Good evening, good evening, it's already Christmas

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Good evening, good evening, it's already Christmas is a German-language Christmas carol . The origin of the song is often given as Carinthia or - probably incorrectly - the Eifel .

The song appeared with the indication of origin "after a Carinthian pre-Christmas song" under the title Ein Kranzsingelied auf die Christmas in the 7th issue of the collection of songs from the Germans published from 1931 to 1934 in the völkisch Ludendorffs Volkswarte-Verlag in Munich . The first two stanzas come from the editor of the collection Fritz Hugo Hoffmann (1891-1965), the federal leader of the Artamans and composer of folk songs, who also wrote a two-part movement for the song.

Between the end of the Second World War and German reunification, the song was practically only known in the GDR , while in West Germany it can only be found sporadically in song books. The version sung today was created between 1947 and 1950 in the Schönebeck singing and play community led by Hans and Ilse Naumilkat . The arrangement was made by Ilse Naumilkat, who had the text of the 2nd and 3rd stanza protected by copyright in 1961. The text of the second stanza, however, largely agrees with the stanza by Fritz Hugo Hoffmann, only the verse and chorus parts have been swapped. How the Naumilkat couple got to know the song and whether they were aware of the ethnic background of the song is currently not known.

The melody was recorded for the first time in 1798 with a different text "Ave Maria, virginal ornament" in Styria by the teacher Joseph Salzwimmer .

In an alternative text version (to a different melody with the indication of origin “Volksweise aus Salzburg ”), instead of the repetition of the opening line, the text “We expect the divine son with longing” follows. It is not known whether this is a Christian retrospective of the völkisch text by Fritz Hugo Hoffmann.

content

The song is about the pre-Christmas season. The first stanza describes how the lights on the Advent wreath shine so brightly and how they would give home a bright light. As is common in folk (and subsequently also in National Socialist ) Christmas carols, there is a reference to the symbol of light and home. In the 2nd stanza it is noted that the snow falling in flakes means that the forests are white and the children should be happy that Christmas is coming soon. In the 3rd and last stanza it is found that it sings and sounds so sweetly and delicately and that they sing into the merry Christmas season.

Recordings

In 1970 the song was published in the version of the Rundfunk-Kinderchor Berlin on the Christmas LP Soon now is Christmas time of the GDR label Eterna . It was also included in various music textbooks and song books.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Fritz Hugo Hoffmann (Ed.): Songs of the Germans. Ludendorffs Volkswarte-Verlag, Munich 1931-1934, p. 100 ( Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).
  2. ↑ a b Good evening, good evening at DeutschesLied.com
  3. ↑ a b c Christmas carols from socialist times. MDR, December 16, 2004, accessed December 1, 2018
  4. ↑ Bernd Pachnicke: German folk songs. 280 selected lyrics. Peters, Leipzig 1981, ISBN 3-369-00024-5 , p. 232 ( limited preview in the Google book search).
  5. ↑ Catalog entry at the Association of VolksLiedWerke Austria and South Tyrol
  6. ↑ Walter Knapp, Christine Lehmann (Ed.): Sings and plays at Christmas time. Edition Helbling, Innsbruck 1992, ISBN 3-900590-22-2 , p. 9.
  7. ↑ Track list of the LP