Lady of the Lake

In an Arthurian legend, the Lady of the Lake gave King Arthur the sword known as Excalibur. Nimue (pronounced NIM-way) is the name given to the Lady of the Lake when referring to her romance with Merlin the wizard.

Later uses

The Walter Scott poem and its musical settings

Walter Scott wrote an influential poem, The Lady of the Lake, in 1810, drawing on the romance of the legend, but transplanting it to Loch Katrine in the Trossachs of Scotland.

Related Topics:
Walter Scott - 1810 - Loch Katrine - Trossachs - Scotland

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As La donna del lago, the material furnished subject matter for an opera by Gioacchino Rossini (Naples 1819). It was the first of a fashion for operas with Scottish settings and based on Scott's works, of which Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor is the most familiar.

Related Topics:
La donna del lago - Opera - Gioacchino Rossini - Donizetti's - Lucia di Lammermoor

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Ellen's third song, which is part of the Scott poem, became known as Schubert's Ave Maria – one of the three Ellen songs that were put to music by this composer (D. 837 - D. 839).

Related Topics:
Schubert's ''Ave Maria'' - D. 837 - D. 839

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Alternative musical settings of these and other parts of the Scott poem (as separate songs) can be found here: http://www.recmusic.org/lieder/s/scott/

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The full text of Walter Scott's poem is available from the Project Gutenberg website here: The Lady of the Lake (Gutenberg e-text #3011)

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The Raymond Chandler novel

Later, mystery novelist Raymond Chandler wrote The Lady in the Lake, in 1943, revolving around a set of mysterious deaths in the San Bernadino Mountains. Here, the symbolic Arthur, questing for the Grail of truth and adhering to his own chivalric code, is Chandler's hero Philip Marlowe. As in the original tales, Marlowe's lady in the lake is not what she first seemed, and has a devastating effect on her lover.

Related Topics:
Raymond Chandler - The Lady in the Lake - Philip Marlowe

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A popular reference

The Lady of the Lake is mentioned in the comedy film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, in which King Arthur describes her presentation of Excalibur as a divine confirmation of his right to be king, prompting an anarcho-syndicalist peasant to complain that "Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government." Though not present in the film, the Lady of the Lake is a major character in the film's Broadway adaptation, Spamalot.

Related Topics:
Monty Python and the Holy Grail - Anarcho-syndicalist - Spamalot

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The murder victim Margaret Hogg, whose body was found in a lake in the Wasdale valley in 1984, became known as "the Wasdale Lady in the Lake".

Related Topics:
Margaret Hogg - Wasdale - 1984

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