Ritornello (verse doctrine)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A ritornello (= return for Italian “ritorno” ) is a poem form from the Italian folk poetry in the form of a three-line , consisting of a pair of rhymes and a rhyming orphan line , similar to the stanza of the terzinen . The meter may be arbitrary, but in art poetry the Italian hendecasilabo or in the German replica the iambic five-lever is preferred. The rhyme scheme is mostly[axa], less common [xaa] or [aax], where the xdenotes the orphan's line, which, however, is often connected to the rhyming lines by assonance or alliteration ; Occasionally the first and third verses do not rhyme either, but are only connected by assonance. The first verse is often much shorter than the next two; this makes the ritornello stanza well suited for epigrams . Often in the first verse a flower is called ( apostrophes ), the so-called flower call .

Italian poetry

The ritornello was sung in Italian folk poetry. Wilhelm Müller writes about the melody that it "is of infinite simplicity and depth and has something melancholy about it that can move to tears in loneliness." And refers to the connection between form and application: "The light, free form of the poem invites you to improvise, and in it the people say their greetings, thanks, every sigh and cheer, praise and mockery, yes, there are ritornelles that consist of nothing but names. " As an example, Müller mentions:

Fiore di pepe,
Se la vostra figlia non mi date,
Io la ruberò e voi piangerte.

German poetry

The ritornello was introduced into German poetry by Friedrich Rückert, first in 1817 through the collection and transfer of Italian ritornelles ( Hundred Ritornelles by Ariccia ), then from 1822 through his own ritornelle. The essence of the form changed, as Jakob Minor notes: "The ritornelles composed by Rückert himself are only related to the Italian ones; they are much more ingenious, well-considered and full of Nordic views." An example:

Blossom of the almonds!
You fly ahead of the Lenz, and scatter in the wind
on the paths where his feet should walk.

Based on this model, numerous ritornelles were created in the course of the 19th century, which were often published in extensive groups; Examples are the women's ritornelles by Theodor Storm (four ritornelles) or ritornelles by Gustav Falke (twelve ritornelles). The context of the content is loose or nonexistent. Emanuel Geibel wrote ritornelles from the Greek islands (13 ritornelles), in which each ritornello, dispensing with the call to flowers, introduces one of the islands, for example:

Ithaca Ithaca rises like
a rugged cliff
in the sea, but gave an echo,
An eternal lip, dedicated to Homer's.

By Wilhelm Wackernagel comes the Alpenrose , a group of 24 ritornellos, all with the Blumenruf "O Alps Rose!" kick off; Through formal repetition, five Rückert ritornelles relate even more closely to one another, all of which are shouted "Branch of the cypresses!" insert, in the second verse show an assonance to "-assen" and in the third verse the rhyming word "forget".

In addition to this more epigrammatic use, the ritornello has also been used in more lyrical contexts. Wilhelm Müller started with his serenades in ritornelles from Albano (1824). An example is The Letter of Tears :

My girl wrote me a letter,
probably with the black pen of a raven,
And sealed it with onion skins.

And as I now broke the seal,
I felt such a stinging in
my eyes that tears ran down my cheeks.

I dried my eyes to read:
But the drying was completely in vain -
because oh, she writes: We have to say goodbye.

Müller wrote about the form: "I deviated from the Rückertian forerunners in the form and tone of my German ritornello. I rhyme with the vocals in the first and third verses (assonance) and with the consonants in the first and second (alliteration). The union three ritornelles to a poem gives them a lyrical tone. " This use also found successors, for example with Isolde Kurz , whose southern sages also consist of three ritornelles each, in which all verses are five levers, but their rhyme scheme[axa]reads. Built DC is at a girlfriend of Christian Morgenstern . The 13 songs from Capri by Wilhelm Waiblinger have between five and eleven ritornello stanzas with the usual rhyme scheme[axa] on.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Morgenstern used the first verse as a kind of heading in the Fiesolaner ritornelles (25 ritornelles), for example:

Twelve shot.
Midday already flashes to the eye, while the ear has
to be patient in the morning.

Kurt Tucholsky made a political statement in the Vaterländische Ritornellen (first published in May 1914) following the call to flowers:

Modest violet!
And if you think a new right to vote is coming -
we are in Prussia ... wait a while!

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Wilhelm Müller: Rome, Romans and Romans. Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1820, p. 54.
  2. ^ Wilhelm Müller: Rome, Romans and Romans. Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1820, p. 53.
  3. ^ Wilhelm Müller: Rome, Romans and Romans. Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1820, p. 54.
  4. ↑ Jakob Minor: Neuhochdeutsche Metrik, Trübner, Strasbourg 1902, p. 472.
  5. ^ Wilhelm Müller: Works, Diaries, Letters, Volume 2, edited by Maria-Verena Leistner, Gatza, Berlin 1994, p. 302.