012 - How They Departed from the Imperial City

Dive into the enchanting world of Undine, a captivating novel by Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué that tells the story of Undine, a mystical water spirit who seeks to gain a soul through her marriage to the brave Knight Huldbrand. This early German romance has inspired not only two operas by Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann and Albert Lortzing but also two mesmerizing ballets the nineteenth-century Ondine and the twentieth-century Undine. Illustrated by the renowned Arthur Rackham, this timeless tale resonates with readers, as George MacDonald beautifully proclaimed in The Fantastic Imagination, Were I asked, what is a fairytale? I should reply, Read Undine that is a fairytale ... of all fairytales I know, I think Undine the most beautiful.