Mendelssohn – The View from the Towers 塔からの眺め

25th April 2026年4月26日

▷ German Romanticism. What’s that? Sounds like a subject for a literature course or an element in A-Level music. True. We label things, then they sort of dry up as just a word in some filing register in our brains. To understand German Romanticism you have to sit on a rock somewhere looking anguished (preferably above the tree line), wipe your brow and sigh……..

▷ or ….go to the Darmstadt Opera, a hike in the Odenwald or listen to the Figuralchor Frankfurt.

I start in Darmstadt…….walking past the 1827 – completed Ludwigskirche…….

ダルムシュタットからスタートします……1827年に完成したルートヴィヒ教会を通り過ぎて

…..to reach today’s modern opera house…….

I was starting at the end of German Romanticism, with an extraordinary opera by Felix Weingartner…….

The first performance was in Darmstadt in 1914. And it was very well received. But 1914? Unfortunately yes – WWI soon swept it away into oblivion. So that was that with German Romanticism.

▷ Weingartner was actually a very well-known conductor and composer in his time This one-act opera Cain and Abel, is like a last gasp of Romanticism…….

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_Weingartner

It needs a huge lush orchestra..and we got it…..just count the double basses! (The chorus in the picture also sang Psalm 130 by Lili Boulanger – another seldom-heard work.

▷ So. German Romanticism. It’s liking eating rhubarb crumble and cream at the end of a meal, then having a second helping.

As I say, The other options are to listen to the Figurachor or go to the Odenwald.. The choir’s concert this weekend s entitled

” Way above the treetops there is peace” (sigh)…..very apt…..

今週末、フィギュアル合唱団と一緒に歌いました。プログラムは100％ドイツ・ロマン派の楽曲でした！

▷ And last week’s hike was indeed in the Odenwald. You could compose ✍🏼 in a hut like this. On my walk from Bad König to Michelstadt, this was my first resting point. A hut named after the 19thc. polar explorer, Carl Weyprecht. It is even called a Temple. Not that there is any incense anywhere.

歌うだけでなく、オーデンヴァルトでハイキングもしました。とてもロマンチックでした。

Huts or Hütte, they are really important in the countryside here. They are kept in good repair by local clubs…..

Up the hill I walked, and I’m sure Josef G. Rheinberger would have appreciated this….

▷ “…die Blätter auf die Zweigen ruhrt mich auch…..”

And as for Carl Reinicke “……Oh Welt, du schöne Welt, man sieht sich vor Blüten kaum!………”

「……ああ、世界よ、美しい世界よ、花が咲き乱れすぎて、お互いの姿がほとんど見えない！」

▷ Time for another rest….only this time Catholicism peered over my shoulder. Should I be munching my sandwich or offering up a Hail Mary? German Romanticism fuses both faith, mysticism and folklore….

Apple blossoms……

Wild cherry….

▷ My walking trail led me towards the Weiten Gesäß. In 3/4 somethings. (measurement unknown). That’s a pretty solid signpost. In modern German Gesäß means buttock, or rump. Which is of course what the hill ahead looked like – like an upturned bum. Such a fine strapping language eh?

▷ But before I reached the Gesäß or buttock, another hut hoved into view…this time with a view down the valley….

「……私が待ち望んだ平和の谷……」 *“……mein ersehntes Ruhetal…..”*

This would have been a spot for Felix Mendelssohn, languishing as he did over “……mein ersehntes Ruhetal…..” My longed-for valley…..

▷ I stumbled across an old boundary marker. Were the Egyptians ever here? No.These strange signs are only a couple of hundred years old….

▷ I should be able to find a song about a Bächlein or stream at this point…which would mean turning to Franz Schubert. But he wasn’t on the concert programme.

▷ Try as hard as I can, I can’t find a link between Llamas and German Romanticism. Maybe someone has done a thesis on it somewhere…..

All I can say is that a Llama farm seems rather random…..

▷ Ah, but here we are on more stable ground. Fresh eggs for sale in the village of Momart. A bit impractical for a hiker with a rucksack. We tend to specialize in the hard-boiled variety….

Laura Ashley or William Morris? Take your pick….

There’s no doubt about it. Some jobs (Priest, Minister), come with perks….

▷ My feet were getting hot. And I’m only half way on a 14km walk. So what blessed apparition is this? It’s a Kneipp bath! What? you’ve never heard of a Kneipp bath? Shame on you. There is a rather dry entry on wiki …..https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kneipp_facility

Basically, I do this: I tug off my walking boots, roll up my trousers (exposing my poor pale feet)……..

……and walk down the steps into the water. The effect is immediate 🤪. The water is only 10°c. A deliciously refreshing sensation shoots up my feet….wow!

▷ As soon as my boots are back on I stride up the next hill, full of new energy and stirring lines……“…Flee with me and be my bride….” …….(all in one breath n.b 😂)…….

Thank you Felix….

▷ Now this is a curiosity. As I reach the outskirts of Michelstadt, my Komoot app mentions “Zeppelin houses”. I have difficulties finding anything about these. But it seems they were part of a community housing project in the 1900s. So they belong more in the Jugendstil/Art Nouveau era than German Romanticism. But they are curious nonetheless…..

Waldstrasse, Michelstadt…..

▷ Eventually I reach the old historic centre of Michelstadt. The view which is on all the postcards – the medieval market place. It really is a very pretty place. But the capuccino and ice cream were of that traditional old-fashioned variety, and left me wondering were the Gelataria 🍧 was…

oh well, who am I to grumble…

On my way to the railway station I take a detour around the old city walls…..

….and end up at the solid, reliable-looking station edifice at Michelstadt. But the loos are closed due to vandalism.

▷ Never mind. My faithful VIAS train has built in conveniences – the genteel word in English for loos.

I shall be buying shares in them soon…..the train company that is, not the loos….

▷ So here’s the map of my route….

▷ In the evening at home I listened to Abendlied from Josef Rheinberger. Ideally it would have been a recording from the Figuralchor, but we will have to make do with this…..