The Badnerlied ("Song of the People of Baden") is the unofficial

hymn A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn'' ...

of the former state of

Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in South Germany, in earlier times on both sides of the Upper Rhine but since the Napoleonic Wars only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Baden originated from the House of Zähringen. Baden is ...

, now part of

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...

Origin

The song was adapted around 1865 from a similar hymn praising

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

, which has since fallen into obscurity. Two reference points are the Festung in

Rastatt Rastatt () is a town with a Baroque core, District of Rastatt, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located in the Upper Rhine Plain on the Murg river, above its junction with the Rhine and has a population of around 50,000 (2011). Rastatt was a ...

and the industrialization of

Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's 2 ...

. The verse beginning with "Alt-

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

, Du feine" originates from the poem "The Trumpeter of Säckingen", a poem written around 1852 by

Joseph Victor von Scheffel Joseph Victor von Scheffel (16 February 1826 – 9 April 1886) was a German poet and novelist. Biography He was born at Karlsruhe. His father, a retired major in the Baden army, was a civil engineer and member of the commission for regulating the ...

, who was also a resident of Baden. The earliest printed version of the Badnerlied appeared in 1906, in ''Marschlieder des 5. badischen Infanterieregiments Nr. 113'' ("Marching songs of the 5th Infantry regiment of Baden").

Importance

In the 1920s, there was talk of making the song the official hymn of Baden, but nothing came of it. The song's popularity was rekindled in the 1950s, in the wake of Baden having been absorbed into the state Baden-Württemberg, which still remains unpopular with some inhabitants; it has since remained the most popular regional hymn in south-west Germany. The Badnerlied is played at home games of regional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

, such as

SC Freiburg Sport-Club Freiburg e.V., commonly known as SC Freiburg () or just Freiburg, is a German football club, based in the city of Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg. It plays in the Bundesliga, having been promoted as champions from the 2. Bund ...

Karlsruher SC Karlsruher SC is a German association football club, based in Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg that currently plays in the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier of German football. Domestically, the club was crowned German champion in 1909, and won the D ...

or 1899 Hoffenheim, but also in other contexts. The first four verses are the best known; the fifth (''Der Bauer und der Edelmann...'') is not as well known.

Variations

The order of the verses also is subject to change, particularly swapping the second and fourth verses. Other small variations exist; in many places, ''steht'' is substituted for ''ist'', for example ''In Rastatt ist die Festung'' becoming ''In Rastatt steht die Festung''. Many additional verses have been written. Particularly popular are those dealing with specific regions or cities, as well as those disparaging

Swabia Swabia ; german: Schwaben , colloquially ''Schwabenland'' or ''Ländle''; archaic English also Suabia or Svebia is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in southwestern Germany. The name is ultimately derived from the medieval Duchy of ...

. Rothaus, the state brewery of Baden, has its own modification, replacing ''In Rastatt ist die Festung'' with ''In Rothaus ist die Brauerei''. This is particularly the case at

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

games sponsored by the brewery. This is not the case with SC Freiburg; Karlsruher SC displays the text on the video screen, but the audio differs. Charts created by the radio station SWR1 placed the Badnerlied at #9 for the whole state of Baden. Some regions scored higher;

Konstanz Konstanz (, , locally: ; also written as Constance in English) is a university city with approximately 83,000 inhabitants located at the western end of Lake Constance in the south of Germany. The city houses the University of Konstanz and was th ...

(population 82,000) ranked it at #3; In Mosbach, it was even ranked as #1, leading an organization to name the residents of Mosbach as the 2006 Badeners of the year.

Lyrics

Sources

* Waltraud Linder-Beroud: ''Ein neues Land – ein neues Lied?'' Badische Heimat 82 (2002), p. 96-109. *

Lutz Röhrich Lutz Röhrich (9 October 1922 – 29 December 2006) was a German folklorist and scholar studying topics relating to literature, oral stories, and similar types of media. He enjoyed a long and prestigious career, starting as a professor at the Phil ...

: ''„... und das ist Badens Glück“. Heimatlieder und Regionalhymnen im deutschen Südwesten. Auf der Suche nach Identität''. Jahrbuch für Volksliedforschung, Jg. 35 (1990), p. 14-25.

External links

Badnerlied with Text, Notes, and an mp3Page with many examples of unofficial verses
{in lang, de German anthems Grand Duchy of Baden Historical national anthems Pages translated from German Wikipedia