider her own death (or his death). Even with an open outcome of the folk ballad, in some variant groups even with the common escape from the monastery, death is the tragic end. The abrupt change of scene with a dialogue in front of the monastery is dramatic; the corresponding epic formula is also a typical element of the folk ballad.
The beginning of the first person, which is rather unusual for the folk ballad, is supposed to strengthen the credibility (the “I” as a witness) and also creates a personal perspective of personal concern (the singer). - In the case of very similar core verses, the beginning of the song varies ( variability ) relatively slightly (I was standing on high mountains, looking down into the deep valley ...; I was standing on high rocks, looking down into the valley ...; I was standing on high rocks and looked into the deep valley ...; [second part in the monastery as a separate song:] All the leaves fall ...; All the leaves wither ...). It is possible that this apparently “ancient” folk ballad does not have an older prehistory and therefore a relatively short range of oral tradition since around 1750.
With a large number of recordings (over 2,000 variants are documented; half of them with melodies according to several very different melody types) this folk ballad is by far one of the most documented German examples of all. It has been widespread in all “song landscapes” and thus reflects the general interest in this topic.
Notes on interpretation
The song moral represented here seems obvious: virtue is more important than money; one should, if possible, marry an equal person and remain in his class. Class boundaries are mostly insurmountable around 1750 (up to the First World War). As a young girl into the 20th century, one shouldn't even dream of perhaps marrying a count after all. The monastery is the right place for decent preservation and for weaning from dreams of “great, surprising love”. The sense of a firmly established social order should not be questioned. In itself, this attitude is form-conservative as far as the structure of society is concerned; In principle, however, a socially critical request to the class system can also be interpreted.
With this classic folk ballad in JW von Goethe's copy from Alsace in 1771, Johann Gottfried Herder opens his collection " Voices of the Nations in Songs " [originally called "Volkslieder"], part 1, Leipzig 1778.
With a scene structure and scene change according to the formulaic structural sequence “Situation”, “Confrontation”, “Alarm” to “Reaction”, the text is a good example of “epic formulaism” ( epic formula ). This concept of stereotypical text composition in oral tradition is completely subordinated to the (perhaps better not to be asked at all) individual question of what fate the two main characters should actually have. There is no doubt about the tragedy of the outcome; the folk ballad conveys this impression as a concentrated total work of art.
Such extensive commentary as in "DVldr" (Volume 8, entire volume) is the exception. On the other hand, practically all questions can be demonstrated with this folk ballad that appeared relevant around 1988, so that a “handbook of folk ballad research”, so to speak, has been created here.
Literature (selection)
- German folk song archive and individual editors: German folk songs with their melodies. Ballads [DVldr] :, Volume 8, Freiburg i.Br. 1988, No. 155 (the volume is exclusively dedicated to this folk ballad; commentary by Otto Holzapfel et al.). - Cf. Otto Holzapfel et al. a .: German folk songs with their melodies: Balladen , Volume 10, Peter Lang, Bern 1996 (to DVldr No. 155 in the Volksballaden-Index C 4).
- Otto Holzapfel: The great German book of folk ballads , Artemis & Winkler, Düsseldorf 2000, pp. 134–140 (with commentary).
- Otto Holzapfel: Liedverzeichnis , Volume 1–2, Olms, Hildesheim 2006 ( ISBN 3-487-13100-5 ) = Otto Holzapfel : Liedverzeichnis: The older German-language popular song tradition . Online version since January 2018 on the homepage of the Folk Music Archive of the District of Upper Bavaria (in PDF format; further updates planned), see song file "I stood on high mountains ..."