Heinrich Heine wrote the poem "Die Loreley" in 1823, and composer Friedrich Silcher put the words to music in 1838.
The poem was originally titled Ich weiß nicht, was soll es bedeuten
Friedrich Silcher's musical setting was published in 1838 in Heft 3 of "XII Deutsche Volkslieder mit Melodien für 1 oder 2 Singstimmen mit Pianoforte oder Guitarre", (8 Hefte, L. F. Fues, Tübingen, 1835-1860)
Here's a later 1869 edition in 1 Vol. - with only piano arrangements
Heine's poem was set to music by other composers as well, but Silcher's is the most popular though Franz Liszt's version is also performed often. Liszt wrote two versions of the song, the first in 1841. He revised the song in 1854.
In 1843 Clara Schumann made another musical setting. See the bottom of this post for some examples.
The Loreley, or Lorelei, is a rock on the eastern bank of the Rhine near St. Goarshausen, Germany. It soars 132 meters above the water line. Heavy currents are in that area.
According to folklore, Loreley is also the name of a beautiful young siren-like witch who lives on the rock. She combs her golden hair with a gold-comb and lures boatmen to their doom with her songs delivered in a hypnotizing voice.
The Lorelei is a variation of sirens in Homer's The Odyssey. Think of a mermaid or water-nymph who lures men to watery deaths.
The legend is not old like Homer's tales. The Lorelei began as a ballad written in 1801 by Clemens Baranto: "Zu Bacharach am Rheine." The idea was taken up by Heinrich Heine around 1823 in his poem "Die Lorelei."
The singing Lorelei brushes hair atop a rock. Sailors are distracted by her beauty and song. They fail to navigate the waters properly and drown.
Here is the translation as given by Mark Twain in "A Tramp Abroad" (1880)
Lorelei
I cannot divine what it meaneth,
This haunting nameless pain:
A tale of the bygone ages
Keeps brooding through my brain:
I cannot divine what it meaneth,
This haunting nameless pain:
A tale of the bygone ages
Keeps brooding through my brain:
The faint air cools in the gloaming,
And peaceful flows the Rhine,
The thirsty summits are drinking
The sunset's flooding wine;
The loveliest maiden is sitting
High-throned in yon blue air,
Her golden jewels are shining,
She combs her golden hair;
She combs with a comb that is golden,
And sings a weird refrain
That steeps in a deadly enchantment
The listener's ravished brain:
The doomed in his drifting shallop,
Is tranced with the sad sweet tone,
He sees not the yawing breakers,
He sees but the maid alone:
The pitiless billows engulf him!
So perish sailor and bark;
And this, with her baleful singing,
Is the Lorelei's gruesome work.
HERE IS THE GERMAN:
Ich weiß nicht was soll es bedeuten,
Dass ich so traurig bin;
Ein Märchen aus uralten Zeiten,
Das kommt mir nicht aus dem Sinn.
Die Luft ist kühl und es dunkelt,
Und ruhig fließt der Rhein;
Der Gipfel des Berges funkelt
Im Abendsonnenschein.
Die schönste Jungfrau sitzet
Dort oben wunderbar;
Ihr goldnes Geschmeide blitzet,
Sie kämmt ihr goldenes Haar.
Sie kämmt es mit goldenem Kamme
Und singt ein Lied dabei;
Das hat eine wundersame,
Gewalt'ge Melodei.
Den Schiffer im kleinen Schiffe
Ergreift es mit wildem Weh;
Er schaut nicht die Felsenriffe,
Er schaut nur hinauf in die Höh.
Ich glaube, die Wellen verschlingen
Am Ende Schiffer und Kahn;
Und das hat mit ihrem Singen
Die Loreley getan"
Probably the first recording:
(c) Emile Berliner (and family ?) (around 1890) (as "Lorelei Lied")
Recorded somewhere between 1889 and 1892 in Germany
Released on a Berliner 5 Inch record (#104)
Listen to a sample (only the first verse) here:
Ich weiß nicht was soll es bedeuten,
Dass ich so traurig bin;
Ein Märchen aus alten Zeiten,
Das kommt mir nicht aus dem Sinn.
(c) Baldwin's Cadet Band of Boston (1894) (as "Lorelei")
Recorded around 1894 for the New England Phonograph Company
Released in 1894 on a cylinder.
Listen here:
(c) Reiss (T) (p) (as "Lorelei")
Recorded June 1898 in New York
Released on Edison # 4413
(c) Wilhelm Deusing (1899) (as "Die Lorelei")
(pictured below under the black arrow)
Recorded October 1899 in New York City
Released on Edison Brown Wax Cylinder # 7375
(c) Carl Bernard (1899) (as "Lorelei")
Recorded October 13, 1899 in New York
Released on Berliner 0630
(c) Wilhelm Deusing (1900) (as "Lorelei")
Recorded August 1900 in New York City
Released on Edison Cylinder # 12086
(c) Sousa's Band (1900) (as "Die Lorelei")
Recorded October 1, 1900 in Camden, New Jersey
Released on Victor A-356
(c) Kendle's First Regiment Band 91901) (as "Lorelei")
Recorded March 28, 1901 in Camden, New Jersey
Released on Victor # 3189
(c) Peerless Orchestra (1902) (as "Loreley")
Released on Edison Gold Moulded Cylinder # 8176
(c) Emil Muench (1901) (as "Ich weiss nicht, was soll es bedeuten")
Recorded around 1901 in New York
Released on Columbia # 131
Listen here:
(c) Emil Muench (1902) (as "Lorelei")
Recorded August 4, 1902 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Released on Victor Monarch # 946
Listen here:
(c) Emil Muench (1904) (as "Die Loreley")
Released on Edison Goldwax Cylinder: 12800
Or here:
(c) Haydn Quartet (1903) (as "The Lorelei")
Recorded October, 7, 1903 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Released on Victor Monarch # 2510
(c) Agnes Hermann (1907) (as "Ich weiß nicht was soll es bedeuten")
Recorded January 1907 in Berlin
Released on the Edison 15645
(c) Gustav Franz (1907) (as "Ich weiß nicht was soll es bedeuten")
(with Rudolf Thiele Orchestra)
Recorded February 1907 in Berlin
Matrix xB 2308
Released on Odeon X 51245
Rereleased on Odeon X 64144 and Odeon O-5034 (X 51245)
(c) Rost'schen Solo-Quartett (1907) (as "Loreley")
Recorded June 1907 in Hannover
Matrix 3060-0
Released on Favorite l-19225
Released on Jumbo A 47186
Listen here:
In 1868 in the USA, Septimus Winner (under the pseudonym Alice Hawthorne) wrote English lyrics to this German ballad. Titled "Whispering Hope", this became one of his most successful songs.
Here's sheetmusic from 1885: Whispering hope | Library of Congress
And here one of the first recordings of "Whispering Hope".
(c) Clara Moister and Beulah Gaylord Young (1911) (as "Whispering Hope")
(crediting Alice Hawthorne, an alias for Septimus Winner who wrote the lyrics in 1868)
Recorded October 4, 1911 in New York
Released on Columbia A 1091
Listen here: cusb_col_a1091_01_19586_03.wav
(c) Alma Gluck and Louise Homer (1912) (as "Whispering Hope")
Nr 5 Hit in the US Charts
Recorded April 12, 1912 in Camden, New Jersey
Released on Victor 87107
Listen here: Whispering Hope - Alma Gluck - Louise Homer.mp3
(c) Elsie Baker (1912) (as "Loreley")
Recorded September 27, 1912 in Camden, New Jersey
Released on Victor 17181
Listen here:
(c) Elsie Baker and Olive Kline (1914) (as "Whispering Hope")
Recorded December 7, 1914 in Camden, New Jersey
Released on Victor 17782
Listen here: Whispering Hope - Olive Kline - Elsie Baker.mp3
(c) Elisabeth van Endert (1914) (as "Lorelei:Ich weiß nicht, was soll es bedeuten")
Released on Grammophon 943267
(c) Ernestine Schumann-Heink (1915) (as "Lorelei")
Recorded September 15, 1915 in Camden New Jersey
Released on Victor 88547 (one-sided)
Also released on Victrola 6273
Listen here:
(c) Vivian Holt and Lillian Rosedale (1920) (as "Whispering Hope")
Listen here: www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/m2/f7/10750.mp3
(c) Richard Tauber (1926) (as "Lorelei")
Recorded May 16, 1926 (Matrix xxB7466)
Released on Odeon O-8219
(c) Berliner Lehrergesangverein (1928) (as "Die Lorelei")
Recorded February 16, 1928 in Berlin
Released on Odeon O-6593
Listen here
(c) Heinrich Schlusnus (1930) (as "Ich weiss nicht was soll es bedeuten")
Released on Polydor 90169 B
also released on Grammophon B 2308
Listen here:
(c) In Disney's Silly Symphony "King Neptune" (1932)
It was hummed by a group of mermaids after 1 minute and 9 seconds in the YT below
(c) Richard Tauber (1939) (as "Die Lorelei")
Recorded April 20, 1939 in London (master CE 9758-1)
with Percy Kahn (piano)
Released on Parlophone RO 20442
(c) Jo Stafford and Gordon MacRae (1949) (as "Whispering Hope")
Nr 4 Hit in the US Charts / Millionseller
Recorded June 3, 1949
Released on Capitol 57-690
Listen here:
(c) Jim Reeves (1958) (as "Whispering Hope")
Recorded September 4, 1958 in Nashville, TN
Jim Reeves [vcl/gt], Hank Garland [gt], Velma Smith [gt], Bob Moore [bass], Floyd Cramer [piano] + Anita Kerr Singers. Producer: Chet Atkins)
Released on the album "God Be With You" (RCA Victor LPM/LSP-1950)
Listen here:
(c) Mieke Telkamp & Yvone Oostveen (1962) (as "Whispering Hope")
Hit in the Netherlands
Listen here
(c) Ronny (1968) (as "Ich Weiß Nicht, Was Soll Es Bedeuten (Die Loreley)")
Listen here:
(c) Vera Lynn (1972) (as "Whispering Hope")
Listen here:
(c) Willie Nelson (1975) (as "Whispering Hope")
Recorded February 1973 Atlantic Studios, 11 W, 60th St., New York City
Willie Nelson Larry Gatlin [gt/bck vcl], Jimmy Day [steel/dobro], Dan Spears [bass],
Paul English [drums],Bobbie Nelson [piano], Jeff Gutcheon [organ]
+ Sammi Smith, Dee Moeller, Doug Sahm [bck vcl])
This Atlantic session was not released at the time, but more than 2 years later was remixed
and released on the album The Troublemaker.
Remix September/October 1975 Atlantic Recording Studio, 11 W, 60th St., New York City -
Willie Nelson (Producer: Arif Mardin)
325 WHISPERING HOPE KC-34112
Listen here:
(c) Vicky Leandros (1977) (as "Die Loreley")
Listen here:
(c) Mireille Mathieu (1977) (as "Ich weiß nicht was soll es bedeuten")
Listen here:
(c) Heino (1980) (as "Ich weiß nicht was soll es bedeuten")
Listen here:
More versions here: The Originals © by Arnold Rypens - LORELEI LIED, DAS
As I said above Heine's poem was set to music by other composers, but Silcher's is the most popular though Franz Liszt's version is also performed often.
Liszt wrote two versions of the song, the first in 1841. He revised the song in 1854 and it is this second version that is heard below.
Here's a version by Louise Homer from 1909
(c) Louise Homer (1909)
Recorded October 11, 1909 in Camden, New Jersey
Released on Victor 88204
Listen here:
In 1843 Clara Schumann made another musical setting for Heine's poem.
Listen here to an example:
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