DOI Heft:
No. 158 (May, 1906)
DOI Artikel:Eldred, C. E.: Rothenburg the fantastic
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20714#0334
Rothenburg the Fantastic
"ROTIIENBURG FROM THE OUTSKIRTS" BY C. E. ELDRED
source the sound of mysterious music that fell
upon my ear towards noon one day —a sound
so mysterious that it was impossible to tell
whether it was an organ, or choir, or bells, or
whether it proceeded from a church or the
open air. Led by it into the market place I
perceived the glitter of brazen wind instruments on
the lofty gallery of the Rathhaus Tower. This
tower outtops the many others that surround it
and, but for the call of the trumpets, I might have
failed to make the ascent—and such an ascent—
by ladders and stairs of which the rungs and steps
were worn almost through, by wooden galleries
overhanging deep courts, through labyrinths ot
wooden posts and beams. It is from the railed
gallery surrounding the belfry that the sounds
from four trumpets float over the roofs of the
town twice a week, at the hour of noon. The air
they play is repeated four times, once towards
each quarter of the compass. This is the
survival of an old custom, when the music was
provided for the shepherds to dance to in the
market-place.
Save that the shepherds have vanished, the
aspect of the town to-day is probably but little
3M
ROTIIENBURG BY C. E. ELDRED
"ROTIIENBURG FROM THE OUTSKIRTS" BY C. E. ELDRED
source the sound of mysterious music that fell
upon my ear towards noon one day —a sound
so mysterious that it was impossible to tell
whether it was an organ, or choir, or bells, or
whether it proceeded from a church or the
open air. Led by it into the market place I
perceived the glitter of brazen wind instruments on
the lofty gallery of the Rathhaus Tower. This
tower outtops the many others that surround it
and, but for the call of the trumpets, I might have
failed to make the ascent—and such an ascent—
by ladders and stairs of which the rungs and steps
were worn almost through, by wooden galleries
overhanging deep courts, through labyrinths ot
wooden posts and beams. It is from the railed
gallery surrounding the belfry that the sounds
from four trumpets float over the roofs of the
town twice a week, at the hour of noon. The air
they play is repeated four times, once towards
each quarter of the compass. This is the
survival of an old custom, when the music was
provided for the shepherds to dance to in the
market-place.
Save that the shepherds have vanished, the
aspect of the town to-day is probably but little
3M
ROTIIENBURG BY C. E. ELDRED