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| 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:
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| 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An outdated english translation (1844) of Schiller's poems by John Merivale is freely available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.
