"Der König in Thule" ("The King in Thule") is a German poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, written in 1774.
Goethe wrote the poem "Geistesgruß" as a precursor of "Der König in Thule", while he was travelling to Lahneck Castle on the river Lahn in July 1774. Under Herder's influence, the setting was changed to the mythical island kingdom Thule, which was thought to be the northernmost place Greek seafarers ventured in antiquity.
Goethe used it later in his tragedy Faust (part I, lines 2759–82) as Gretchen's (Margaret's) introduction. It has been set to music by a number of composers, notably Franz Schubert.
Text
Reception
The poem attained wide popularity, and was set to music by the following composers:
- Karl Siegmund von Seckendorff (1782)
- Johann Friedrich Reichardt (1809)
- Carl Friedrich Zelter (1812, facsimile)
- Franz Schubert (1816), "Der König in Thule", D 367, Op. 5, Nr. 5
- Friedrich Silcher (1823)
- Hector Berlioz, Marguerite's aria in the opera La damnation de Faust ("Autrefois un roi de Thulé")
- Heinrich Marschner
- Franz Liszt S. 278 (1842–1856), and in Buch der Lieder, S. 531, no. 4 (1843). Tchaikovsky orchestrated the accompaniment of this version.
- Robert Schumann, op. 67, no. 1 (1849)
- Charles Gounod, Marguerite's aria in the 1859 opera Faust ("Il était un roi de Thulé")
- Anastazy Wilhelm Dreszer
- Jules Massenet, unperformed 1866 opera La coupe du roi de Thulé
- Hans von Bülow; for voice and piano (1869)
- Alphons Diepenbrock (1886)
- Hans Sommer (1920 or 1921)
References
External links
- "Der König in Thule", German text
- "Der König in Thule": Scores at the International Music Score Library Project (for Schubert's setting)
- "Der König von Tule": Scores at the International Music Score Library Project (for Zelter's setting)
- Text in German, English, Dutch, Italian, Spanish; comprehensive list of musical settings
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