River of myths and legends

As Clemens Brentano and Achim von Arnim – both renowned Romanticists – traveled from Heidelberg to Koblenz in 1805 via the Rhine, they dreamed of bringing the local myths and stories to life. They wrote down a collection of sagas, poems, proverbs and popular songs in the first volume of “Des Knaben Wunderhorn” (“The Boy’s Magic Horn”) in 1815, and their art lives on today, with proverbs such as “Nachtigall ich höre dich singen [trapsen]” still part of the vernacular.

Brentano was also the first to chisel the name Loreley into a rock, and thus goes down as the creator of the fairy tale of the same name. According to the myth, the nymph is said to have waited on a slate rock at the 555 kilometer marker, bewitching sailors and causing their deaths. In 1737, river expert J. L. Knoch provided a scientific explanation for the numerous shipping accidents on the Loreley rock with his drawing of the flow conditions in the area. Each year, millions of people visit the unlucky rock, possibly with the hope of capturing some of the old magic.

For those who have been waiting to hear about the musical side of the Rhine, Schumann, Liszt and Wagner are just a few of the musical greats to have immortalized the river in their music, with Wagner’s Rheingold, named from the “Der Ring des Nibelungen” (“The Ring of the Nibelung”) certainly the most famous of the Rhine music. Opera enthusiasts will certainly get their money’s worth here, with the entire production lasting over three days! Fans of the Augsburger Puppenkiste (puppet theater) may prefer to remember Heinrich Heine’s “Ich weiß nicht, was soll es bedeuten,” which hit TVs with its melancholic performance by the manatee from “Urmel aus dem Eis” in 1969. The song tells the tale of Loreley combing her golden hair while the Rhine calmly flows.

Fans of the carnival celebrations in the region will fondly remember Willi Ostermann, a minstrel from Mainz, singing “Einmal am Rhein.” However, the film by the same name about an innkeeper family from the Rhineland did not do quite as well when it was released in cinemas in 1959.

One of the best known and oldest Rhine sagas is the Middle High German Nibelungenlied. In this poem, Hagen von Tronje tosses the inheritance of the Nibelungs into the Rhine at an unknown location. To this day, the Nibelungs’ treasure remains undiscovered, although it is suspected to be somewhere between Worms and Germersheim. A tip for the treasure hunters among you: The most probable location is Lochheim, at the 464 kilometer marker.

A trip tip for romantics: The Riviera in Rodenkirchen near Cologne, at Rhine kilometer marker 682, is said to be the most beautiful beach on the river and is well worth a visit.