by Arneb » Thu Aug 11, 2022 1:07 pm
100 years ago today, the Lied der Deutschen became the National anthem. It is sung to the melody of the 2nd movement of Franz Joseph Haydn's String Quartett in C opus 76, No. 3., Hob. III:77, Poco Adagio. Cantabile. It originally consists of three verses
Deutschland, Deutschland über alles,
Über alles in der Welt,
Wenn es stets zu Schutz und Trutze
Brüderlich zusammenhält,
Von der Maas bis an die Memel,
Von der Etsch bis an den Belt –
Deutschland, Deutschland über alles,
Über alles in der Welt!
Deutsche Frauen, deutsche Treue,
Deutscher Wein und deutscher Sang
Sollen in der Welt behalten
Ihren alten schönen Klang,
Uns zu edler Tat begeistern
Unser ganzes Leben lang –
Deutsche Frauen, deutsche Treue,
Deutscher Wein und deutscher Sang!
Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit
Für das deutsche Vaterland!
Danach lasst uns alle streben
Brüderlich mit Herz und Hand!
Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit
Sind des Glückes Unterpfand[4] –
Blüh im Glanze dieses Glückes,
Blühe, deutsches Vaterland!
In English:
1
Germany, Germany above all
Above everything in the world
When, always, for protection and defense
Brothers stand together.
From the Maas to the Memel
From the Etsch to the Belt,
Germany, Germany above all
Above all in the world.
2
German women, German loyalty,
German wine and German song,
Shall retain, throughout the world,
Their old respected fame,
To inspire us to noble deeds
For the length of our lives.
German women, German fidelity,
German wine and German song.
3
Unity and Justice and Freedom
For the German Fatherland!
After these let us all strive
Brotherly with heart and hand!
Unity and Justice and Freedom
Are the pledge of happiness.
Bloom in the splendour of this happiness,
Bloom, German Fatherland!
The then German President, Friedrich Ebert, expressed the wish that the first verse would be interpreted as an expression of, love for the country instead of national hubris, but that is precisely what happened when the Nazis took over, burying verses 2 and 3 and coupling verse 1 with the unspeakable Horst-Wessel-Lied, a brutish fight-and-marching song of the SA. No wonder that the song was entirely forbidden after Allied occupation. After a few years of to and fro in the new Federal Republic, the President and Chancellor, Theodor Heuss and Konrad Adenauer, agreed to an official letter exchange declaring the third verse, and only the third verse, to be the National Anthem (to the chagrin of Heuss, who would have preferred to do away with a tradition that he saw as deeply poisoned). President von Weizsäcker and Chancellor Kohl reaffirmed this after unification. Ossis weren't asked, but after all, we didn't have a new country, they just joined the existing FRG.
Myself, I can identify with verse three rather well. Verse 2, well, what's wrong about wine and women? But as we say, time has thoroughly and rightly gone past that one.
Non sunt multiplicanda entia praeter necessitatem