Nibelungenlied


Lu par LibriVox Volunteers

(4.2 stars; 32 reviews)

The Nibelungenlied, translated as The Song of the Nibelungs, is an epic poem in Middle High German. The story tells of dragon-slayer Siegfried at the court of the Burgundians, how he was murdered, and of his wife Kriemhild's revenge.

The Nibelungenlied is based on pre-Christian Germanic heroic motifs (the "Nibelungensaga"), which include oral traditions and reports based on historic events and individuals of the 5th and 6th centuries. Old Norse parallels of the legend survive in the Völsunga saga, the Prose Edda, the Poetic Edda, the Legend of Norna-Gest, and the Þiðrekssaga.

The present translator has endeavored to translate literally and accurately, and to reproduce the spirit of the original, as far as a prose translation will permit. To this end the language has been made as simple and as Saxon in character as possible. An exception has been made, however, in the case of such Romance words as were in use in England during the age of the romances of chivalry, and which would help to land a Romance coloring; these have been frequently employed. Very few obsolete words have been used, and these are explained in the notes, but the language has been made to some extent archaic, especially in dialogue, in order to give the impression of age. (10 hr 28 min)

Chapitres

Preface 2:52 Lu par April Gonzales
Adventure I 6:00 Lu par Availle
Of Siegfried 6:56 Lu par Elizabeth Klett
How Siegfried Came To Worms 24:27 Lu par asterix
How He Fought with the Saxons 28:48 Lu par Mike Pelton
How Siegfried First Saw Kriemhild 14:52 Lu par Nadine Eckert-Boulet
How Gunther Fared to Isenland for Brunhild 15:46 Lu par Mike Pelton
How Gunther Won Brunhild 27:24 Lu par L D Hamilton
How Siegfried Fared To His Men-At-Arms 11:35 Lu par Tamara R. Schwartz
How Siegfried Was Sent To Worms 12:48 Lu par asterix
How Brunhild Was Received At Worms 33:45 Lu par L D Hamilton
How Siegfried Journeyed Homeward With His Wife. 9:48 Lu par Alan Mapstone
How Gunther Bade Siegfried To The Feasting. 17:01 Lu par L D Hamilton
How They Journeyed To The Feasting. 11:13 Lu par Martin Geeson
How The Queens Reviled Each Other. 19:36 Lu par L D Hamilton
How Siegfried Was Betrayed. 12:11 Lu par Martin Geeson
How Siegfried Was Slain. 19:48 Lu par Katherine
How Kriemhild Mourned Her Husband And - How He Was Buried. 16:35 Lu par Katherine
How Siegmund Journeyed Home Again. 8:55 Lu par Martin Geeson
How The Nibelung Hoard Was Brought to Worms. 10:17 Lu par asterix
How King Etzel Sent To Burgundy For Kriemhild. 34:50 Lu par asterix
How Kriemhild Journeyed To The Huns. 11:41 Lu par Availle
How Etzel Made Kriemhild His Bride. 12:48 Lu par Availle
How Kriemhild Thought To Avenge Her Wrongs. 8:39 Lu par Imke Grassl
How Werbel And Swemmel Brought The Message. 20:37 Lu par asterix
How The Lords All Journeyed To The Huns. 20:01 Lu par asterix
How Gelfrat Was Slain By Dankwart. 16:41 Lu par asterix
How They Came To Bechelaren. 17:10 Lu par asterix
How The Burgundians Came To Etzel's Castle. 10:14 Lu par asterix
How Hagen Would Not Rise For Kriemhild. 15:12 Lu par Availle
How They Kept The Watch. 8:09 Lu par Alan Mapstone
How They Went To Church. 17:40 Lu par asterix
How Bloedel Was Slain. 8:14 Lu par asterix
How The Burgundians Fought The Huns. 14:31 Lu par asterix
How They Cast Out The Dead. 6:19 Lu par Martin Geeson
How Iring Was Slain. 13:25 Lu par asterix
How The Queen Gave Orders To Burn the Hall. 14:54 Lu par Availle
How Margrave Rudeger Was Slain. 25:05 Lu par asterix
How All Sir Dietrich's Warriors Were Slain. 22:33 Lu par Availle
How Gunther And Hagen And Kriemhild Were Slain. 18:56 Lu par L D Hamilton

Critiques


(3 stars)

This is a very interesting tale, yet many of the readers need to give up reading for Librivox. Others were exceedingly fine readers whom I appreciate very much.

First Time Listener


(5 stars)

All of the audio was crisp and easily understood. This translation is also great because there are footnotes which provide much welcome context.

Not As Good As the Volsungasaga


(3 stars)

The readers were all pretty good, but the story was really tedious. I swear that instead of ten hours this was thirty hours, each chapter getting longer. This tells of some of the same events of the Volsungasaga, but not before or after, and it's still the same length. I agree with another reviewer that it also destroys the suspension of disbelief when a single hero can slay nine thousand warriors on his own and not even be wounded. All in all...it was okay.

Good narration but Sad story.


(4 stars)

good but completely aggravating as nothing ever goes well for anyone. this is a tragedy in every way possible. Spoiler alert:everyone dies for stupid and unjust reasons. thousands are murdered and kingdoms are destroyed for literally no other reason than two queens were b@$!#s to each other. also the villian Hagen for no reason other than the plot demands it. In the second half he kills thousands of knights without a scratch or even being winded then stays up for days on guard duty. all the while murdering thousands more. I say this is impossible and ruins the story. this is a sad, sick, and twisted story with no happy ending for anyone


(4.5 stars)

Good chivalric German Literature, but not nearly as epic in scope as the later Wagnerian derivative. Definitely worth a listen