Das Deutschlandlied ("The Song of Germany"; . Also known as " Das Lied der Deutschen " or "The Song of the Germans") has been used wholly or partially as the national anthem of Germany since 1922. The music was written by Joseph Haydn in 1797 as an anthem for the birthday of the Austrian Emperor Francis II of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1841, the German linguist and poet August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben wrote the lyrics of "Das Lied der Deutschen" to Haydn's melody, lyrics that were considered revolutionary at the time.
The song is as well-known by the opening words and refrain of the first stanza, " Deutschland über alles " (Germany above all), but this has never been its title. The line "Germany, Germany above all" meant that the most important goal of the Vormärz revolutionaries should be a unified Germany overcoming the perceived anti-liberal Kleinstaaterei. Alongside the Flag of Germany it was one of the symbols of the March Revolution of 1848. During the Third Reich, German political propaganda altered the meaning of the first verse to stir up feelings of racial superiority.
In order to endorse its republican and revolutionary tradition, the song was chosen for national anthem of Germany in 1922, during the Weimar Republic. Out of similar reasons in 1952, West Germany adopted the Deutschlandlied as its official national anthem, with only the third stanza sung on official occasions. Upon reunification in 1990, the third stanza only was confirmed as the national anthem.
Melody
Main article: Gott erhalte Franz den KaiserThe melody of the Deutschlandlied was originally written by Joseph Haydn in 1797 to provide music to the poem "Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser" ("God save Emperor Francis") as a birthday anthem to Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor of the House of Habsburg. It is the Adagio of string quartet opus 76, no3. After the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, where Francis continued to rule as Austrian Emperor, "Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser" became the official anthem of the emperor of the Austrian Empire and the subsequent Austria-Hungary until the end of the Austrian monarchy in 1918.
Historical background
Main article: Unification of GermanyThe Holy Roman Empire was already weak when the French Revolution and the ensuing Napoleonic Wars altered the political map of Central Europe. Hopes for the Enlightenment, human rights, republican government, democracy, and freedom after Napoleon's defeat in 1815 were dashed, however, when the Congress of Vienna reinstated many monarchies. In addition, with the Carlsbad Decrees of 1819, Chancellor Prince Metternich and his secret police enforced censorship, mainly in universities, to keep a watch on the activities of professors and students, whom he held responsible for the spread of radical liberal ideas. Particularly since hardliners among the monarchs were the main adversaries, demands for freedom of the press and other liberal rights were most often uttered in connection with the demand for a united Germany, even though many revolutionaries-to-be had different opinions whether a republic or a constitutional monarchy would be the best solution for Germany.
The German Confederation or German Union ( Deutscher Bund ) was a loose confederation of 39 monarchial states and republican free cities, with a Federal Assembly in Frankfurt. They began to remove internal customs barriers during the Industrial Revolution, though, and the German Customs Union Zollverein was formed among the majority of the states in 1834. In 1840 Hoffmann wrote a song about the Zollverein, also to Haydn's melody, in which he praised the free trade of German goods which brought Germans and Germany closer.
After the March Revolution of 1848, the German Confederation handed over its authority to the Frankfurt Parliament, and Eastern Prussia joined the Confederation. For a short period in the late 1840s, Germany was united with Hoffman's borders, with a democratic constitution in the make, and with the black-red-gold flag to represent it. The two big monarchies put an end to this, and waged the Austro-Prussian War against each other.
Hoffmann's lyrics
August Heinrich Hoffmann (who called himself von Fallersleben after his home town to distinguish himself from others with the same common name of Hoffmann) wrote the text in 1841 on vacation on the North Sea island Helgoland, then a possession of the United Kingdom.
Hoffmann von Fallersleben intended Das Lied der Deutschen to be sung to Haydn's tune, as the first publication of the poem included the music. The first line, "Deutschland, Deutschland über alles, über alles in der Welt" (usually translated into English as "Germany, Germany above all, above all in the world"), was an appeal to the various German sovereigns to give the creation of a united Germany a higher priority than the independence of their small states. In the third stanza, with a call for "Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit" (unity and justice and freedom), Hoffmann expressed his desire for a united and free Germany where the rule of law, not monarchical arbitrariness, would prevail.
In the era after the Congress of Vienna, which was influenced by Prince Metternich and his secret police, Hoffmann's text had a distinctly revolutionary, and at once liberal, connotation, since the demand for a united Germany was most often made in connection with demands for freedom of press and other liberal rights. Its implication that loyalty to a larger Germany should replace loyalty to one's sovereign personally was in itself a revolutionary idea.
The year after he wrote Das Deutschlandlied , Hoffmann von Fallersleben lost his job as a librarian and professor in Breslau, Prussia because of this and other revolutionary works, and was forced into hiding until being pardoned after the revolutions of 1848.
Lyrics and translation
The following provides the lyrics of the "Lied der Deutschen" as written by Hoffmann von Fallersleben. Only the third verse is currently the Federal Republic of Germany's national anthem.
- National Anthem of the Federal Republic of Germany. (Third stanza) Mp3 sound file
Geography
In 1841, when the text was written, the German Confederation was not a unified state in the modern sense. It also included a few regions inhabited largely by non-German speakers, but excluded large areas inhabited primarily by German-speakers, like parts of Eastern Prussia. Hoffmann, who in his research had collected German writings and tales, based his definition of Germany on linguistic criteria: he described the approximate area where a majority of German speakers lived at the time, as encountered in his studies. 19th century nationalists generally relied on such linguistic criteria to determine the borders of the nation-states they desired. Thus, the borders mentioned in the first stanza loosely reflected the breadth of territory across which German speakers were spread at the time.
- In the west, the river known as the Maas or the Meuse ran through the Dutch-ruled and Limburgish-speaking Duchy of Limburg which was joined to the German Confederation between September 5, 1839 and August 23, 1866. The modern German border is close to the river in that area.
- In the east, the lower part of the Memel, known in other languages as the Neman, was located within East Prussia, part of the Kingdom of Prussia, which actually stretched north beyond the river, and beyond the city of Memel (Klaipeda). In 1920, the area north of the river was detached from Germany and became known as Memelland. Only few German speakers remained in the area after 1945.
- In the south, the Adige river (German: Etsch) runs to the Adriatic. In 1841, the Austrian Empire ruled all of its length, and much of the population of its area was German. The river's northern part was within Austrian Tirol, but became part of Italy after 1918. Now, as then, the town of Salorno (German: Salurn), marks the linguistic border between the German and the Italian speaking population in the valley.
- To the north, the strait known as the Little Belt (Danish: Lillebælt) ran alongside the ethnically mixed Danish Duchy of Schleswig, part of an area subject to a highly complex dispute, known as the Schleswig-Holstein Question, between Denmark and its neighbors. After wars in 1848 and 1864 the Danish-German border for some time ran through the strait, but ultimately, with the Schleswig Plebiscite, the border was moved to its current location, to the south of the Little Belt.
In the south and in the west, Hoffmann's definition of Germany coincided with the borders of the German Confederation as it existed then. Hoffmann went beyond the Confederation boundaries of 1841 in the north and in the east, as neither South Schleswig nor East Prussia (although both German-speaking) belonged to it at that time yet, but joined before 1866. Thus, when the German Empire was finally founded in 1871, both were parts of the German Empire, wh
AUDIO MEMORY - You Never Forget What You Sing! (1-800-365-SING)
Your whole family can sing along and learn World Geography, Grammar, States & Capitals, History ... Grammar Songs and everyone has learned just about every song already. I've never ...
AUDIO MEMORY - You Never Forget What You Sing! (1-800-365-SING)
Song list: British Isles, Western Europe, Former USSR ... The Sing Around the World Geography Kit has built up their ...
YouTube - audiomemorydotcom's Channel
3-year-old Jeffrey singing Geography Songs and States and Capitals Songs. Audio Memory "You Never Forget What You Sing!(tm)" http://www ... luv da southern border song i looked 4 it 4 ...
Geography Memory Songs, Paula's Archives
Geography HOME & Site Map / Lit for History & Science ... people who hang out on the home page chat never ... Sing this to the tune of the ABC song. The letters in ( ) tell you which part ...
Geography - ProTeacher Community
I will begin a geography unit in a few weeks. I am looking for ... Now don't forget about Africa And Antarctica, too. ... Now why not sing them with me? Atlantic, Pacific, Arctic ...
97.05.01: They Lived in Music—Blues Women Sing Their Song
But I would never sing a song to be laughed at or to help sell a bottle of whiskey! ... and minks in the world—and I’ve had a few—can’t make it up or make me forget ...
Sing a New Song
You never get a Christ who argues, who's ... sing the verses and the congregation sing the chorus. Is it a folk tune? Forget ... And sing a song of Martha . who gave him food and ...
YouTube - 3-Year-Old Jeffrey Singing Geography, States, Capitals ...
3-year-old Jeffrey singing Geography Songs and States and Capitals Songs. Audio Memory "You Never Forget What You Sing!(tm)" http ... PHILIPPINE GEOGRAPHY SONG by Winnie Cenit
Georgia On My Mind Lyrics by Ray Charles
... that sweet place that will never again exist. It is a mirage because essentially is not geography ... ago, that I still can not forget! by ... No one can EVER sing this song like the ...
Guatemala: The Ravine (Geography of Grace)
I am still processing the event, the entire trip actually, but I will never forget ... dump and closed my eyes my soul paused and asked my heart, “How do we sing the Lord’s song ...