The rat catcher
(Poet's title: Der Rattenfänger)
Set by Schubert:
D 255
[August 19, 1815]
Part of Goethe: The second collection intended for Goethe
Ich bin der wohlbekannte Sänger,
Der vielgereiste Rattenfänger,
Den diese altberühmte Stadt
Gewiss besonders nötig hat.
Und wären’s Ratten noch so viele,
Und wären Wiesel mit im Spiele;
Von allen säubr’ ich diesen Ort,
Sie müssen mit einander fort.
Dann ist der gut gelaunte Sänger
Mitunter auch ein Kinderfänger,
Der selbst die wildesten bezwingt,
Wenn er die goldnen Mährchen singt.
Und wären Knaben noch so trutzig,
Und wären Mädchen noch so stutzig,
In meine Saiten greif ich ein,
Sie müssen alle hinter drein.
Dann ist der vielgewandte Sänger
Gelegentlich ein Mädchenfänger;
In keinem Städtchen langt er an,
Wo er’s nicht mancher angetan.
Und wären Mädchen noch so blöde,
Und wären Weiber noch so spröde;
Doch allen wird so liebebang
Bei Zaubersaiten und Gesang.
I am that well-known singer,
The widely-travelled rat catcher,
Which this long-famous town
Is in particular need of, without question.
And however many rats there were,
And even if weasels were involved,
I would clean everything out of this place,
They have to be gone, all together.
As well as being a happily inclined singer
He is also a child catcher at the same time,
Who can even overpower the wildest of them
If he sings golden tales.
And however defiant the boys are
And however suspicious the girls are
I catch them up in my strings,
They all have to come along one after the other.
What is more, this very skilful singer is also
Occasionally a girl catcher;
There isn’t a town where he has turned up
Without appealing to quite a few.
And however silly the girls are,
And however reticent the married women are,
They all nevertheless become so lovestruck
When they hear the magical strings and song.
All translations into English that appear on this website, unless otherwise stated, are by Malcolm Wren. You are free to use them on condition that you acknowledge Malcolm Wren as the translator and schubertsong.uk as the source. Unless otherwise stated, the comments and essays that appear after the texts and translations are by Malcolm Wren and are © Copyright.
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Themes and images in this text:
Bards and minstrels Catching Lutes Magic and enchantment Songs (general) Towns Workers and working songs
He catches (strophe1), he captures (strophe 2), he captivates (strophe 3).
He is of course the famous rat-catcher of Hamelin (Hameln), though his technique slightly belies his name. In traditional versions of the story (going back to the 13th century, perhaps with some echoes of the so-called Children’s Crusade of 1212) the protagonist is a ‘piper’ who does not ‘catch’ mice and rats but lures them to follow him with his playing, and he then leads them to their deaths by drowning or falling. In Goethe’s version he is a wandering minstrel, a singer and a player of a stringed instrument (a lute or an early form of guitar?). The fact that he is not a piper means that he is free to capture children in his strings and captivate ‘the ladies’ with his singing.
When he ‘catches the children up’ in his strings, we could also imagine him as a puppeteer or even as a sort of angler treating the children as fish to be caught. They are not just dancing to his tune, they are literally dependent on (‘hanging from’) him. The singer seems to assume that we know that these children were never seen again (he knows he is famous, so he must know why), but he has no fear of confessing to child abduction on a massive scale.
In stanza 3 he insists that his strings are ‘magical’; they capture by captivating. The girls and boys might have been tricked using the bait of golden fairy stories but he has other techniques to seduce the unmarried and the married females of the towns that he visits. He does not trap them in rivers or mountainsides, he makes them want to share his bed. Such is the attraction of someone who can get rid of those awful pests that make life difficult: rats, weasels, little girls and boys (the brats). Maybe we should not be so surprised that some older sisters and young mothers were willing to express their gratitude to the pest controller.
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Original Spelling Der Rattenfänger Ich bin der wohlbekannte Sänger, Der vielgereiste Rattenfänger, Den diese altberühmte Stadt Gewiß besonders nöthig hat; Und wären's Ratten noch so viele, Und wären Wiesel mit im Spiele; Von allen säubr' ich diesen Ort, Sie müssen mit einander fort. Dann ist der gut gelaunte Sänger Mitunter auch ein Kinderfänger, Der selbst die wildesten bezwingt, Wenn er die goldnen Mährchen singt. Und wären Knaben noch so trutzig, Und wären Mädchen noch so stutzig, In meine Saiten greif´ ich ein, Sie müssen alle hinter drein. Dann ist der vielgewandte Sänger Gelegentlich ein Mädchenfänger; In keinem Städtchen langt er an, Wo er's nicht mancher angethan. Und wären Mädchen noch so blöde, Und wären Weiber noch so spröde; Doch allen wird so liebebang Bei Zaubersaiten und Gesang.
Confirmed by Peter Rastl with Schubert’s source, Goethe’s sämmtliche Schriften. Siebenter Band. / Gedichte von Goethe. Erster Theil. Lyrische Gedichte. Wien, 1810. Verlegt bey Anton Strauß. In Commission bey Geistinger, page 103; with Goethe’s Werke, Vollständige Ausgabe letzter Hand, Erster Band, Stuttgart und Tübingen, in der J.G.Cotta’schen Buchhandlung, 1827, pages 200-201; and with Taschenbuch auf das Jahr 1804, Herausgegeben von Wieland und Goethe, Tübingen, in der Cotta’schen Buchhandlung, pages 148-149. Just below the poem it says “(Von Anfang.)”.
To see an early edition of the text, go to page 103 [117 von 418] here: http://digital.onb.ac.at/OnbViewer/viewer.faces?doc=ABO_%2BZ163965701