"Der Taucher" ("The Diver") is a
ballad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...
by
Friedrich Schiller
Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, philosopher and historian. Schiller is considered by most Germans to be Germany's most important classical playwright.
He was born i ...
, written in
1797, the year of his friendly ballad competition with
Goethe
Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...
.
Synopsis
A king throws a golden
beaker into a
whirlpool
A whirlpool is a body of rotating water produced by opposing currents or a current running into an obstacle. Small whirlpools form when a bath or a sink is draining. More powerful ones formed in seas or oceans may be called maelstroms ( ). ''Vo ...
and promises that the one who can recover it can also keep it. However, none of his knights and pages is willing to do so, and the king has to ask three times before an ''Edelknecht'' (
squire
In the Middle Ages, a squire was the shield- or armour-bearer of a knight. Boys served a knight as an attendant, doing simple but important tasks such as saddling a horse or caring for the knight's weapons and armour.
Terminology
''Squire'' ...
) finds his courage. He deposits his sword and his coat and commends his life to God and jumps into the intimidating sea. Everyone at the shore fears that the boy will not return. After a while, he emerges with the beaker in his hand. His terrifying report intrigues the king. The king wants him to dive again and promises him a precious ring. The king's daughter tries to convince her father to stop with his cruel demands. Yet the king throws the beaker in the sea again and promises now that he will make the ''Edelknecht'' a knight and let him marry his daughter if he recovers the beaker again. The boy has a look at the girl and wants her to become his bride, so he jumps into the deep again. This time, he does not return.
Settings
Franz Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert (; ; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical period (music), Classical and early Romantic music, Romantic eras. Despite his short life, Schubert left behind a List of compositions ...
set "Der Taucher" as a song for bass and piano in two versions (1813–1815, D 77 – the second version originally D 111).
Conradin Kreutzer
Conradin Kreutzer or Kreuzer (22 November 1780 – 14 December 1849) was a German composer and conductor. His works include the operas ''Das Nachtlager in Granada'' and incidental music to ''Der Verschwender'', both produced in 1834 in Vienna.
...
based his opera ''Der Taucher'' (1813) on Schiller's ballad.
Analysis
Schiller's inspiration for the poem has been the subject of debate. Several scholars including folklorist
Giuseppe Pitrè
Giuseppe Pitrè (22 December 184110 April 1916) was an Italian people, Italian Folkloristics, folklorist, medical doctor, professor, and senator for Sicily. As a folklorist he is credited with extending the concept of folklore to include all man ...
suggested that the ballad was connected to the folktale of
Cola Pesce, which similarly has a king order a man to dive underwater multiple times after a piece of treasure, until on a final trip the swimmer dies. However, Schiller did not recognize the story as a folktale and was unfamiliar with the name "Nicolaus Pesce" when he heard it, as shown in his letters. John Edward Fletcher suggests that Schiller had originally heard an oral version of the diver's story, sans name, from Goethe.
References
Further reading
*
Reinhard Breymayer Reinhard Breymayer (4 January 1944 – 13 August 2017) was a German philologist, researcher into pietism and specialist on the history of rhetoric. His published output is considerable.
Life Early years
Breymayer was born in Urach, a small to ...
: "Der endlich gefundene Autor einer Vorlage von Schillers 'Taucher': Christian Gottlieb Göz (1746–1803), Pfarrer in Plieningen und Hohenheim, Freund von
Philipp Matthäus Hahn
Philipp Matthäus Hahn (25 November 1739 in Scharnhausen (today part of Ostfildern), Duchy of Württemberg – 2 May 1790 in Echterdingen (today part of Leinfelden-Echterdingen)) was a German pastor, astronomer and inventor.
In about 1763 he ...
?" In: ''Blätter für württembergische Kirchengeschichte'', (1983/1984). Stuttgart
985
Year 985 ( CMLXXXV) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Europe
* Summer – Henry II (the Wrangler) is restored as duke of Bavaria by Empress Theophanu and her mother-in-law Adelaide at an ...
pp. 54–96; pp. 83–96.
* Garland, Mary: "Taucher, Der". In: ''The Oxford Companion to German Literature'' by Henry (Burnand Garland) and Mary Garland. Third Edition by Mary Garland. (Oxford; New York; Athen
tc.
TC, T.C., Tc, Tc, tc, tC, or .tc may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Film and television
* Theodore "T.C." Calvin, a character on the TV series '' Magnum, P.I.'' and its reboot
* Tom Caron, American television host for New England Sports Netw ...
1997), p. 820, col. 2.
* Heinisch, Klaus J
achim
Achim (; Northern Low Saxon: ''Achem''), commonly Achim bei Bremen, is a municipality and the largest town (population 30,059 in December 2006) in the district of Verden, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the right bank of the Weser, a ...
''Der Wassermensch. Entwicklungsgeschichte eines Sagenmotivs''. (Stuttgart 1981), pp. 313–336: Bibliographie.
External links
*
Text and translation of "Der Taucher" lieder.net
*
Poetry by Friedrich Schiller
Ballads
1797 poems
Lieder composed by Franz Schubert
Musical settings of poems by Friedrich Schiller
{{Poem-stub