The first prerequisites for the formation of the heroic epic of the Germans appear as a result of the victory of the Germanic tribes over Rome. In the future, this motif of fatal wealth, which arose on the basis of the plundering of the lost Roman Empire, will become the leitmotif of the “Song of the Nibelungs” – one of the most important medieval German monuments. Also, a significant contribution to the spread of Germanic myths was made by the works of the Skalds, songwriters of ancient Scandinavia. The standard of skaldic art is recognized as the work of the Icelandic poet Snorri Sturluson “The Younger Edda”, connected in style and content with the preceding poetic “Elder Edda.” Here it is worth noting the chronicle of the Danish chronicler Saxo Grammaticus called “The Deeds of the Danes”, the motives of which were subsequently in great demand in literature and reflected, for example, in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Interestingly, although this list is the basis for the reconstruction of the ancient Germanic mythological picture of the world, they already trace the influence of other cultures. For example, Sturluson’s idea of the origin of the Germanic gods, which is based on the biblical myth of the creation of the world, can be considered as a Christian influence. The Edda also traces the reliance on ancient tradition and the sacralization of history, since the work includes a Trojan legend from the ancient Greek Lyroepos, according to which the ancestors who left Troy were deified, who later occupied the Germanic-Scandinavian pantheon of gods and higher beings. Hence the well-known tradition of exalting monarchical dynasties in the European world. As another example, we can cite how in the later image of Loki – the Scandinavian god of cunning – features from Indo-Iranian mythology were found. Based on this, we can conclude that the concept of the original Germanic myth has come down to us in a slightly modified form, but at the same time the general idea of the heroic past of the great ancestors has remained the same.
One of the first scientific interest in the influence of the myth of the Germans on their native culture was shown by Jacob Grimm, which was reflected in his fundamental study “German Mythology” in 1835. The German composer Richard Wagner was also inspired by the theme of myth to express new artistic forms.
The ideas of the German philosopher Friedrich Schelling about the national spirit as the basis and source of many material phenomena of life had a significant influence on the mythological concept of the brothers Grimm, and first of all Jacob Grimm. Using his concepts, in his “German Mythology” Grimm reconstructed Germanic mythology and designated it as an expression of the essence of German folk life and singled it out as an independent part of a single Germanic-Scandinavian mythology.
A direct reflection of images from mythology can be found in the “Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm” or as they are also called “Children’s and family Fairy tales”. One of the images in the form of a tree or a forest is explained primarily by the fact that representatives of the Germanic tribes, as convinced pagans, had a strong tendency to a pantheistic view. The close connection with nature, which was caused by endless forests, explains the glorification of various natural objects (primarily trees) by the Germans. Some of their trees were associated with the gods, for example, the linden was a symbol of the goddess of love Freya, and the oak was always dedicated to the god of thunder Donar. In addition to these trees, the Germans revered ash, because according to their beliefs, the World Tree, Yggdrasil, which serves as the axis of the entire universe, was ash. Therefore, the most important events for the plot often take place in groves, for example, in the fairy tale “The Frog King, or Iron Henry”, the place where the main character went to play was the forest: “Near the royal castle there is a large dense forest …”. And there was also a well where the king’s daughter meets the enchanted prince in the form of a frog. That is, the forest turns from a sinister place in this entourage into a starting point for adventures, mysterious and attractive.
The forest also appears as a place full of miracles in the fairy tale “The Singing Jumping Lark”, in which the youngest daughter asked her father to bring her a bird as a gift: “And the way lay through the forest, and there was a beautiful castle in the forest itself, and a tree grew near the castle, and at its very top he saw a singing jumper- the lark.” In another fairy tale “Satchel, cap and horn” three brothers fall into three forests. In the first there was a mountain of silver, in the second – of gold, in the third, the largest, which was reached only by the most persistent, younger brother, he found magical artifacts: a tablecloth, a knapsack, a cap and a horn: “He moved on, walked three more days and got into the forest, he was much more than the previous ones, and there was no end to it, no edge…”. It was the magical objects found in this forest that helped the hero to marry the royal daughter first and defeat all enemies, and subsequently ascend to the throne himself.
Another interesting image is a witch. According to German belief, on the night before May 1, the evil spirit walked especially strongly, and at this time witches, werewolves and the souls of the deceased held their gatherings. We are talking here about Walpurgis Night in general. But another mention of witches, or as they were called by the ancient Germans – the Velvas – is found in the “Elder Edda”, where, through the mouth of the Velva herself, we are given a story about the origin of the gods and the coming end of the world (“The Divination of the Velva”). The whole song is put into the mouth of the Velva, who broadcasts, fulfilling the request of Odin. The most famous Velvas in Germanic mythology are the giantess Hundla and the evil sorceress Gulveig. In Grimm’s fairy tales, the most vivid image of a witch can be found in the fairy tale “Hansel and Gretel”. There she is represented as a cannibal witch: she is a very old woman leaning on a crutch and speaking in a thin voice; she also has red and cloudy eyes, since she cannot see anything that is near her and therefore trusts her sense of smell more, which to some extent brings her closer to the animal. In this context, the witch is separated from other people, which causes her cannibalism. It is also worth noting that the main detail in her image is her bony hand. In this case, the physical deformity complements the internal. Also, she is distinguished from other witches from the brothers’ fairy tales by the fact that there is an internal monologue of the sorceress in the fairy tale, which was rare at that time, especially for antagonists. It can be assumed that this is a reference to the image of the Velva from the Edda, since there she also speaks of herself in the first person (“I remember the giants”).
The motif of werewolf is often found in Germanic mythology. Warriors initiated into the mysteries of Odin became violent, unrestrained and fearless sorcerers-werewolves (or as they were called – berserkers). Also in the part “Gulvi’s Vision” in the “Younger Edda”, King Gulvi, versed in witchcraft and werewolf, turns into an old man and goes to the Asas in Asgard to find out about their art and knowledge about the world. The motive for the transformation of the brothers Grimm develops in the already mentioned fairy tale “The Frog King or Iron Henry”, in which the princess drops a golden ball to the bottom of the well, and the frog comes to her aid, offering to get it, in return for which the princess promises him friendship, as well as sharing food and a bed, but after receiving the ball runs away without keeping his word. When the frog comes to her for lunch, the king-father shames the girl and, believing that this word must be kept, allows the amphibian to eat from the princess’s plate and live in her room. Already lying in bed with the princess, the frog begins to cry and complain that he feels unnecessary and lonely, deprived of the promised friendship. In response to this, the angry heroine throws the frog against the wall and he turns into a prince – this was the original version before the well-known kiss.
Turning to Wagner’s vision of myth, it must be said that Wagner is considered to be the founder of neo–mythologism – a concept according to which correlation with myth appears as the most characteristic form of artistic thinking of the art of the XX century. He saw self-knowledge as one of the defining goals of myth-making. He believed that in the myth, man seeks to “know himself and his own God-creating being in the depicted object.” This position continues to develop in the aesthetics and artistic practice of writers of the XX century. Just like Schelling, Wagner’s idea of myth approaches the concept of an artistic image, therefore, in his opinion, myth, despite all its multidimensionality, like an artistic image, has the “property of being expressed concisely.” The myth in Germany of the 19th century developed in line with romantic and neo-Romantic traditions. Neo-Romanticism as a trend in art at this time arose as a counteraction to realism and naturalism. This era was also the time of the formation of national states, so the role of music, especially opera, became significant here. Besides Wagner’s operas, Rossini, Verdi, Donizetti, Bellini, Weber and many others were also popular.
Speaking about the mythological nature of Wagner’s operettas directly, it should be noted that he drew the plots of his operas from ancient Germanic mythology, the personification of which, in his opinion, is the myth of Siegfried – one of the most important heroes of German-Scandinavian mythology and epic, as well as the hero of the “Song of the Nibelungs”. But antiquity was also implicitly present in his mythopoetics. In this regard, there is a similarity between Aeschylus’ Prometheus cycle and Wagner’s “Ring of the Nibelung”. In general, the cycle “Rings” can be perceived as an allusion to the plot of Germanic myths, Icelandic sagas and the medieval poem “The Song of the Nibelungs”. Wagner wrote the libretto for it himself. His shining Siegfried is a dream of a man of the future, and he himself defined him as “a socialist redeemer who came to earth to destroy the power of capital,” whereas Wotan – the supreme god in German-Scandinavian mythology – in his opinion – is a typical intellectual of his time, while the Nibelung Alberttheirs is a modern banker. If we single out one of the main themes of the entire tetralogy, then this is the destructive influence of gold, lies and greed, which can also be interpreted as a continuation of the development of the motif of fatal wealth from the “Song of the Nibelungs”, which we already mentioned at the beginning. Among other examples from Germanic mythology, it can be mentioned that Freya’s ransom for the golden treasure of underground dwarfs from Wagner is the same “otter ransom” from the Younger Edda, when the sorcerer Hreidmar demanded that the Aces fill the otter’s skin with gold, and this will be their condition of peace. In a similar analogy, the gold sparkling from the depths of the Rhine is kenning (the Skalds so designated the metaphor) “the fire of the waters”, “the light of the waters”, ascending, according to Snorri Sturluson, to the legend of the miraculous property of the sea god Aegir, who illuminated the feast of the aces who descended to the seabed. Wagner believed, in accordance with revolutionary ideals, all these meanings had an anti-capitalist sound, and it is interesting that when the “Ring of the Nibelung” reached us, A. A. Blok called it a “social tragedy”.
Also in his opera “Tristan and Isolde” Wagner resurrects medieval chivalrous courtliness in the form of a legend about the tragic love of Knight Tristan and Princess Isolde. Some researchers consider it a northern analogue of the Greek tragedy. The very legend of the sad love of a young man and a princess is woven into the British narratives of King Arthur and the tales of the wise Finn – the hero of the Celtic myths of Ireland and Scotland – and it is believed that he is the prototype of Tristan. There are even plot parallels, for example, according to the myth, when Finn is widowed, he woos Graina, the daughter of the king of Ireland, but she prefers the young warrior Diarmant to him, which is captured in the “Saga of the flight of Graina with Diarmant”, and which served as the background for the journey of Tristan and Isolde from Ireland to Cornwall.
If we take it by images, then in Indo-European myths the main object is the “day shining sky” with a series of images–symbols replacing it – god, day, demon. A well–known idea of the Day of Wrath is borrowed from Latin, which is in contact with the Christian Judgment Day, which is very close in meaning to the hateful Day – a symbol of prejudice and class restrictions in Wagner. Here there are many parallels with ancient and Germano-Scandinavian mythology. For example, Tristan, the ferryman and helmsman of Isolde, combines Charon from the river Styx and Odysseus, wandering in this case together with the object of his love (like Paris). But he is also taking himself to the island world, so there are also analogies with the German-Scandinavian epic and the work of Wagner himself: when Siegfried, having passed through the fire in the form of a Hunter, carries a bride in a canoe for him in the person of his own wife Brunhilda.
Speaking about the influence of the Celtic and Irish epics, first of all, the element of water can be distinguished here, since it seems to be the most important plot element of the opera. Among the Celts, it appears from different sides: both on the positive side – as the source of the god-healer Dian Keht, who restored life to the dead and healed the wounded with the help of water from the source – and on the negative side – as the element of the surrounding ocean,
which appears to the mythological consciousness of the Celts to be hostile, associated with a demonic beginning, especially if the path runs in an easterly direction. This mythological motif is presented at the very beginning of the opera – the characters sail across the ocean to the East towards the sad outcome of subsequent events. As another example, the so-called Elivagar (other-skand) is mentioned with a negative meaning in German-Scandinavian mythology. Élivágar – “stormy waters”) or the waters of chaos, as the common name of the coldest twelve streams. Subsequently, Thomas Mann will borrow this water mythopoetic theme from Wagner for his “Death in Venice”, where the image of the boy Tadzio is very closely connected with the sea, and at the very beginning we are presented with the image of Aschenbach – the main character – sailing to Venice by boat, at the end of the story parallel to the initial scene chasing the Tadzio family in a gondola.
Here the following mythological symbol in the form of a ship pops up. In the culture of the Germanic-Scandinavian peoples, as well as among the Celtic tribes, the ship played a key role and existed in mythology since the ancient Greek period. At first, he was associated with the heroic appearance of the god-the arbiter of fate, then the Celts transform this image into a deadly ship that transports heroes to another world. It is interesting to note here that at the beginning of act I, Wagner specifies in detail how the scene should look: on the bow of the ship there is a tent richly draped with carpets. At the beginning, they obscure the background. To the side is a narrow staircase leading to the hold. Isolde lies motionless, hiding her face in the pillows. The staircase here, on the one hand, is a very minor detail that complements the image of the ship. On the other hand, the mythopoetic image of the staircase is very common, since it connects the real and infernal worlds. And since in the opera it leads to the hold, that is, down, it becomes clear that this staircase connects the world of the living with the world of the dead, as well as with what is at the roots of the World Tree – Yggdrasil –, as they say in the Elder Edda.
The image of the world tree is found separately in Wagner’s “Tristan and Isolde”. In the opera, he appears directly during Tristan and Isolde’s date, who communicate under the canopy of trees and against the background of another image – the castle of the Cornish king. The image of the tree here establishes the spatio-temporal organization of the new Wagnerian myth both horizontally (as the cardinal directions) and vertically (branches – trunk and roots), while the second one in the form of a castle introduces the principle of interaction of worlds into it. Both organizations also contain a tiered structure, combining chronotopes of the past – present and future.
As a conclusion, we would like to add a few words about the fact that, as we see from examples from different eras and cultural spheres, the cyclical nature of the German-Scandinavian myth and, accordingly, the persistence of stereotypes of mythological thinking were also successfully reflected in the field of political ideology and related social psychology, mainly in the 20th century. Of course, we are talking about the Third Reich, during which modified types of racial myths were created, which was combined with the cult of the Fuhrer and the rituals of mass gatherings. As part of his cultural campaign to revive the heritage of the “Nordic” race, the mythological images of the ancient Germans, along with their system of cult rituals and runic writing, subsequently became the subject of active study of the department, which in translation was called “Ahnenerbe” (“Ancestral heritage”). These images primarily influenced the promotion of Nazi occultism and mysticism in the German-speaking space. And the ideal of the Aryan man promoted at that time, composed of the heroic epic of the Middle Ages and, in part, of Friedrich Nietzsche’s reinterpreted concept of the superman, was actively imposed precisely by the cultural and political education and propaganda of the Reich. But even despite the negative impact of ideology, the external image of the mythology of the northern peoples has not been completely overshadowed and has found its place in the further cultural processes of different countries.
Author of the article: Varvara Kartushina
