| "Schnitzelbank" | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Nursery rhyme | |
| Published | By 1900 in U.S. |
| Songwriter(s) | Unknown |
The "Schnitzelbank" is a simple song, popular primarily with German Americans.
| "Schnitzelbank" | |
|---|---|
| | |
| Nursery rhyme | |
| Published | By 1900 in U.S. |
| Songwriter(s) | Unknown |
The "Schnitzelbank" is a simple song, popular primarily with German Americans.
Schnitzelbank literally means "scrap bench" or "chip bench" (from Schnitzel "scraps / clips / cuttings (from carving)" or the colloquial verb schnitzeln "to make scraps" or "to carve" and Bank "bench"); like the Bank, it is feminine and takes the article "die". It is a woodworking tool used in Germany prior to the industrial revolution. It was in regular use in colonial New England, and in the Appalachian region until early in the 20th century; it is still in use by specialist artisans today. In American English, it is known as a shaving horse. It uses the mechanical advantage of a foot-operated lever to securely clamp the object to be carved. The shaving horse is used in combination with the drawknife or spokeshave to cut down green or seasoned wood, to accomplish jobs such as handling an ax; creating wooden rakes, hay forks, walking sticks, etc. The shaving horse was used by various trades, from farmer to basketmaker and wheelwright.
A Schnitzelbank is also a short rhyming verse or song with humorous content, often but not always sung with instrumental accompaniment. Each verse in a Schnitzelbank introduces a topic and ends with a comedic twist. This meaning of the word is mainly used in Switzerland and southwestern Germany; it is masculine and takes the article "der". It is a main element of the Fasnacht celebrations in the city of Basel, where it is also written Schnitzelbangg. Schnitzelbänke (pl.) are also sung at weddings and other festivities by the Schnitzelbänkler, a single person or small group. Often the Schnitzelbänkler will display posters called Helgen during some verses that depict the topic but do not give away the joke. [1]
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A German-language ditty for children "The Schnitzelbank Song" is popular among German Americans with an interest in learning or teaching German to their offspring. It is often sung by adults for entertainment and nostalgia. Versions were published in the United States at least as early as 1900. [2]
The responsive lyrical structure of the verse and refrain are referenced in Moritz Reymond's 1877 book Das neue Laienbrevier des Haeckelismus, which uses German folk and student songs to burlesque ideas regarding organic evolution. [3] Some of the lyrical ideas and phrases are also included (albeit in a different form) in Volume 9 of Karl Simrock's 13-volume 1856 collection of German stories and poems titled Die deutschen Volksbücher. Within this volume, the lyrics are included in a book titled Das deutsche Kinderbuch (The German Children's Book), which may have originally been published in 1848. The text includes many ideas common to the modern song, including "kurz und lang" ("short and long"), "hin und her" ("back and forth"), "krumm und grad" ("bent and straight"), and the "ei du schöne Schnitzelbank" refrain. [4]
Groucho Marx was performing it in Vaudeville by 1910. [5]
In the 1932 film Downstairs , set on a baronial estate in Austria, nefarious chauffeur Karl (John Gilbert) sings the song with butler Albert ( Paul Lukas ) and Albert's beautiful new young wife, Anna (Virginia Bruce), at dinner, trying to ingratiate himself with them. The audience already knows that Karl is a con artist, thief, seducer and blackmailer, so the cheerful little song has an ominous effect.
The Big Bad Wolf sings a version of the song to his offspring in the 1936 Walt Disney Silly Symphony cartoon Three Little Wolves .
Cary Grant, Joan Bennett, and Gene Lockhart sing a version of the song in the film Wedding Present (1936). Later, Joan Bennett's character uses the tune to the song to mock Cary Grant's character for his hypocritical behavior after being promoted.
William Frawley performs an English version of this song in the 1942 World War II propaganda musical The Yankee Doodler. [6]
The song appears with alternate lyrics in the 1949 Noveltoon Little Red School Mouse.
Another version is included in Billy Wilder's 1953 film Stalag 17 . American POWs sing it during a volleyball game to distract guards from spotting a contraband radio antenna hidden in the net.
In 1957, Bill Haley & His Comets recorded a rock and roll version called "Rockin' Rollin' Schnitzelbank" for their album Rockin' Around the World .
Bing Crosby included the song in a medley on his album 101 Gang Songs (1961).
In a 1965 episode of The Munsters , Herman (Fred Gwynne) sing-songs a version of the song while imitating a police sketch artist: "lantern jaw, piercing eyes, classic nose, is das nicht ein classic nose?" etc.
In the 1971 animated special The Cat in the Hat , the song "Cat, Hat" has a brief section in German, in which the Cat sings, "Ist das nicht ein Katze Hut?" (Is this not a cat hat?), and the children respond, "Ja das ist ein Katze Hut" (Yes, that is a cat hat).
Pennsylvania singer John Schmid (born in 1949) sings a Pennsylvania German version of the Schnitzelbank song; it was uploaded to YouTube in 2010. [7]
In 1994, Steven Spielberg's popular cartoon show Animaniacs featured a segment using a version of the song, with heavily modified lyrics. In the sketch, Yakko, Wakko, and Dot travel to Germany to learn the song (referred to as the "International Friendship Song" in the show) from Professor Otto von Schnitzelpusskrankengescheitmeyer, a one-shot character voiced by Jim Cummings.
Comedian Mel Blanc recorded a novelty Christmas song in the 1950s, "Yah Das Ist Ein Christmas Tree", which borrows the tune and concept. This was itself parodied by singer/comedian Joel Kopischke in 2005 as "Stupid Christmas Song".
The Dutch Country troubadour, Percy Einsig (1902–1971) [8] recorded a popular rendition of "Schnitzelbank" at Up-Town Records, Reading, Pennsylvania. He was also made famous in the Pennsylvania Dutch area for his song titled "The Ford Machine".
Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen is a song cycle by Gustav Mahler on his own texts. The cycle of four lieder for medium voice was written around 1884–85 in the wake of Mahler's unhappy love for soprano Johanna Richter, whom he met as the conductor of the opera house in Kassel, Germany, and orchestrated and revised in the 1890s.
"A Mighty Fortress Is Our God" is one of the best known hymns by the Protestant Reformer Martin Luther, a prolific hymnwriter. Luther wrote the words and composed the hymn tune between 1527 and 1529. It has been translated into English at least seventy times and also into many other languages. The words are mostly original, although the first line paraphrases that of Psalm 46.
"Ellens dritter Gesang", in English: "Ellen's Third Song", was composed by Franz Schubert in 1825 as part of his Op. 52, a setting of seven songs from Walter Scott's 1810 popular narrative poem The Lady of the Lake, loosely translated into German.
"Polly Wolly Doodle" is a traditional American children's song. It was sung by Dan Emmett's Virginia Minstrels, who premiered at New York's Bowery Amphitheatre in February 1843, and is often credited to Emmett (1815–1904).
Michael Holm is a German singer, musician, songwriter and record producer. He is primarily known as a singer of Schlager music. Although his first appearance in the hit parade was in 1962, he had his first big hit in 1969. "Mendocino", the German adaptation of a song by the Sir Douglas Quintet, was the biggest selling single that year in (Germany). The record was released in September 1969, reached number three for five weeks, selling over a million copies. Ariola presented him with a gold record in October 1970.
The Ausbund is the oldest Anabaptist hymnal and one of the oldest Christian song books in continuous use. It is used today by North American Amish congregations.
"Es ist ein Ros entsprungen" is a Christmas carol and Marian hymn of German origin. It is most commonly translated into English as "Lo, how a rose e'er blooming" and is also called "A Spotless Rose" and "Behold a Rose of Judah". The rose in the German text is a symbolic reference to the Virgin Mary. The hymn makes reference to the Old Testament prophecies of Isaiah, which in Christian interpretation foretell the Incarnation of Christ, and to the Tree of Jesse, a traditional symbol of the lineage of Jesus. Because of its prophetic theme, the hymn is popular during the Christian season of Advent.
"Hänschen klein" by Franz Wiedemann (1821–1882) is a German folk song that originated in the Biedermeier period (1815–1848) of German history in the 19th century, and later became a nursery song in the early 20th century.
"Rufst du, mein Vaterland" is the former national anthem of Switzerland. It had the status of de facto national anthem from the formation of Switzerland as a federal state in the 1840s, until 1961, when it was replaced by the Swiss Psalm.
Liebesgeschichte der schönen Magelone und des Grafen Peter von Provence is an eighteen-section German narrative in alternating prose and verse, with prose and one poem per section, by Ludwig Tieck.
"Christ lag in Todesbanden" is an Easter hymn by Martin Luther. Its melody is by Luther and Johann Walter. Both the text and the melody were based on earlier examples. It was published in 1524 in the Erfurt Enchiridion and in Walter's choral hymnal Eyn geystlich Gesangk Buchleyn. Various composers, including Pachelbel, Bach and Telemann, have used the hymn in their compositions.
"Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich her" is a hymn text relating to the Nativity of Jesus, written by Martin Luther in 1534. The hymn is most often sung to the melody, Zahn No. 346, which first appeared in a 1539 songbook and was probably also composed by Luther. This classic Christmas carol remains popular and has inspired many choral and organ works by other composers.
Franz Schubert's best known song cycles, like Die schöne Müllerin and Winterreise are based on separate poems with a common theme and narrative. Other song cycles are based on consecutive excerpts of the same literary work: Schubert's "Ave Maria" is part of such a song cycle based on excerpts of the same poem, in this case by Walter Scott.
"Ännchen von Tharau" is a 17-stanza poem by the East Prussian poet Simon Dach. The namesake of the poem is Anna Neander (1615–1689), the daughter of a parson from Tharau, East Prussia. The poem was written on the occasion of her marriage in 1636 and had been set to music as a song by 1642.
"Sei uns willkommen, Herre Christ" is the earliest surviving Christmas hymn in the German language. It originated as a leise and its melody is first recorded as a fragment in the Liuthar Gospels at Aachen Cathedral Treasury, probably dating to the 14th century. The earliest complete surviving version is in a manuscript from Erfurt dating to 1394. August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben saw the hymn as originating in the 11th century and in 1861 reconstructed a translation from the Erfurt version back into Old High German.
"Was mein Gott will, das g'scheh allzeit" is a Lutheran hymn in German. The text from c. 1550 is attributed to Albert, Duke of Prussia. The melody, Zahn No. 7568, goes back to a tune by Claudin de Sermisy, written in 1529 for a secular French song. The hymn has belonged to core Lutheran hymnody without interruption and is part of the Protestant hymnal Evangelisches Gesangbuch as EG 364.
The "Einheitsfrontlied" is one of the most famous songs of the German labour movement. It was written by Bertolt Brecht and composed by Hanns Eisler. The best-known rendition was sung by Ernst Busch.
Two Motets, Op. 74, are two sacred motets for unaccompanied mixed choir by Johannes Brahms, published together. Number 1, composed in 1877 in several movements, is Warum ist das Licht gegeben dem Mühseligen?, based on Biblical texts and a chorale. Number 2, composed earlier, is O Heiland, reiß die Himmel auf, containing different settings of the stanzas of Friedrich von Spee's "O Heiland, reiß die Himmel auf". The two motets were published by N. Simrock in December 1878 and dedicated to Philipp Spitta.
"Das Wandern ist des Müllers Lust" is the first line of a poem by Wilhelm Müller, written in 1821 with the title "Wanderschaft" as part of a collection, Die schöne Müllerin. While wandern is defined as "hiking" today, it referred to the required journeyman years of craftsmen when written, in this case of a miller.
The Secret of the Red Cat is a 1931 German comedy crime film directed by Erich Schönfelder and starring Rosa Valetti, Hans Junkermann and Margot Landa. It was shot at the Grunewald Studios in Berlin and on location around the city. The film's sets were designed by the art directors Willi Herrmann and Herbert Lippschitz. It was remade as a 1949 film of the same title starring Heinz Rühmann.