The

Schlager music Schlager (, " hit(s)") is a style of European popular music and radio format generally defined by catchy instrumental accompaniments to vocal pieces of pop music with simple, easygoing, and often sentimental lyrics. Schlager tracks are typ ...

song "In der Weihnachtsbäckerei" (German: "In the Christmas bakery") is a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

Christmas carol A Christmas carol is a Carol (music), carol on the theme of Christmas, traditionally sung at Christmas itself or during the surrounding Christmas and holiday season. The term noel has sometimes been used, especially for carols of French or ...

, written and composed by the musician

Rolf Zuckowski Rolf Zuckowski (born 12 May 1947) is a German singer-songwriter. He has written and composed music especially for children, but his songs are very popular among adults, too. His compositions involve children in music throughout their childhood an ...

Content

"In der Weihnachtsbäckerei" describes the situation in a

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...

bakery, focusing on the mess made while

baking Baking is a method of preparing food that uses dry heat, typically in an oven, but it can also be done in hot ashes, or on hot Baking stone, stones. Bread is the most commonly baked item, but many other types of food can also be baked. Heat is ...

. The chorus talks of the tastes found in a Christmas bakery, while also adding the risks of creating a mess when mixing the ingredients. The chorus can be translated as following: The chaos becomes more prominent as the first verse discovers, how the

recipe A recipe is a set of instructions that describes how to prepare or make something, especially a dish (food), dish of prepared food. A sub-recipe or subrecipe is a recipe for an ingredient that will be called for in the instructions for the main r ...

has gone missing, concluding in a decision to

improvise Improvisation, often shortened to improv, is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. The origin of the word itself is in the Latin "improvisus", which literally means un-foreseen. Improvis ...

The second verse then goes on by listing the needed

ingredient In a general sense, an ingredient is a substance which forms part of a mixture. In cooking, recipes specify which ingredients are used to prepare a dish, and the term may also refer to a specific food item in relation to its use in different re ...

s and adding them to the improvised

dough Dough is a malleable, sometimes elastic paste made from flour (which itself is made from grains or from leguminous or chestnut crops). Dough is typically made by mixing flour with a small amount of water or other liquid and sometimes includes ...

: The last verse then narrates the practice of kneading the dough, cut out the cookies, placing them on the baking sheet and waiting for them as they bake in the oven. Finally, they turn out burnt: Rolf Zuckowski thought of the song on a ride home from a concert after talking about baking cookies on a call with his family. His three year old son modified the melody when singing it, so that the last line of the chorus came to be the beginning of the song as well. 1987 Rolf Zuckowski's album ''Winterkinder'' (German: "Winter children"). In the same year, he played the song in the German TV-show '' Wetten, dass..?''. It became widely known in Germany.

Charts placement

Publications

Books There are a picture book and a song book with illustrations by Julia Ginsbach: * Rolf Zuckowski, Julia Ginsbach: ''In der Weihnachtsbäckerei.'' in: ''Bunte Liedergeschichten.'' Gerstenberg, Hildesheim 1996, . * Rolf Zuckowski, Julia Ginsbach: ''In der Weihnachtsbäckerei.'' Coppenrath, Münster 2007, . CD, Video und DVD * ''Rolf Zuckowski und seine Freunde – Rolfs Liederkalender – Sing mit uns'' und Videoaufnahme der ZDF-Sendung 1992 * ''Rolf Zuckowski und seine Freunde – Das Beste aus dem ZDF'', Universal Music Entertainment, Berlin 2004 (DVD) * 2006 entstand ein gleichnamiger Fernsehfilm mit Rolf Zuckowski als er selbst * Rolf Zuckowski: ''In der Weihnachtsbäckerei.'' – Doppel-CD, Universal Music Entertainment, Berlin 2012 * Rolf Zuckowski: ''Die Weihnachtsbäckerei – Das Musical-Hörspiel mit den Liedern von Rolf Zuckowski.'' Karussell (Universal Music) 2019

Covers

* 1996: Niko & Rudi (Album: ''Schneeflöckchen – Weissröckchen'') * 2000:

Wolfgang Petry Wolfgang "Wolle" Petry (born 22 September 1951 as ''Franz Hubert Wolfgang Remling'') is a German schlager musician and songwriter from Cologne, Germany. In 1997, he was named the leading German language musician in terms of chart figures for t ...

(Album: ''Freudige Weihnachten''){{cite web, access-date=2013-06-15 , title=Wolfgang Petry – In der Weihnachtsbäckerei , url=http://hitparade.ch/song/Wolfgang-Petry/In-der-Weihnachtsbaeckerei-337777 , website=hitparade.ch * 2015:

Helene Fischer Helene Fischer (German: eˈleːnə ˈfɪʃɐ born 5 August 1984) is a German '' schlager'' singer. Since her debut in 2005, she has won numerous awards, including 17 Echo awards, four "''Die Krone der Volksmusik''" awards, and three Bambi awar ...

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London, England. The RPO was established by Thomas Beecham in 1946. In its early days, the orchestra secured profitable recording contracts and important engagemen ...

(Album: ''

Weihnachten Weihnachten () is the observance of what is commonly known in English as Christmas in the German-speaking countries such as Germany, Austria and Switzerland. It is also widespread in countries with a German-speaking minority, such as Transylvani ...

'') * 2016:

Otto Waalkes Otto Gerhard Waalkes (born 22 July 1948), also known as simply Otto, is a German comedian, actor, musician, writer, and comic book artist. He became famous in the 1970s and 1980s in Germany with his shows, books and films. His best known tradema ...

* 2024: Eizbrand - In der Weihnachtsbäckerei (Album: Rookies & Friends Vol. 3)

References

Christmas carols German songs 1987 compositions