Andreas Hartauer

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Andreas Hartauer (1890)

Andreas Hartauer (born November 28, 1839 in Stachauer Hütte , Bohemia ; † January 18, 1915 in St. Pölten , Lower Austria ) was a Bohemian glass worker and author of the Bohemian Forest song: Deep in the Bohemian Forest .

Life

Hartauer grew up in Goldbrunn , near his birthplace. His parents Andreas and Elisabeth Hartauer (née Gattermayer) had a total of eight children. In the village of Goldbrunn there was a glassworks that had been producing hollow glass since 1799. Hartauer was also supposed to learn the trade of glassmaker, he was sent to an apprenticeship at the glassworks in Eleonorenhain , a few hours away from Goldbrunn. He stayed in Eleonorenhain for two years, which, according to his own account, was the best time of his life. The years of wandering followed , which he u a. as a glass painter moved to Johannesdorf in northern Bohemia. Here he married Anna Oppitz from Bürgstein on November 27, 1865 . In 1883 Hartauer settled with his wife Anna in St. Pölten, Lower Austria, where he also settled down. Here he opened a stained glass with a glass and porcelain shop, which helped him to prosper. He lived in house number 50 on Daniel-Gran-Strasse. His marriage remained childless, so he adopted his niece Berta as a foster child.

The love for the Bohemian Forest did not let go of him, in deep longing he created the Bohemian Forest song. This song got a special meaning for the expelled German Bohemian Forests after 1945, it is emotionally deeply rooted in this ethnic group.

Text and history of the origin of the Bohemian Forest song

Deep in the Bohemian Forest, that's where my hometown is,
it's been a long time since I left there,
but the memory that remains with me is always certain
that I will never forget the Bohemian Forest.
It was in the Bohemian Forest where my cradle was,
in the beautiful green forest.

O sweet childhood, come back once more,
where I enjoyed the greatest happiness while playing,
where I stood on a green meadow
at my father's house and looked far and wide at my fatherland.
It was in the Bohemian Forest where my cradle was,
in the beautiful green forest.

Just once more, oh Lord, let me see my home,
the beautiful Bohemian Forest, the valleys and the hills,
then I'll be happy to return and cheerfully
exclaim : Take care, Bohemian Forest, I'll stay at home!
It was in the Bohemian Forest where my cradle was,
in the beautiful green forest.

As with numerous folk songs that have become at home in different countries and areas, the Böhmerwaldlied also has slightly modified text and melody versions.

The text of the song only became known beyond the Bohemian Forest when it was taken over in the novel Am golden Steig (1894) by Maximilian Schmidt (vulgo Waldschmidt). For a long time the creator of the Bohemian Forest song was unknown. It was the local researcher Rudolf Kubitschek who showed the origin of the song in a biography about Andreas Hartauer in the 1930s.

The melody originally composed by Hartauer turned out to be less suitable for dancing and in the course of time it was displaced by another one that the composer Jakob Eduard Schmölzer had created for the Styrian rifle song There is my home . This melody change is probably due to singing Styrian woodcutters, who were brought to the Bohemian Forest in the 1880s to repair the huge forest damage after a massive bark beetle infestation.

The Hartauer monument in Eleonorenhain

On 24./25. In July 1937 the monument to Andreas Hartauer was inaugurated on a hill in Eleonorenhain. Pictures and newspaper articles from this time document that over 5,000 people were present at the inauguration. The monument consists of a large stone column about 4 m high with an inscription in German and a smaller boulder with an inscription in Czech. The Czech inscription was destroyed during the German occupation of the Sudetenland . After 1945 someone tried to destroy the memorial with a German inscription with a pickaxe; since this did not succeed, the smaller granite block was destroyed.

On July 28th 2007 a new granite block with Czech inscription was inaugurated. Both former residents of Eleonorenhain and today's residents of Lenora took part in this ceremony. Before the mayoress unveiled the stone, the Bohemian Forest song was sung by a choir one after the other in Czech and German.

Further memorial stones for Andreas Hartauer can be found on the Goldenen Steig in the area of ​​the municipality of Mauth (since 1982), near Freistadt in Upper Austria , in Stachau and on his former home in St. Pölten.

See also

Bohemian Forest songs

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Hartauer, Andreas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Bohemian glass worker and author of the Bohemian Forest song
DATE OF BIRTH November 28, 1839
PLACE OF BIRTH Stachauer Hütte , Bohemia
DATE OF DEATH January 18, 1915
Place of death St. Pölten , Lower Austria