London, die größte rheinische Metropole und Umschlagshafen für die Ginversorgung Zentraleuropas. Noch zentraler der höllenzugewandte Keiler, über dessen Bejagung im und Existenz am Fluß Rheinsein krude Kunde weiß.

„Kaiserswerth was entirely a Roman Catholic village until near the close of the last century, when certain velvet manufacturers brought over their work-people from Protestant Crefeld. The Protestant congregation was small enough,- two hundred in a population of eighteen hundred; and over it Candidat Theodore Fliedner was placed as village pastor in the year 1822. He was not there a month when the velvet manufacturers failed, and the congregation, mostly their own workmen, threatened to be broken up. Fliedner was offered another charge. He says he could not reconcile it with his duty to leave his flock when they most needed help; and as they were no longer capable of supporting a pastorate among them, he made a begging tour as far even as Holland and England, and returned with a sum sufficient to afford a moderate endowment. This, however, was by far the least result of his journey. His longing and aptitude for practical work, not as a philanthropist only, but as an earnest minister of Christ, had been greatly stimulated by what he saw. He had visited hospitals, workhouses, schools; in London he dwells simply on having „seen Newgate, and many other prisons:“ he regrets only missing Mrs. Fry. And when he came back he thought, with deep shame, that in faith and love Englishwomen far surpassed German men. It was not long till his thoughts found a practical outlet. The prison at Düsseldorf was no better than other prisons at this time. There was no classification of the prisoners, no schooling for the young, scarce any separation of the sexes. The filth was horrifying, the arrangements for sleeping and eating of the worst. The prisoners had no employment, and there was no effort to give them any spiritual instruction. Meanwhile the jailors grew rich, and the prison-boards fell asleep. Fliedner sought admission to the Düsseldorf prison, having more leisure, as he says, than his brethren, and obtained permission to preach in it every Sunday fortnight.“ Dazu paßt die höchst überlieferungstaugliche, symbolbehaftete Legende, daß Fliedner einst in einem Nachen in Kaiserswerth anlandete; um ernsthaft heilig gesprochen zu werden war er dennoch eine Spur zu protestantisch. Die grauen Diakonissen, zu Beginn aus Knästen und Armenfamilien rekrutiert, wandeln bis heute in zunehmend rarer Ausführung durch rheinische Landschaften und vermitteln dem unbedarften Beobachter das Gefühl, daß es hinter ihnen staubt. (O tempora, o mores!) Und London sollte stets als letzte und größte Stadt am Rhein gedacht werden, hier mal nebenbei.

Über den Gründer der Diakonie, Theodor Fliedner, schreibt Rev. William Fleming Stevenson in seinem Buch „Praying and Working“ (London 1862), das von Lebenswegen berühmter Christen erzählt, und nimmt dabei mit Thomas Hood (dessen Stil er mäßig kopiert) und Lord Byron einen langen rheinischen Anlauf, bevor er „The blue flag of Kaiserswerth“ sichtet: „Up the Rhine, has no more the meaning it bore in Thomas Hood`s exquisitely droll itinerary, – not so long ago, but for this railway and now telegraph speed at which the world is flying past us, – when it meant leisurely sailing for days together from the very Rhine mouth up to Basel, with nightly bivouacs at the villages on either side, and endless opportunity of observing the vicissitudes of social life from the crowded quarter-deck. For the first point of departure from Rotterdam is now the pretty station of the Dutch-Rhenish Railway, and along this railway you are whirled at a steady, comfortable pace, without so much as a peep at the rejoicing river, or at anything else, save a deep, full ditch, close to the rails, an occasional sand-hill, or flat colourless fields where the hard soil is bleached by the sun, until you see the towers of the great cathedral at Cologne, and there take the water for Coblenz and Bingen. But should any one be simple, quiet, and old-fashioned enough to embark at the Boompjes, in one of the fast Rhine steamers, and be content to look, for two days, at a row of bulrushes on the one side and poplar trees upon the other, or at poplar trees upon the one side and a row of bulrushes on the other, he will not only come upon the exquisite scenery higher up with all the advantage of contrast and relief, but will probably see, about an hour before reaching Düsseldorf, a strange flag floating from a tower upon the left. It is not time for the „Fruit, foliage, crags, wood, cornfield, mountain, vine / And chiefless castles breathing stern farewells, / From green, but leafy walls, where rain greenly dwells;“ the only rising ground in sight is on the horizon, and the tower is only the relic of a windmill. Neither does the flag suggest anything of battles passed below, but is simply a large blue flag, bearing in the centre a white dove with an olive branch. It is the signal that you are passing Kaiserswerth, a paltry, ordinary village, as you would presently say, looking at the houses that straggle down to the river; and is nothing more, notwithstanding its ruins of the eleventh century, and that St Suibert, the first evangelist of the district, is buried in the Pfarrkirche. Moreover, on nearer inspection it turns out to be dirty, as most Roman Catholic towns unfortunately are. And yet it is better worth stopping at than St Goar or Ehrenbreitstein. It is the seat of a movement which is exercising a profound influence on the German Church, and drawing no little attention from England, as well; where an unpretending German clergyman has been working out in his own way a problem which deeply concerns us all – the right relation of womanly gifts and service to the kingdom of God. (…)“

Die Erinnerung Frankensteins an seine Rheinreise mit Clerval, aus dem Klassiker von Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley: “After some days spent in listless indolence, during which I traversed many leagues, I arrived at Strasburgh, where I waited two days for Clerval. He came. Alas, how great was the contrast between us! He was alive to every new scene; joyful when he saw the beauties of the setting sun, and more happy when he beheld it rise, and recommence a new day. He pointed out to me the shifting colours of the landscape, and the appearances of the sky. “This is what it is to live,” he cried, “now I enjoy existence! But you, my dear Frankenstein, wherefore are you desponding and sorrowful!” In truth, I was occupied by gloomy thoughts, and neither saw the descent of the evening star, nor the golden sun-rise reflected in the Rhine.— And you, my friend, would be far more amused with the journal of Clerval, who observed the scenery with an eye of feeling and delight, than in listening to my reflections. I, a miserable wretch, haunted by a curse that shut up every avenue to enjoyment. We had agreed to descend the Rhine in a boat from Strasburgh to Rotterdam, whence we might take shipping for London. During this voyage, we passed by many willowy islands, and saw several beautiful towns. We staid a day at Manheim, and, on the fifth from our departure from Strasburgh, arrived at Mayence. The course of the Rhine below Mayence becomes much more picturesque. 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. We travelled at the time of the vintage, and heard the song of the labourers, as we glided down the stream. Even I, depressed in mind, and my spirits continually agitated by gloomy feelings, even I was pleased. I lay at the bottom of the boat, and, as I gazed on the cloudless blue sky, I seemed to drink in a tranquillity to which I had long been a stranger. And if these were my sensations, who can describe those of Henry? He felt as if he had been transported to Fairyland, and enjoyed a happiness seldom tasted by man. “I have seen,” he said, “the most beautiful scenes of my own country; I have visited the lakes of Lucerne and Uri, where the snowy mountains descend almost perpendicularly to the water, casting black and impenetrable shades, which would cause a gloomy and mournful appearance, were it not for the most verdant islands that relieve the eye by their gay appearance; I have seen this lake agitated by a tempest, when the wind tore up whirlwinds of water, and gave you an idea of what the water-spout must be on the great ocean, and the waves dash with fury the base of the mountain, where the priest and his mistress were overwhelmed by an avelânche and where their dying voices are still said to be heard amid the pauses of the nightly wind; I have seen the mountains of La Valais, and the Pays de Vaud: but this country, Victor, pleases me more than all those wonders. The mountains of Switzerland are more majestic and strange; but there is a charm in the banks of this divine river, that I never before saw equalled. Look at that castle which overhangs yon precipice; and that also on the island, almost concealed amongst the foliage of those lovely trees; and now that group of labourers coming from among their vines; and that village half hid in the recess of the mountain. Oh, surely, the spirit that inhabits and guards this place has a soul more in harmony with man, than those who pile the glacier, or retire to the inaccessible peaks of the mountains of our own country.” Clerval! beloved friend! even now it delights me to record your words, and to dwell on the praise of which you are so eminently deserving. He was a being formed in the “very poetry of nature.” His wild and enthusiastic imagination was chastened by the sensibility of his heart. His soul overflowed with ardent affections, and his friendship was of that devoted and wondrous nature that the worldly-minded teach us to look for only in the imagination. But even human sympathies were not sufficient to satisfy his eager mind. The scenery of external nature, which others regard only with admiration, he loved with ardour. (…) And where does he now exist? Is this gentle and lovely being lost for ever? Has this mind so replete with ideas, imaginations fanciful and magnificent, which formed a world, whose existence depended on the life of its creator; has this mind perished? Does it now only exist in my memory? No, it is not thus; your form so divinely wrought, and beaming with beauty, has decayed, but your spirit still visits and consoles your unhappy friend. (…) Beyond Cologne we descended to the plains of Holland; and we resolved to post the remainder of our way; for the wind was contrary, and the stream of the river was too gentle to aid us. Our journey here lost the interest arising from beautiful scenery; but we arrived in a few days at Rotterdam, whence we proceeded by sea to England.”

“X X X I last wrote in my journal on the banks of the Rhine – & now after the lapse of a few days, I resume it on the banks of the Thames, in my old chamber that overlooks it, on Saturday the 15th of Dec: `49. – I broke off at Coblentz on Monday night, Dec: 10th. The same night I fell in with a young Englishman at a cigar shop & had a long talk with him. He had been in America, & was related to Cunard of the Steamers. Next morning, Tuesday Dec 11th, I again rambled about the town – saw the artillery-men & infantry exercise on the parade ground. Very amusing indeed. Saw a squadron of drumers. Walked down & up the river, & while waiting for the Cologne boat spent at least two hours standing on a stone peir, at the precise junction of the Rhine & Moselle. At 3 o´clock started for Cologne on a Dusseldorf boat. It was intensely cold. Dined at the table d`hote in the cabin. Fine dinner & wine. Drank Rhenish on the Rhine. Saw Drachenfells & the Seven Mountains, & Rolandseck, & the Isle of Nuns. The old ruins & arch are glorious – but the river Rhine is not the Hudson. In the evening arrived at my old place – Hotel de Cologne. Recognized Drachenfells in a large painting on the wall. Drank a bottle of Steinberger with the landlord, a Rhinelander & a very gentlemanly, well-informed man, learned in wines. At 1/2 past 6 P.M went to the Theatre. Three vaudevilles acted. Audience smoking & drinking & looking on. Stopped in a shop on my way home & made some purchases for presents, & was insidiously cheated in the matter of a breast-pin, as I found out after getting to London, & not before. God forgive the girl – she was not very pretty, either – which makes it the more aggravating.”

Die Baar liegt arschknapp unterm Himmel, teilweise sogar darüber, Zuckerwattewolken flocken langsam durch die Gegend, in den sanft geschwungenen Matten zirpts, schnurpts und wächsts. Über Ewattingen an die Wutach mit ihren vielen endemischen Arten. An der Wutachmühle steht die Bergwacht, beobachtet, fotografiert und zählt entschlossene Wanderer, die sich kopfüber in den Eingang zur Schlucht stürzen. Nicht jeder kommt wieder hinaus. Schon nach wenigen Metern ergeben sich erste sensationelle Ausblicke auf frühere Zwergen- und Geisterpaläste, die heute von seltenen Flugwürmern und insektoiden Kleinsauriern bewohnt werden, vorzeitliche Wesen, die sich in Spalten und Mikroklima der Schlucht über hunderttausende Jahre halten konnten, ohne sich maßgeblich fortentwickeln zu müssen: Blindschleichen und Zahnwürmer finden sich ebenso häufig im Schlamm der ausgetretenen Pfade und Stiegen wie der endemische Hosenbeinschleicher, ein pfeilförmiges, desorientiertes Wesen, das sich meist hospitalistisch auf der Stelle wiegt und alle paar Minuten in unvorhersehbaren ruckartigen Ausfällen über den Boden kreucht. Noch weniger angenehm: Zweirüßlige Stechmücken, der Gemeine Saugschlauch und der Mehrstachelige Wadenhader, die es allesamt auf die zahlreich einherhetzenden Wanderer abgesehen haben. Schwärme winziger Kamerafliegen behindern die digitale Dokumentation des pittoresken Naturwunders, indem sie durch pures Auftauchen zu Bildstörungen führen. Drei Arten Fischfrösche. Das Badische Leberle als unikes Amfibium. An Käfern wären hunderte zu nennen, die touristische Vermarktung der Schlucht erfolgt weitgehend über „die raren Drei“: Spackenläufer, Blasser Gottfriedkäfer und Faulrüßler, welch letzterer vor allem den omnipräsenten Pestwurz bekaut. An Vögeln der bis zur Unsichtbarkeit getarnte Weidenziesling und der beinahe ausgestorbene Bollenschnapper, der, auf Kirschgehölze und Trachtenfeste spezialisiert, außerhalb der Saison sein Rückzugsgebiet an die Wutach verlegt. Das ganze Huschen und Pfuschen lebendig kommentiert von der blubbernden plätschernden Wutach. Mitten in ihrem tiefsten Innern liegt der inexistente Kurort Bad Boll, der einst den aristokratischen Fliegenfischern des Londoner „Fishing Club“ gehörte. Neben einer verrottenden Kapelle entspringt die für solcherlei Orte angemessene Heilquelle und steht das ebenfalls angemessene touristische Hinweisschild. Für einen Nichtort wirkt Bad Boll recht ansprechend, sogar die Römer sollen hier bereits auf Lachs, Bachforelle, Äsche und Weißfische ausgegangen sein. Bevor sich die Straße bemerkbar macht, auf der die Sahnetanklaster das Rohmaterial für die gigantischen Schwarzwälder Kirschtorten der österreichisch geführten Schattenmühle transportieren, noch ein letzter Blick auf Holzschläger, Zumsel und Türkenbund, die sich am Wegrand ständig zwischen einem Dasein als Pflanze und Tier umentscheiden.

Soeben erreicht mich eine Mail von Frank Dommert mit einem Veranstaltungshinweis, den ich hiermit kommentarlos dokumentieren möchte: “In einem Hohlraum in 10 Metern Tiefe trat vor einigen Wochen im Kölner Süden ein sensationeller Fund zu Tage: In einer Asservatenkiste fanden Arbeiter, die Bergungsmaßnahmen durchführten, eines der wenigen unversehrten Bestandteile des Kölner Stadtarchivs, das am 3. März 2009 durch einen Erdrutsch völlig zerstört worden war: eine Schellack-Aufnahme des englischen Künstlers Colin Anderson. Anderson hatte im Jahr 1949 das gerade in Kraft getretene Grundgesetz der Bundesrepublik Deutschland in einem Londoner Studio mithilfe von Pfeiflauten wiedergegeben. Der Avantgarde-Künstler, zu dessen engsten Freunden Kurt Schwitters gehörte und der in den Fünfziger Jahren in die Vereinigten Staaten auswanderte, hatte der jungen Republik ein ganz eigenes, wenn auch hintersinniges Denkmal setzen wollen. Wie Mitarbeiter des Archivs bekanntgaben, ist die Aufnahmequalität ihrem Alter entsprechend erstaunlich hoch. Die beiden Seiten der Schellackplatte, die wie ein Wunder unversehrt geblieben ist, umfassen die ersten 19 Artikel des Grundgesetzes, die die Grundrechte umfassen, in vollständiger Form. Sein Sohn, der amerikanische Künstler Richard Anderson, der vor einigen Jahren das Erbe seines Vaters angetreten hat und an einer „Enzyklopädie des Gepfiffenen Wortes“ (Encyclopedia of the Whistled Speech) arbeitet, war hoch erfreut, als er von dem Fund hörte – galt die Aufnahme doch seit fast sechzig Jahren als verschollen. Er konnte mittlerweile die Authentizität der Aufnahme bestätigen, da das charakteristische melodiöse Pfeifen seines Vaters genau seinen Erinnerungen an seine Kindheit und Jugend entspricht. Anderson (…) wird in der Nacht zum 25. Mai diesen Jahres um 0.00 Uhr, wenn sich das Inkrafttreten des Grundgesetzes und damit der Bundesrepublik Deutschland zum sechzigsten Mal jährt, die kostbare Aufnahme vor dem zerstörten Kölner Stadtarchiv abspielen, im Gedenken an seinen Vater, an die Kunst, an das Grundgesetz und nicht zuletzt an die unzähligen Verluste an historischem Material, dessen Zerstörung sich die fragile Schellackplatte wundersam entziehen konnte. Kenneth Goldsmith (…) hat die Schellackaufnahme vorab auf seinem Internat-Portal veröffentlicht: http://ubuweb.com/sound/anderson_colin.html”

Rheinische Tischsitten und Abendunterhaltung schildert kurz nach Thomas Hood auch William Makepeace Thackeray mit satirischer Note im 62. Kapitel „Am Rhein“ seines satten viktorianischen Gesellschaftsromans Vanity Fair, or, a Novel without a Hero, erschienen 1847/48. Wieder mal ist eine bunte Reisegesellschaft von London in die Sommerfrische aufgebrochen, um sich an zahlreichen Rheinzielen in je geeigneter Weise zu verlustieren. Die folgende Szene spielt im fürstlichen Flecken Pumpernickel, einem jener beinahe schon mythischen Orte am Mittelrhein, welche die gebildeten Engländer seinerzeit magisch anzogen: „It was at the little comfortable Ducal town of Pumpernickel (that very place where Sir Pitt Crawley had been so distinguished as an attache; but that was in early early days, and before the news of the Battle of Austerlitz sent all the English diplomatists in Germany to the right about) that I first saw Colonel Dobbin and his party. They had arrived with the carriage and courier at the Erbprinz Hotel, the best of the town, and the whole party dined at the table d’hote. Everybody remarked the majesty of Jos and the knowing way in which he sipped, or rather sucked, the Johannisberger, which he ordered for dinner. The little boy, too, we observed, had a famous appetite, and consumed schinken, and braten, and kartoffeln, and cranberry jam, and salad, and pudding, and roast fowls, and sweetmeats, with a gallantry that did honour to his nation. After about fifteen dishes, he concluded the repast with dessert, some of which he even carried out of doors, for some young gentlemen at table, amused with his coolness and gallant free- and-easy manner, induced him to pocket a handful of macaroons, which he discussed on his way to the theatre, whither everybody went in the cheery social little German place. The lady in black, the boy’s mamma, laughed and blushed, and looked exceedingly pleased and shy as the dinner went on, and at the various feats and instances of espieglerie on the part of her son. The Colonel–for so he became very soon afterwards–I remember joked the boy with a great deal of grave fun, pointing out dishes which he hadn’t tried, and entreating him not to baulk his appetite, but to have a second supply of this or that. It was what they call a gast-rolle night at the Royal Grand Ducal Pumpernickelisch Hof–or Court theatre–and Madame Schroeder Devrient, then in the bloom of her beauty and genius, performed the part of the heroine in the wonderful opera of Fidelio. From our places in the stalls we could see our four friends of the table d’hote in the loge which Schwendler of the Erbprinz kept for his best guests, and I could not help remarking the effect which the magnificent actress and music produced upon Mrs. Osborne, for so we heard the stout gentleman in the mustachios call her. During the astonishing Chorus of the Prisoners, over which the delightful voice of the actress rose and soared in the most ravishing harmony, the English lady’s face wore such an expression of wonder and delight that it struck even little Fipps, the blase attache, who drawled out, as he fixed his glass upon her, “Gayd, it really does one good to see a woman caypable of that stayt of excaytement.” And in the Prison Scene, where Fidelio, rushing to her husband, cries, “Nichts, nichts, mein Florestan,” she fairly lost herself and covered her face with her handkerchief. Every woman in the house was snivelling at the time, but I suppose it was because it was predestined that I was to write this particular lady’s memoirs that I remarked her.“