created the myth of the beautiful
virgin Lore Lay
Based on this myth
Heinrich Heine wrote the poem
of the Lore Ley in his French exile
The song is the most famous poem
by Heinrich Heine
It was first published in 1824
and has become a popular folk-song
The melody of the Loreley song
was composed by Friedrich Silcher
(* 1789 † 1860)
that I’m so sad: I find,
A fairy-tale, from times unseen,
Won’t vanish from my mind.
The air is cool and it darkens,
And quiet flows the Rhine:
The tops of the mountains sparkle,
In evening’s after-shine.
The loveliest of maidens,
She’s wonderful, sits there,
Her golden jewels glisten,
She combs her golden hair.
She combs it with a comb of gold,
And sings a song as well:
Its strangeness too is old
And casts a powerful spell.
It grips the boatman in his boat
With a wild pang of woe:
He only looks up to the heights,
Can’t see the rocks below.
The waves end by swallowing
The boat and its boatman,
That’s what, by her singing,
The Lorelei has done.
Sensational photographic document
of the mythic appearance of Loreley