Sintram and his Companions

MP3 Audio CD. Written by Baron Fouqué, Friedrich de la Motte, one of the genus, but lesser-known authors of German Romanticism, Sintram and His Companions is a collection of four stories, four powerful narratives, each of them associated to one of the four seasons ? the tale of Sintram is grave and sinister the way only winter can be, Undine is playful, moving and refreshing, like Spring, Two Captains takes the reader to the hottest corners of the world, while Aslauga?s Knight evokes the colors of fall. The stories that make up the book feature motifs and topics typical to Romanticism: the reader encounters knights in shining armor, damsels in distress, evil spells and the eternal struggle between good and evil.

Out of the four tales, the story that made Fouqué?s really well-known and popular in his time was the one associated to spring, Undine. First published individually in 1811, the novella is a fairy tale inspired from French folk literature and occultist literature, most notably the works of Paracelsus. The story is about a water spirit who marries a knight in order to get a soul of her own ? a plot that is charmingly elaborated by Fouqué and one that has inspired numerous later writers, composers and painters including E.T.A. Hoffmann, Andy Warhol, Neil Jordan Tchaikovsky, Debussy, Gaugin and Turner. The other stories in the collection are not less impressive ? they are all adventurous, eventful, full of larger-than-life characters and always ending with the prevalence of good over evil and with the triumph of love.

Fouqué?s fascination with medieval stories and mythology inspired the author to versify various medieval romances and to dramatize the Nibelung legend in three plays published together in 1810. The dramatizations raised public attention to Fouqué?s works and they also served as inspiration for The Ring of the Nibelung, Richard Wagner?s epic music dramas.