"Elfenlied" (, "fairy song") is the conventional title of a 1780 poem by

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 ...

, and of a later (c. 1830) poem by

Eduard Mörike Eduard Friedrich Mörike (; 8 September 18044 June 1875) was a German Lutheran pastor who was also a Romantic poet and writer of novellas and novels. Many of his poems were set to music and became established folk songs, while others were used b ...

(and of their various respective adaptations to music). Goethe's poem was written in 1780, in a letter sent to Charlotte von Stein, without a title, but introduced by ''Die Elfen sangen'' "the elves/fairies sang"; the title "Elfenlied" (and variants) were only set in editions of Goethe's collected poems (titled "A Midnight Fairy Song" by Thomas 1859). Goethe's poem is Romantic, invoking the image of a

fairy A fairy (also called fay, fae, fae folk, fey, fair folk, or faerie) is a type of mythical being or legendary creature, generally described as anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic, found in the folklore of multiple European cultures (including Cel ...

-dance under the impression of a moonlit night. It was set to music many times, e.g. as "Elfenliedchen" by Julius Kniese (1900), as "Elfensang" by Erich J. Wolff (1907) and as "Elfenlied" by

Alexander Zemlinsky Alexander Zemlinsky or Alexander von Zemlinsky (14 October 1871 – 15 March 1942) was an Austrian composer, conducting, conductor, and teacher. Biography Early life Zemlinsky was born in Vienna to a highly diverse family. Zemlinsky's grandfat ...

(1934). Mörike's poem was written at some point between 1826 and early 1828 (first published in 1832). It is humorous, its premise being a pun on ''

Elf An elf (: elves) is a type of humanoid supernatural being in Germanic peoples, Germanic folklore. Elves appear especially in Norse mythology, North Germanic mythology, being mentioned in the Icelandic ''Poetic Edda'' and the ''Prose Edda'' ...

'' (or '' Elfe''), the German word both for "

elf An elf (: elves) is a type of humanoid supernatural being in Germanic peoples, Germanic folklore. Elves appear especially in Norse mythology, North Germanic mythology, being mentioned in the Icelandic ''Poetic Edda'' and the ''Prose Edda'' ...

" or "

" and "eleven": It describes an ''Elfe'' (a fairy) awakened one hour early for the fairy-dance, at eleven o'clock instead of at midnight, due to mistaking the watchman's calling out of the eleventh hour for the calling of the "Elves" to the fairy-dance. Still half-asleep, the ''Elf'' mistakes glow-worms sitting on a stone wall for the lit halls of the fairy-hall and, trying to look in, bashes his head against the stone. The poem was set to music by

Hugo Wolf Hugo Philipp Jacob Wolf (; ; 13 March 1860 – 22 February 1903) was an Austrian composer, particularly noted for his art songs, or Lieder. He brought to this form a concentrated expressive intensity which was unique in late Romantic music, so ...

in 1888 (the German title of this work is also rendered "Elfin dream" or "The elfin's dream" in English-language music catalogues). Hugo Wolf also composed a separate choral piece called "Elfenlied", in this case an adaptation from words in Shakespeare's ''

A Midsummer Night's Dream ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a Comedy (drama), comedy play written by William Shakespeare in about 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One s ...

'' (the "fairy song" from act 2, scene 5, "Bunte Schlangen, zweigezüngt"/ "You spotted Snakes with double tongue").

Text

Goethe

English translation by W.G. Thomas (1859)W. G. Thomas (trans.), ''The Minor Poetry of Goethe. A Selection from His Songs, Ballads and Other Lesser Poems'' (1859), p. 105.

Mörike

In popular culture

The poem is the namesake of the

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

and

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

series ''

Elfen Lied is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Lynn Okamoto. It was serialized in Shueisha's Seinen manga, manga magazine ''Weekly Young Jump'' from June 2002 to August 2005, with its 107 chapters collected into twelve volumes. ''El ...

''.

References

{{reflist German poems German humorous poems Poetry by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1780 poems 1832 poems

Text

Goethe

Mörike

In popular culture

See also

References