Visions of Germany: Along the Rhine

Following Visions of Germany: Bavaria, the PBS network produced a second German-oriented episode in its Vision series, this one titled Visions of Germany: Along the Rhine. Among the fantastic sights that the show highlighted was Burg Hohenzollern, the ancestral castle of the dynasty that ruled Prussia throughout its history:



It also featured the Niederwalddenkmal, topped by the statue of Germania, as well as Burg Eltz, Germany's most magnificent authentic medieval castle.



Visions of Germany: Along the Rhine

Germania

HURRAH, GERMANIA!

Ferdinand Freiligrath

Hurrah! thou lady proud and fair,
      Hurrah! Germania mine!
What fire is in thine eye, as there
      Thou bendest o'er the Rhine!
How in July's full blaze dost thou
      Flash forth thy sword, and go,
With heart elate and knitted brow,
      To strike the invader low!
            Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!
            Hurrah! Germania!

No thought hadst thou, so calm and light,
      Of war or battle plain,
But on thy broad fields, waving bright,
      Didst mow the golden grain,
With clashing sickles, wreaths of corn,
      Thy sheaves didst garner in,
When, hark! across the Rhine War's horn
      Breaks through the merry din!
            Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!
            Hurrah! Germania!

Down sickle then and wreath of wheat
      Amidst the corn were cast,
And, starting fiercely to thy feet,
      Thy heart beat loud and fast;
Then with a shout I heard thee call:
      "Well, since you will, you may!
Up, up, my children, one and all,
      On to the Rhine! Away!"
            Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!
            Hurrah! Germania!

From port to port the summons flew,
      Rang o'er our German wave;
The Oder on her harness drew,
      The Elbe girt on her glaive;
Neckar and Weser swell the tide,
      Main flashes to the sun,
Old feuds, old hates are dashed aside,
      All German men are one!
            Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!
            Hurrah! Germania!

Suabian and Prussian, hand in hand,
      North, South, one host, one vow!
"What is the German's Fatherland?"
      Who asks that question now?
One soul, one arm, one close-knit frame,
      One will are we today;
Hurrah, Germania! thou proud dame,
      Oh, glorious time, hurrah!
            Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!
            Hurrah! Germania!

Germania now, let come what may,
      Wll stand unshook through all;
This is our country's festal day;
      Now woe betide thee, Gaul!
Woe worth the hour a robber thrust
      Thy sword into thy hand!
A curse upon him that we must
      Unsheathe our German brand!
            Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!
            Hurrah! Germania!

For home and hearth, for wife and child,
      For all loved things that we
Are bound to keep all undefiled
      From foreign ruffianry!
For German right, for German speech,
      For German household ways,
For German homesteads, all and each,
      Strike home through battle's blaze!
            Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!
            Hurrah! Germania!

Up, Germans, up, with God! The die
      Clicks loud — we wait the throw!
Oh, who may think without a sigh
      What blood is doom'd to flow?
Yet, look thou up, with fearless heart!
      Thou must, thou shalt prevail!
Great, glorious, free as ne'er thou wert,
      All hail, Germania, hail!
            Hurrah! Victoria!
            Hurrah! Germania!

1870


-trans. Pall Mall Gazette
-German title: Hurra, Germania



Illustrations show the magnificent Niederwalddenkmal (literally, "Lower Forest Monument") along the Rhine (1883), topped with the statue of personified Germania by Johannes Schilling.

''Conversation in the Forest''

CONVERSATION IN THE FOREST (1815)

Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff

"It is so late, it grows so cold,
Why ridest thou lonely cross the wold?
The forest is long, thou art alone,
O lovely maid! I'll take thee home!"

"Boundless is men's deceitful lore.
With grief my heart is pierced to the core.
The hunting horn wanders to and fro.
O flee! who I am thou dost not know."

"So richly decked palfrey and maiden slim,
So fair of face, so fair of limb.
I know thee now — may God stand by!
Thou art the witch called Lorelei."

"Thou know'st me well. My castle fine
From highest cliff looks deep in the Rhine.
It is so late, it is so cold,
No more wilt thou escape this wold."


-German title: Waldesgespräch.

(Illustration is Sir Frank Dicksee, La Belle Dame sans Merci, c.1902.)

''Men and Knaves''

MEN AND KNAVES

Theodor Körner

The storm is out; the land is roused;
Where is the coward who sits well-housed?
Fie, on thee, boy, disguised in curls,
Behind the stove, 'mong gluttons and girls!
      A graceless, worthless wight thou must be;
      No German maid desires thee,
      No German song inspires thee,
      No German Rhine-wine fires thee.
            Forth in the van,
            Man by man,
      Swing the battle-sword who can!

When we stand watching, the livelong night,
Through piping storms, till morning light,
Thou to thy downy bed canst creep,
And there in dreams of rapture sleep.

      Chorus.

When, hoarse and shrill, the trumpet's blast,
Like the thunder of God, makes our hearts beat fast,
Thou in the theatre lov'st to appear,
Where trills and quavers tickle the ear.

      Chorus.

When the glare of noonday scorches the brain,
When our parched lips seek water in vain,
Thou canst make the champagne corks fly,
At the groaning tables of luxury.

      Chorus.

When we, as we rush to the strangling fight,
Send home to our true loves a long "Good night,"
Thou canst hie thee where love is sold,
And buy thy pleasure with paltry gold.

      Chorus.

When lance and bullet come whistling by,
And death in a thousand shapes draws nigh,
Thou canst sit at thy cards, and kill
King, queen, and knave, with thy spadille.

      Chorus.

If on the red field our bell should toll,
Then welcome be death to the patriot's soul.
Thy pampered flesh shall quake at its doom,
And crawl in silk to a hopeless tomb.
      A pitiful exit thine shall be;
      No German maid shall weep for thee,
      No German song shall they sing for thee,
      No German goblets shall ring for thee.
            Forth in the van,
            Man for man,
      Swing the battle-sword who can!

1813


-trans. C.T. Brooks
-German title: Männer und Buben.

(Image is Caspar David Friedrich, Graves of Ancient Heroes, 1812, inscribed "To the Youth Fallen for the Fatherland.")

''Lützow's Wild Band''

LÜTZOW'S WILD BAND

Theodor Körner

What gleams through the woods in the morning sun?
    Hear it nearer and nearer draw!
It winds in and out in columns dun,
And the trumpet-notes on the roused winds run,
    And they startle the soul with awe.
Should you of the comrades black demand--
That is Lützow's wild and untamed band.

What passes swift through the darksome glade,
    And roves o'er the mountains all?
It crouches in nightly ambuscade;
The hurrah breaks round the foe dismayed,
    And the Frankish sergeants fall.
Should you of the rangers black demand--
That is Lützow's wild and audacious band.

Where the vineyards flourish, there roars the Rhine;
    There the tyrant thought him secure;
Then by thunder-crash and lightning-shine
In the waters plunges the fighting line;
    Of the hostile bank makes sure.
Should you of the swimmers black demand--
That is Lützow's wild and foolhardy band.

There down in the valley what clamorous fight!
    What clangor of bloody swords!
Fierce-hearted horsemen wage the fight,
And the spark of freedom's at last alight,
    Flaming red the heavens towards.
Should you of the horsemen black demand--
That is Lützow's wild and intrepid band.

Who with death-rattle there bid the day farewell
    'Mid the moans of prostrate foes?
Of the hand of death the drawn features tell,
Yet the dauntless hearts triumphant swell,
    For his Fatherland's safe each knows!
Should you of the black-clad fallen demand--
That is Lützow's wild and invincible band.

The wild, fierce band and the Teuton band,
    For all tyrants' blood athirst!--
So you who would mourn us, be not unmanned;
For the morning dawns, and we freed our land,
    Though to free it we won death first!
Then tell, at your grandsons' rapt demand:
That was Lützow's wild and unconquered band!

1813


-trans. Montagu Donner
-German title: Lützows wilde Jagd.

(Image is Caspar David Friedrich, The Chasseur in the Forest, 1814, showing a French soldier lost in the depths of the towering German pine forest, while a crow sits waiting to feast on his dead flesh after he expires.)

Great Castles of Europe: Rhine Castles

This episode from the 1990s TLC series titled Great Castles of Europe spotlights some of the famous castles along the Rhine (which figured so prominently in German Romanticism), including the Marksburg, Pfalzgrafenstein, Burg Katz and Burg Maus, and recounts some of the greatest legends associated with the river, including those of Siegfried and of the Loreley (Lorelei).

The video is split into three parts. Part one:



Part two:



Part three: