Down the Rhine

A Bonn Voyage

Mitsuko Uchida commands the keys:  Sir Simon Rattle conducts: The Berlin Philharmonic follow instructions and the Largo of Beethoven's Piano Concerto N0 1 in C Major, Opus 15 fills my room......

In Germany (Memories of a Nation) Neil MacGregor writes that, No river, not even the Danube, runs so deep in the German imagination, is freighted with more cultural, historical or musical associations, than the Rhine.  It is the Rhine that flows peacefully in the evening sunshine as Heine's Lorelei combs her golden locks and lures sailors to destruction...... 

Well, I cannot speak for the evening sunshine, but, as we slip downstream from Rüdesheim through misty clouds I am certainly filled with cultural, historical and musical associations. Here is Wilhelm Camphausen's 1859 painting of General von Blücher and the first Army of Silesia crossing on the Rhine near to Kaub on January 1st 1814.  [Looks bloody cold,  Ed.]

 

And here, as we again pass the golden-haired Lorelei, is Friedrich Perlberg's 1880 painting (after a steel engraving by Carl Ludwig Frommel which had been printed 50 years before) of the River Rhine with Loreley:

Well, it’s a marvellous night for a moondance,  (Van Morrison)

At the beginning of the 19th century English writers such as Byron and Shelley travelled through the Rhine Valley on their way south, excited by the scenery, the history and the legends they encountered.  For instance:  

The river nobly foams and lows -

The charm of this enchanted ground,

And all it's thousand turns disclose

Some freezer beauty's varying round:

The haughtiest breast its wish might bound

Through life to dwell delighted here;

More could on earth a spot be found

To Nature and to me so dear -

Could thy dear eyes in following mine

Still sweeten more these banks of Rhine!

George Gordon, Lord Byron

Childe Harold's Pilgrimage III lv 4

And this aroused the wanderlust in the Inter-railers of the day, and inspired tourism, which was further encouraged by the introduction of steam navigation in 1827 so much so that in 1830 the region received 16,000 English visitors.  In turn this led to a demand for pictorial souvenirs and artists such as George Clarkson [Surely not? Ed.] Stanfield, John Forbes Hardy and James Webb cashed in on this, and they soon became an obligatory feature in the annual exhibition at the Royal Academy....

St Goarshausen - George Clarkson Stanfield (1860)

Then, as we approach Koblenz, Burg Stolzenfels looms out of the grey:

Built by Archbishop Arnold von Isenburg of Trier, this castle was used to collect Rhine tolls until 1412. Then, in 1689, the French destroyed it during the War of the Palatinate Succession. Later it became the property of the city of Koblenz until, in 1823,  the ruins were given to the Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia who rebuilt it as the epitome of Rhine Romanticism. [Portmeirion on Rhine, perhaps?  Ed.]

And so we pass the monstrous equestrian statue of Emperor Wilhelm I at Koblenz's Deutsches Eck (the German Corner, where the Moselle flows into the Rhine) and dock.  This statue was one of many dedicated in 1897 in gratitude for Kaiser Bill's unification of Germany. 

The statue was dismantled and melted down by the French military government immediately after World War II, and only the plinth was preserved as a memorial. However, following controversial discussions after the reunification of Germany, a replica of the statue was erected on the pedestal in 1993.... [O tempora!  O Mores!  Ed.]  

Anyway, just by our mooring, there is a more contemporary take on the state of the union by mother and daughter team Laura and Christel Lechner.....

And not far from here there are three segments of the Berlin Wall placed close to Wilhem's memorial. Lothar de Maizière, acting President of the GDR at that time, was present at the opening ceremony in June 1990. A bronze plate on one of the segments is a reminder of the victims of the German division between June 17th, 1953 and November 9th, 1989.  Perhaps this is related to Erinnerungskultur (memory culture in which the horrors of the Holocaust and the Nazi regime are commemorated) - a word I have only just learned but which I had seen evidence of in other cities.....

Koblenz (in German the stress is on the first syllable) was founded by the Romans and the name derives from the latin for confluence. It is a city of some 115,000 people, who mostly live in modern housing as almost all the old houses were destroyed in WWII. There is a vast castle above the East Bank of the Rhine here, which may be reached by cable car....

Ehrenbreitstein Fortress, Koblenz

But I find myself (having - on this occasion - passed by the Ludwig Museum) in the ultra modern Forum Mittelrhein:

Which houses a brilliant art gallery, concentrating on the art and history of the region:

The display covers sculptures from early Christianity to pictures from the present day.  I am particularly struck by this self portrait by Herm Dienz, subtitled My Way Back.  Painted in 1945, having denounced Hitler's destructive politics of violence (in Der Gefreite vermichtet die Welt - The Private Destroys the World) this picture reflects his personal, desperate, situation directly after the end of the war

Selbstbildnis - Mein Weg zurück - Herm Dienz (1945)

The explanatory notes, in German and English, are very informative, and with the place almost to myself, it is possible to be immersed in a colourful and stimulating world.

Am Rhein (Along the Rhine) - Emil Nolde (1906)

But outside it is Christmas....

And everyone is having fun:

So I join in:

And wake up in Bonn.....

Where the writing is (literally) on the wall:

Just outside Beethoven's house:

Though he's not in - he is feeding the birds in the market place:

Ludwig only lived here for three years, and obviously took his furniture with him when he moved on. There isn't much of a view from the window:

And the garden is a bit gloomy, filled with grumpy statues:

But it is worth a visit - the last time I came here it was closed....

However, it is time to sail on.....

To Cologne (where the Oh! comes from....)

Rheinauhafen: The Crane Houses (2009)

Where the people (Cologne has a population of about one million and has approximately six million visitors every year) are crammed into the Christmas Markets:

And the Cathedral could do with a brush up:

The gothic Catholic Cathedral of St Peter

I have visited before (if interested please see the link at the end to my previous blog piece published in July 2019).....

The Golden Bird sculpture by H A Schult
above the City Museum

And there is a familiarity about the place. So I duck into the Brauhaus FRÜH am Dom for a quick Kölsch..... And I am welcome:

So much so that almost without thinking I find myself dancing with a buxom lady in the Museum Ludwig:

Black Nana - Niki de Saint Phalle (1968/69)

Better that than standing outside George Segal's 1967 Restaurant Window 1....

Or falling asleep in the stairwell.....

It is an enormous gallery, with a labyrinth of corridors and rooms, housing a collection that includes the most significant trends of twentieth-century and contemporary art.  It was founded in 1976 with a donation of 350 works of art from Peter and Irene Ludwig.  The building, conceived by Cologne architects Peter Bussman and Godfrid Haberer, was opened in 1986, but reorganised and reopened in 2001.

There's too much. I feel I am in one of Cy Twombly's enormous canvases.... Time to move on.....

And, so, passing the last German Emperor (Wilhelm II, or, to give him his full name, Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert of Prussia) on his high horse at the beginning of the Hohenzollern Bridge....

I weave through the crowds to the east bank of the Rhine and make my way back to my ship, admiring the views as I go:

It has indeed been a Bonn Voyage.  At 760 miles (1230 kms) the Rhine is the second longest river (after the Danube) in Western Europe. I have just been on a short trip up and down the Middle Rhine, and even here it is a formidable flow of water. It is a chilling thought, however, that, according to the International Commission for the Hydrology of the Rhine Basin (CHR) the changes in our climate may cause the river to massively decrease in volume, or even dry up completely within the next 30 to 80 years, which is why I will leave you with this suggestion:

And so, as a torrent of notes from Stephen Kovacevich ushers us out with Beethoven's Piano Sonata No 21 in C Major, Op 53, Waldstein, I wave goodbye to the Rhineland- Palatinate, and thank my friends Sue, Jenny and Valerie for their company, Tour Manager Scott Shillington, Riviera Travel, and the Captain and Crew of the SS Geoffrey Chaucer for looking after me.....

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The river descends rapidly and winds between hills, not high, but steep, and of beautiful forms. We saw many ruined castles standing on the edges of precipices, surrounded by black woods, high and inaccessible. This part of the Rhine, indeed, presents a singularly variegated landscape. In one spot you view rugged hills, ruined castles overlooking tremendous precipices, with the dark Rhine rushing beneath; and on the sudden turn of a promontory, flourishing vineyards with green sloping banks and a meandering river and populous towns occupy the scene.

Frankenstein, Chapter 18

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

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Dedicated to someone I know who likes 4711

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And, should you be interested, this is the link to my earlier piece about Cologne:

https://www.richardpgibbs.org/2019/07/ode-to-cologne.html

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Ode to Cologne

Tosca on the Rhine

This picture (above) doesn't show Cologne today, but does contain an early likeness of the famous cathedral, together with a popular Rhine Cruise Ship in the foreground, and the brutal martyrdom of St Ursula, who, perhaps, had upset one of the city's notorious Köbes, a disgruntled class of servants, tasked with dispensing  Kölsch, a frothy, acidic excuse for beer that is inflicted on indigenes and unsuspecting wanderers alike... 

The image does not show the railway station....

This picture (below) shows the cathedral in a more modern aspect, with building site in the foreground, and later towers in addition.  Shot through the coarse muslin drapes of the wonderful Wolfman Rothfisch Museyroom (I suspect that's not the name, but this is not supposed to be accurate.....)

I try not to travel with preconceptions, as these inevitably lead to disappointment (and weigh down your hand baggage), but it is Bill Nighy impossible to voyage without some scepticism.... So I thought perhaps that Cologne would be a little old school, somewhat sedate, not without charm, shall we say?

But no!  This is Brühl.   On the outer garments of the colonial city, and in a moderate condition of health, given the times (our times, hard times....)

{By the way, a native of this suburb was Max Ernst, and the much improved Neo-classical Benediktusheim here is a very fine museyroom indeed.....}

Separately, in Bonn (one time capital of the West) we see them film Meggie Merkhel (some mistake? Ed?) arriving at the Rathaus.  A seventeen stone minder asks politely through gritted moustache whether I am Presse, but I refuse all royalties and recognise no one.

And then, in Aachen, or Aches le Chapeau as I think I hear it described, I see the eternal struggle of mankind enacted in the sulphurous confines of the central gardens....

And then kneel in awe of the extreme ceiling where Charles the Great (Charles Le Mange, or Karl Der Mango) was born/created/christened/married/crowned/died/buried..... [I said this wasn't a guide book....]

Back in Cologne the natives are unimpressed....  [Try hugging this hoodie, Davie....]

But there are reminders of how great it was [once upon a reich] to spur and boot.....

Though it is much more Adidas these days....

Then, as a treat, Tom Owen, principal oboe with The Gürzenich-Orchester Köln [Der gebürtige Engländer Tom Owen erhielt seine musikalische Ausbildung an der Purcell School of Music, an der Royal Academy of Music und an der Musikhochschule Hannover bei Klaus Becker. Bereits mit 19 Jahren gewann er den „Royal Academy of Music Oboe Prize“, dem viele weitere folgten. Er gastiert regelmäßig als Solo-Oboist bei führenden Orchestern wie dem Bayerischen Staatsorchester München, dem City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, dem Gewandhausorchester Leipzig und der Staatskapelle Dresden]

invites us to the Köln Oper, to see Tosca, at Staatenhaus 1, in the Rheinpark.  

The opera (in Thilo Reinhardt's production, premiered here in 2012) opens in the church of San Andrea della Valle (near where I once caught my daily bus in Rome) and aerial bombardment interrupts the mass.  Deafening percussions shake the altar, and the congregation flee in fear.  

I am not sure who is bombing who, as black-shirted fascists, marshalled by a Hitler/Himmler figure - himself is in thrall to the loud and leery Scarpia (South Korean Samuel Youn, reprising his success in 2016) - soon appear to be in charge, but perhaps the native Colonials in the audience understand.  When the dark sky flashes with airborne ordnance, and your safety is blasted to ruins with the lives of your loved ones, no one knows nor cares who is triggering the bombardment.....  

It is too much to consider, but the real agents of destruction tend to be far from the front line, sitting proud in their tousled crowns, bunkered in arrogance and ignorance, pleasuring themselves at the expense of others.  Cologne was smashed out of recognition in the Second World War, and now, after nearly eighty years, it is still attempting to revive itself....

Praise be it can't happen again?

The mighty Dom rises above the Rhine, above the morass of swirling peoples.

Admired by all sorts.....

All sorts.....

None of whom (me most certainly included) would ever have the nerve to climb a true stairway to heaven, like this one.....

Back at the Oper, Tosca is brilliant.  The cast (including American Adina Aaron and Argentine José Cura) is cosmopolitan and the chorus magnificent, and the terrifying story of perfidious arrogance and abuse of power, combined with the horrifying destruction of innocence, is so frighteningly pertinent to our times that I don't notice the passage of Erdinger Weissbier, herring salad and schnapps until it is way too late to turn back......

By coincidence, Tosca has been associated in another way with Cologne since 1921, for Tosca Eau De Cologne Splash is a true German classic. Still one of the most popular fragrances in Germany today, this fragrance was first made in 1921 and has a dedicated following.

Tosca Eau De Cologne Splash possesses top notes of fern, honeysuckle and magnolia, middle notes of pink peony, peppercorns and heliotrope and finishes with base notes of amber, vanilla and magic lantern orchid.

Spicy. Fresh. Totally Tosca. 

{The original Eau de Cologne is a spirit-citrus perfume launched in Cologne in 1709 by Giovanni Maria Farina (1685–1766), an Italian perfume maker who had settled here.  The famous Eau de Cologne 4711 is named after where it was made at Glockengasse No. 4711. It was developed in the 18th century by Wilhelm Mülhens and is one of the oldest still produced fragrances in the world. On 12 December 2006, the perfumes and cosmetics company Mäurer & Wirtz took over 4711 from Procter & Gamble.}

It is night. A warm summer night in perfumed Cologne. Birds flutter above the Hohenzollernbrücke as trains rock back and forth, trundling into the dark, shaking the forty thousand or so 'Love Padlocks' shackled to the fencing

Cyclists flit by.....

Flit, flit.....

Flit, flit flit.....

And then we are startled by the latest vehicle to hit the streets of Cologne (barely two months legal here but now ubiquitous)....  An electric scooter, leading to utter confusion in the cycle lanes, 

And also on the pavements.....

And so, fortified by a small flask of Jägermeister (a digestif made with 56 herbs and spices at a strength of 35% alcohol by volume.... the flagship product of Mast-Jägermeister SE, headquartered in Wolfenbüttel) we take refuge in an underpass, amongst the spirits of Köln, past, present, and future.....

Spicy. Fresh. Totally Tosca. 

Nell'ora del dolore

perché, perché, Signore,

perché me ne rimuneri così?

Vissi d'arte

From Act 2 of Puccini's opera, Tosca

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For my mother

(Who loved Eau de Cologne)

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