Bavaria anthem

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Michael Öchsner, Konrad Max Kunz: For Bavaria , 1861
melody

The Bayernhymne is the official anthem of the State of Bavaria . As the national anthem of the kingdom, it replaced Heil our King, Heil!

history

The melody (in G major ) was written by Konrad Max Kunz in 1860. The text of the original three stanzas was written by Michael Öchsner . Both were members of the Munich Citizens' Singer Guild , which first performed the song on December 15, 1860. Since the song soon became a folk song , different versions came into circulation. In 1948 the Bavarian poet Joseph Maria Lutz wrote a new version of the hymn according to a decision by the board of the Bavarian Party . The party advocated the future independence of Bavaria, rejected Bavaria's accession to the Federal Republic of Germany , the establishment of which was being prepared, and therefore had any connection between Bavaria and Germany removed from the anthem. For example, he replaced the German earth with homeland earth and, with Germany's brother tribes, with from the Alpine country to Maine . In a new third verse, in which the king was originally blessed for maintaining his “holy right” together with his people, which had already been deleted from school books after the fall of the monarchy in 1919, the blessing now goes to all those who Protect and preserve “human rights”, that is, human rights .

Pope Benedict XVI sings the Bavarian anthem in the Lutz version on Marienplatz on September 9, 2006.

Since 1964 the Bavarian song has been officially played at festive state events and since 1966 it has been officially called the "anthem". In an announcement of July 29, 1966, Prime Minister Alfons Goppel recommended using the Lutz version as a text, which for years led to disputes between the Öchsner supporters and the proponents of the Lutz version. Prime Minister Franz Josef Strauss put an end to the quarrels by stating that the first two stanzas of the Öchsner version (for learning in schools and use on Bavarian radio ) , decided by the state parliament and government in 1952/1953, continue to apply. This had already been unanimously passed in the cultural policy committee of the Bavarian state parliament on November 11, 1952 and then decided by the plenary (of five parliamentary groups); on March 3, 1953, the Council of Ministers of the grand coalition implemented the state parliament resolution and ordered the learning of the song, which was already called the "hymn" at that time. In contrast to other regional songs ( Badnerlied , Niedersachsenlied, etc.), the Bavarian anthem enjoys the protection of Section 90a of the Criminal Code ( denigration of the state and its symbols ).

The original sentences were thought to be lost until 1995, when the archivist of the Bürger-Sänger-Zunft (BSZ), Johannes Timmermann , discovered the oldest notes of the hymn in the BSZ archive and then the original compositions by Kunz for choir and symphony orchestra in the old holdings of a high school library , which had just been given to the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek . In 1996, the great symphony movement of the hymn by the choir and orchestra of the BSZ was performed in the autumn concert on the occasion of the celebrations for the 50th constitutional anniversary of today's Free State of Bavaria for the first time in well over a hundred years.

In the Kingdom of Bavaria - despite the high popularity of the song “Für Bayern” - the official hymn was “ Heil our König, Heil! “In the 19th century in particular, the“ Lied für Bayern ”was often not sung with the melody of Konrad Max Kunz , but with the melody of Joseph Haydn for the Austrian imperial anthem - today's German national anthem .

In the new Catholic prayer and hymn book, God's praise , introduced in 2013 , the Bavarian anthem can now be found in the diocesan part of the diocese of Regensburg and the archdiocese of Munich and Freising . In the diocesan part of the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising, the song can be found with historically correct and official text under the number 889. In the diocese of Regensburg, the song can be found under number 842 in the "Trust and Consolation" section. The first two stanzas are reproduced in the text version announced by Franz Josef Strauss . In addition, the third stanza by Joseph Maria Lutz is printed. The Passau diocesan part of the “God's praise” also contains the Bavarian song in the section “Justice and Peace”, with stanzas 1 and 3 by Lutz and stanza 2 by Öchsner.

Text variants

Historically correct / current text

The Bavarian anthem

According to the announcement by the Bavarian Prime Minister Franz Josef Strauss on July 18, 1980:

1. God be with you, you land of Bavaria,
German earth, fatherland! His blessing hand rest
over your wide Gau
!
|: He guard your corridors,
shield your cities,
and keep you the colors of
his sky, white and blue! : |

2. God with you, the Bavarian people,
that we, worthy of our fathers, build our hearth of happiness
in harmony and peace
!
|: That with Germany's brother
tribes everyone looks at us
and the old glory will prove
our banner, white and blue! : |

(Sometimes “white” and “blue” are also shown in capitalization.)

Joseph Maria Lutz

Version by Joseph Maria Lutz and the Bavarian Party from 1948, recommended by Prime Minister Goppel in an "announcement" of July 29, 1966:

1. God be with you, you land of Bavaria,
homeland, fatherland! May His blessing hand rule
over your wide Gau
!
|: He guard your corridors,
shield your cities
and keep the colors of
your sky, white and blue! : |

2. God with us, the Bavarian people,
if we, worthy of our fathers,
always
build our hearth of happiness in harmony and peace ;
|: That from the alpine country to the Maine
every tribe trust each other
and the hearts joyfully one
our banner, white and blue! : |

3. God with us and God with all who faithfully protect and preserve
human beings from generation to generation. |: Happy work, happy celebrations, rich harvests in every region! God be with you, you land of Bavaria under the sky, white and blue! : |





Michael Öchsner's poem

Original version from 1860/1861, after brief variations, recorded by Öchsner himself as the only valid version:

For Bavaria

God be with you, you land of Bavaria,
German earth, fatherland! His blessing hand rest
over your wide Gau
!
He guard your corridors,
shield your cities
and keep you the colors of
his sky white and blue.

God with us, the Bavarian people,
that we, worthy of our fathers, build our happiness hearth
firmly in harmony and peace
;
that
our opponents see us united with Germany's brother tribes,
and
our banner white and blue will prove our old glory !

God with him, the King of Bavaria,
blessings on his generation!
Because with his people in peace
He keeps their holy justice!
God with him, the father of the country,
God with us in every Gau,
God with you, you Land of Bavaria,
German home white and blue.

Michael Öchsner - text variants

For Bavaria

God be with you, you land of Bavaria,
German earth, fatherland! His blessing hand rest
over your wide Gau
!
He guard your corridors,
shield your cities
and keep you the colors (and the sky you keep) of
his (God's) sky white and blue! (His colors white and blue!)

God with us, the Bavarian people,
that we, worthy of our fathers, build our happiness hearth
firmly in harmony and in peace
!
That with Germany's brother tribes [that in need and in danger] (that the friend can find help)
the opponent will see us
and prove
our old glory [where the diamond banners are blowing] our white and blue banner. [our colors, white and blue]

God with him, the Bavarian King!
Blessings on his gender! (Father Max from Wittelsbach)
Because with his people in peace (vaulting over his house)
He preserves their holy rights. (shielding the roof of heaven)
God with him, the father of the country! (God keep us the ruler,)
God with us in every district! (People's happiness in every Gau!)
God with you, you Land of Bavaria, (pure custom, German loyalty)
German homeland white and blue! (Eternal colors white and blue!)

Timmermann based on templates by Lutz and Öchsner

The third stanza that Johannes Timmermann wrote based on templates from Lutz and Öchsner for singing in the Free State of Bavaria:

God with us and God with all who faithfully guard and keep
people's holy rights from generation to generation! God with him who keeps us right and at peace in every district! God with you, you land of Bavaria, German homeland, white and blue!





Öchsner wrote the colors “white and blue” in capital letters. For him it was not just the colors of weather phenomena, which are not only found in Bavaria, but old names for symbols of virtues which he demanded of the Bavarians and which he believed were particularly cultivated by the Bavarians: the virtues of spiritual purity, honesty, decency (white) and loyalty (blue). These virtues are anchored in God's heaven, in “his heaven”; people could not have at their disposal how they were to be realized, what was meant by them, and could reinterpret them at will.

Winner of the competition of Bavarian Unification / Bavarian People's Foundation and the state government

In 2012, Bayerische Einigung / Bayerische Volksstiftung and the state government announced a competition for a third stanza. The winner was Muhammad Agca, Tatjana Sommerfeld and Benedikt Kreisl from the Bad Tölz Vocational School . The SPD submitted an urgency request to the state parliament to add the stanza to the Bavarian anthem. The application was rejected by a majority of the CSU . The additional stanza was also rejected by the free voters .

God with us and all peoples,
we make it known in unity:
The future lies in diversity,
in Europe's confederation.
Free people, free life,
equal rights for men and women!
Golden stars, blue flag
and the sky, white and blue.

Others

  • The former Munich city council member Rudi Hierl distributed small pieces of paper with the text of the Bavarian anthem at every opportunity. For more than half a million cards distributed, he was entered in the Guinness Book of Records in 2001 .
  • In 2001 a song by the group Biermösl Blosn caused a scandal. The "BayWa-Lied" published in 1982, a satirical corruption of the Bavarian anthem and the BayWa company (text: "Gott mit Dir, du Land der BayWa ..."), was put into a songbook for secondary school students in eighth grade by a school book publisher. The books that had already been printed were immediately withdrawn at the instruction of the Ministry of Culture .

Web links

Wiktionary: Bayernhymne  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. The Bavarian anthem on bayern.de
  2. Hans Kratzer, Wolfgang Wittl: SPD wants to change Bayernhymne . In: sueddeutsche.de , November 30, 2016. Accessed February 22, 2017.
  3. Texts ( Memento from June 18, 2018 in the Internet Archive )