''Vaterlandslied'' is the name of several patriotic

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

poems. The most famous one is "Ich bin ein deutsches Mädchen" written by

Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock (; 2 July 1724 – 14 March 1803) was a German poet. His best known work is the epic poem ''Der Messias'' ("The Messiah"). One of his major contributions to German literature was to open it up to exploration outside ...

in 1770 and dedicated to Johanna Elisabeth von Winthem.

Historic background

already was a devout patriot as a youth, as is shown by a ''War Song'' written in 1749 honouring the

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an e ...

n king

Frederick the Great Frederick II (german: Friedrich II.; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was King in Prussia from 1740 until 1772, and King of Prussia from 1772 until his death in 1786. His most significant accomplishments include his military successes in the Sil ...

. When the king, however, did not patronize German artists and poets but declared his love for French culture, Klopstock thought that it was up to him to defend German poetry.''A History of German Literature''. Haskell House Publishers Ltd.: New York, 1906. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 77-130265. p. 36. Due to the political development during his lifetime, the disappointment with regard to the king's distaste of German culture, and the

zeitgeist In 18th- and 19th-century German philosophy, a ''Zeitgeist'' () ("spirit of the age") is an invisible agent, force or Daemon dominating the characteristics of a given epoch in world history. Now, the term is usually associated with Georg W. ...

, his patriotism did not refer to Klopstock's present but to the past. The ''War Song'' consequently was rededicated to

Henry the Fowler Henry the Fowler (german: Heinrich der Vogler or '; la, Henricus Auceps) (c. 876 – 2 July 936) was the Duke of Saxony from 912 and the King of East Francia from 919 until his death in 936. As the first non- Frankish king of East Francia, h ...

, and

Arminius Arminius ( 18/17 BC – 21 AD) was a chieftain of the Germanic Cherusci tribe who is best known for commanding an alliance of Germanic tribes at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in 9 AD, in which three Roman legions under the command of ge ...

became a regular figure in Klopstock's œuvres. Among these works dedicated to the "liberator of Germany" are the poem " Hermann und Thusnelda" and the "Bardiete" (Klopstock's term for the genre of ' or "battle song" after

Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. The surviving portions of his two major works—the ...

' ''

Germania Germania ( ; ), also called Magna Germania (English: ''Great Germania''), Germania Libera (English: ''Free Germania''), or Germanic Barbaricum to distinguish it from the Roman province of the same name, was a large historical region in north-c ...

'') ''Hermann's Schlacht'' (1769), ''Hermann und die Prinzen'' (1784) and ''Hermann's Tod'' (1787). The ''Vaterlandslied'' as a paean of German

patriotism Patriotism is the feeling of love, devotion, and sense of attachment to one's country. This attachment can be a combination of many different feelings, language relating to one's own homeland, including ethnic, cultural, political or histor ...

joins this list of literature exalting the

nation A nation is a community of people formed on the basis of a combination of shared features such as language, history, ethnicity, culture and/or society. A nation is thus the collective identity of a group of people understood as defined by th ...

. It was originally written for Johanna Elisabeth von Winthem, Klopstock's stepdaughter, who still was a child in 1770.

Klopstock's lyrics

Music

As the poem became very popular, several composers set its lyrics to music. Among them are: *

Johann Friedrich Reichardt Johann Friedrich Reichardt (25 November 1752 – 27 June 1814) was a German composer, writer and music critic. Early life Reichardt was born in Königsberg, East Prussia, to lutenist and ''Stadtmusiker'' Johann Reichardt (1720–1780). Johann Fr ...

, 1773 *

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (8 March 1714 – 14 December 1788), also formerly spelled Karl Philipp Emmanuel Bach, and commonly abbreviated C. P. E. Bach, was a German Classical period musician and composer, the fifth child and sec ...

, 1774 * Christian Gottlob Neefe, 1776 and 1785 *

Christoph Willibald Gluck Christoph Willibald (Ritter von) Gluck (; 2 July 1714 – 15 November 1787) was a composer of Italian and French opera in the early classical period. Born in the Upper Palatinate and raised in Bohemia, both part of the Holy Roman Empire, he g ...

, 1786 *

Franz Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wo ...

, 1815, D 287

Other ''Vaterlandslieder''

Matthias Claudius Matthias Claudius (15 August 1740 – 21 January 1815) was a German poet and journalist, otherwise known by the pen name of “Asmus”. Life Claudius was born at Reinfeld, near Lübeck, and studied at Jena. He spent the greater part of his li ...

replied to Klopstock′s poem and wrote ″Ich bin ein deutscher Jüngling″ (I am a German lad). Both Joseph Martin Kraus and

Maria Theresia von Paradis Maria Theresia von Paradis (May 15, 1759 – February 1, 1824) was an Austrian musician and composer who lost her sight at an early age, and for whom her close friend Mozart may have written his Piano Concerto No. 18 in B-flat major. She was al ...

provided a melody for the song.

August Silberstein August Karl Silberstein (1 July 1827 – 7 March 1900) was an Austrian writer, born in Ofen, Budapest ( Hungary). Biography Silberstein was educated at the University of Vienna and supported the 1848 revolts in Austria-Hungary with his articles ...

wrote a poem of the same name for which

Anton Bruckner Josef Anton Bruckner (; 4 September 182411 October 1896) was an Austrian composer, organist, and music theorist best known for his symphonies, masses, Te Deum and motets. The first are considered emblematic of the final stage of Austro-Ger ...

Bruckner′s ''Vaterlandslied''
/ref> composed the music: Vaterlandslied, WAB 92. The most famous song of that name, besides Klopstock′s version, is, however,

Ernst Moritz Arndt Ernst Moritz Arndt (26 December 1769 – 29 January 1860) was a German nationalist historian, writer and poet. Early in his life, he fought for the abolition of serfdom, later against Napoleonic dominance over Germany. Arndt had to flee to Swe ...

′s ″″ (The God who made iron grow), a patriotic anthem written during the Wars of Liberation against

Napoleonic France The First French Empire, officially the French Republic, then the French Empire (; Latin: ) after 1809, also known as Napoleonic France, was the empire ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte, who established French hegemony over much of continental ...

. In the poem he incites his fellow countrymen to fight against the French invaders, and denounces those who actively or passively aid the occupiers and thus betray their country.

References

External links