Theodor Reichmann (1849-1903) and a poem by Schiller

Grave of Theodor Reichmann (1849 - 1903), Mehringdamm cemetery, February 2015 ©Emmanuelle Chaze

Theodor Reichmann (1849-1903) was an opera singer born in Rostock on March 15th, 1849. Born in a bourgeois family, he was destined to become a tradesman, but singing lessons in Berlin and Milan led him to embrace an artistic career. He made his debuts in Magdeburg Stadttheater as Ottokar, in Carl Maria von Weber's opera The Marksman (Der Freischütz). He then went on to sing worldwide, in Rotterdam, Strasbourg, Hamburg, Milan, Bayreuth, London, St. Petersburg and New-York. In 1882, he premiered as Amfortas, King of the Grail Knights, in Wagner's Parsifal. He died in Öhningen-Wangen-am-See on May 22nd, 1903.

A mourning statue decorates his grave in Mehringdamm cemetery (Friedhof III der Jerusalems- und Neuen Kirchengemeinde) and an extract of a poem is engraved below his name:

Extract of "The Poets from Yesterday", from Schiller, on the grave of Theodor Reichmann (1849 - 1903), Mehringdamm cemetery, February 2015 ©Emmanuelle Chaze

This extract is from the poem Die Sänger der Vorwelt, written in 1795 by Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805). In this piece, the poet compares with nostalgia his contemporaries to the classics.

Die Sänger der Vorwelt

Sagt, wo sind die Vortrefflichen hin, wo find’ ich die Sänger,
   Die mit dem lebenden Wort horchende Völker entzückt,
Die vom Himmel den Gott, zum Himmel den Menschen gesungen,
   Und getragen den Geist hoch auf den Flügeln des Lieds?
Ach, noch leben die Sänger; nur fehlen die Thaten, die Lyra^*
   Freudig zu wecken, es fehlt, ach! ein empfangendes Ohr.
Glückliche Dichter der glücklichen Welt! Von Munde zu Munde
   Flog, von Geschlecht zu Geschlecht euer empfundenes Wort.
Wie man die Götter empfängt, so begrüßte Jeder mit Andacht,
   Was der Genius ihm, redend und bildend, erschuf.
An der Glut des Gesangs entflammten des Hörers Gefühle,
   An des Hörers Gefühl nährte der Sänger die Glut.
Nährt’ und reinigte sie! Der Glückliche, dem in des Volkes
   Stimme noch hell zurück tönte die Seele des Lieds,
Dem noch von außen erschien, im Leben, die himmlische Gottheit,
   Die der Neuere kaum, kaum noch im Herzen vernimmt.

An outdated english translation (1844) of Schiller's poems by John Merivale is freely available here (London, Pickering: 1844). The author's comment and translation of Die Sänger der Vorwelt reads as follows: "This poem, together with Der Genius, Die Geschlechter, Die Macht des Gesanges, and others, all written about the same period, is classed by Hoffmeister as belonging to the Antithetical series, and as founded on the same school of Philosophy that dictated the Aesthetic Letters, the Essay on the Natural and Sentimental, and others of the prose works of Schiller, which ought to be studied in order to a due comprehension of their design and tendency. They need no further illustration in the general form of introduction, which is all that can here be assigned them."

Say, where is excellence departed? say,

Where may I find the Bards whose living strains

Erst held the listening nations deep intranced?—

Whose lays brought God from Heaven down—to

Heaven

Exalted man, and gave the spirit to soar

Upon the wings of song?—ah! still they live—

Those Bards divine—Deeds, only deeds, are wanting,

And a susceptible ear, to bid the lyre

awake to joy. Oh happy Minstrels of

A happy world ! From mouth to mouth the sound 
Of your inspired song—from race to race—

Went flying; and like reverence each man gave

To whatsoever the lofty Genius formed

In word or shape, as to the Gods belongs.

The listener's feelings caught the glow of Song;

The minstrel's fire, in turn, was kindled by

The listener's feelings—kindled and refined.

Thrice fortunate l—to whom i'th popular voice

The soul of song gave back its clearest tone—

Before whom, from without, in life appear'd

The power divine—by bards of later days

Scarce even in heart perceived ! woe, woe to him,

If from without he still expects his coming,

And hails the looked for visitant, and lends

To the seducing voice his cheated sense.