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Volkslied (literally: folk song) is a genre of popular songs in German which are traditionally sung. While many of them were first passed orally, several collections were published from the late 18th century. Later, some popular songs were also included in this classification. [1]
The earliest songs in German appeared in the 12th century. Art songs were created by minstrels and meistersinger while cantastoria (Bänkelsänger) sang songs in public that were orally transmitted. Song collections were written from the late 15th century, such as Lochamer-Liederbuch and Glogauer Liederbuch . Georg Forster's Frische teutsche Liedlein was first printed in 1536.
In the period of Sturm und Drang, poets and authors became interested in that which they saw as simple, close to nature, original, and unspoiled (nach dem Einfachen, Naturnahen, Ursprünglichen und Unverfälschten). Johann Gottfried Herder coined the term 'Volkslied' in the late 18th century, and published Von deutscher Art und Kunst (On German ways and artistry) in 1771. In 1778/79, a collection Volkslieder was published, promoted by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, which mentioned neither an editor nor authors, in an attempt to suggest the songs as an expression of the soul of the people (Äußerungen der Volksseele). Friedrich Silcher (1789–1860) composed a great number of Lieder, many of which became Volkslieder, and he edited collections of Volkslieder.
In the middle of the 18th century, the Berliner Liederschule promoted songs with simple melodies im Volkston (i.e. in the Volkslied style). Songs written following the concept include "Das Wandern ist des Müllers Lust" and "O Täler weit, o Höhen".
In the early 20th century, the repertoire was broadened by workers' songs and students' songs. In 1914, John Meier founded the Deutsches Volksliedarchiv, a research and archive of Volkslied. The Wandervogel movement turned to singing while wandering, with the collection Der Zupfgeigenhansl published in 1909, and reprinted until 1933.
August Heinrich Hoffmann was a German poet. He is best known for writing "Das Lied der Deutschen", whose third stanza is now the national anthem of Germany, and a number of popular children's songs, considered part of the Young Germany movement.
"Rufst du, mein Vaterland" was 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.
The Lochamer-Liederbuch is an extensive collection of German songs at the transition from the late Middle Ages to the Renaissance. It dates from the mid-15th century and is regarded as one of the most important surviving collections of music from fifteenth-century Germany. Other names are Locheimer and Lochheimer Liederbuch.
Roderich Mojsisovics von Mojsvár was an Austrian composer based in Graz, head of the Schule des Musikvereins für Steiermark there.
"Kein schöner Land in dieser Zeit" is a popular Volkslied in German. It goes back to a song by Anton Wilhelm von Zuccalmaglio, first published in 1840 in a folk song collection. It gained popularity in the 1910s in the Wandervogel movement, and was later used by the Nazis and included in the Hitler Youth songbooks. It has been set to choral music and modern songs. The beginning of the first line has been used as the title of books, a play and television series.
Helmut Alfons Schlegel is a German Franciscan Catholic priest, meditation instructor, author, librettist and songwriter. He is known for writing new spiritual songs, set to music by various composers.
"Der Mond ist aufgegangen" is a German lullaby and evening song by Matthias Claudius, one of the most popular in German literature. Also known under the name Abendlied it was first released in Musen-Almanach in 1779, published by Johann Heinrich Voß. In 1783, Claudius published the poem with a modification to verse six in Asmus omnia sua secum portans oder Sämmtliche Werke des Wandsbecker Bothen IV. Theil.
Friedrich Wilhelm Arnold was a German musician, music seller, publisher and folk-song collector.
Ernst Klusen was a German musicologist, educator and Volkslied composer.
Schneeflöckchen, Weißröckchen is a German christmas carol. The original version comes from Hedwig Haberkern (1837–1901), who published the song in her first book in 1869.
"Süßer die Glocken nie klingen" is a popular German Christmas carol with text by Friedrich Wilhelm Kritzinger to a traditional Volkslied melody, first printed in 1860. It has remained popular and is part of many song books and Christmas recordings, evoking the sound of bells as a symbol of peace and joy.
Walther Hensel was a German musicologist, music educator, who dedicated himself above all to the research and cultivation of folk songs.
"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.
Wolfgang Suppan was an Austrian musicologist. He is the father of the wind musician and composer Armin Suppan.
"Kommt ein Vogel geflogen" is a German-language Volkslied and love song from Lower Austria. While it was passed down orally, probably in dialect, some text first appeared in print in 1807. Six stanzas appeared in a Posse mit Gesang by Karl von Holtei in Berlin in 1824 and made the song popular. In arrangements, it also became a children's song. Siegfried Ochs treated the melody humorously to variations for piano, imitating different styles of classical composers.
Franz Johann Karl Andreas Kretzschmer was a German lawyer, secret war councilor, composer, musicologist and folk song researcher. His main folkloristic work, the Volkslied collection of 1838/40, he published under the name "A. Kretzschmer"; In a modern reprint from 1969, this name form is wrongly transformed to "August Kretzschmer".
Andre Asriel was an Austrian-German composer.
"Es tönen die Lieder" is a popular round for three parts to a German text, about songs sounding when spring returns. The author(s) of text and melody are unknown and it was passed orally. It was first published in a 1869 collection. It became a Volkslied, contained in many songbooks.
"Hohe Tannen weisen die Sterne" is a Volkslied from Silesia, first published by a boy scouts group in 1923. It is also known as the unofficial hymn of Sudetenland, and as the Rübezahl song. Modyfied, it is still used by youth groups, published in Die Mundorgel and other collections.
The dictionary definition of Volkslied at Wiktionary
German Wikisource has original text related to this article: Volkslieder