Erlking

"The Erlking", by Albert Sterner, ca. 1910

The Erlking (German: Erlkönig, "Alder King") is a character depicted in a number of German poems and ballads as a malevolent creature who haunts forests and carries off travellers to their deaths. The name is an 18th-century mistranslation of the original Danish word elverkonge, "elf-king". The character is most famous as the antagonist in Goethe's poem Der Erlkönig and Schubert's musical adaptation of the same name.

Origins

The Erlking as a character has its origins in a common European folkloric archetype, the seductive but deadly fairy or siren (compare La Belle Dame sans Merci and the nix).^[1] In its original form in Scandinavian folklore, the character was a female spirit, the elf-king's daughter (Elverkongens datter). Similar stories existed in numerous ballads throughout Scandinavia in which an elverpige (female elf) was responsible for ensnaring human beings to satisfy their desire, jealousy and lust for revenge.^[2]

The Erlking's Daughter

Johann Gottfried von Herder introduced this character into German literature in Erlkönigs Tochter, a ballad published in his 1778 volume Stimmen der Volker in Liedern. It was based on a Danish folk ballad published in the 1739 Danske Kaempevisor.^[2] Herder undertook a free translation but mistranslated the Danish name elverkonge as "Erlkönig", "alder king"; the confusion appears to have arisen with the German word Erle, "alder". It has generally been assumed that the mistranslation was the result of error, but it has also been suggested that Herder was imaginatively trying to identify the malevolent sprite of the original tale with a woodland demon (hence the alder king).^[3]

The story, as retold by Herder, portrays a man named Sir Oluf riding to his marriage but being entranced by the music of the elves. One of the elf maidens, the Elverkonge's daughter, appears and invites him to dance with her. He refuses and spurns her offers of gifts and gold. Angered, she strikes him and sends him on his way, deathly pale. The following morning, on the day of his wedding, his bride finds him lying dead under his scarlet cloak.^[2]

Goethe's Erlking

Although inspired by Herder's ballad, Goethe departed significantly from both Herder's rendering of the Erlking and the Scandinavian original. The antagonist of Goethe's Der Erlkönig is, as the name suggests, the Erlking himself rather than his daughter. Goethe's Erlking differs in other ways as well: his version preys on children, rather than adults of the opposite sex, and the Erlking's motives are never made clear. Goethe's Erlking is much more akin to the Germanic portrayal of elves and valkyries - a force of happiness rather than simply a magical spirit.^[2]

References

External links

• Music by Schubert - free recording (complete) and free score