Leonhard Widmer
Leonhard Widmer (born June 12, 1808 in Feldmeilen , † May 18, 1868 in Oberstrass ) was a Swiss poet , promoter of folk song and founder of a music shop with a publisher.
Widmer was the author of numerous poems. Of the 74 poems that were published after his death, more than half are set to music. His Swiss psalm from 1840 was definitely declared the official Swiss national anthem in 1981.
life and work
Leonhard Widmer was born on June 12, 1808 in Feldmeilen and grew up on Lake Zurich . In 1815 his father bought a nursery in Hirslanden , where the family stayed after the father's death in 1817. Widmer's mother is strongly committed to a good school education and from 1819 enables young Leonhard to attend the “Landknaben Institute” in Zurich. From 1823, for the sake of his mother, Widmer did a commercial apprenticeship and worked for a short time in the music store of the singer's father Hans Georg Nägeli, whom he valued . In 1828 he moved to Lausanne , attended lectures at the university there and worked as a private teacher in Morges . It was during this time that his first poems were written, and in retrospect Widmer admits: "In my youth, love and nature made me a poet."
In 1833 Widmer returned to Zurich and soon found a job as a lithographer . Widmer, who was very interested in social and political developments throughout his life and took an active part in it, soon became a member of numerous associations and friendship alliances (e.g. the singers' association "Harmonie" and the "entertainment circle for the bee"). In the violent dispute between conservative and liberal-radical forces, which was also raging in Zurich , Widmer was clearly on the liberal side, and in 1839 took a position for the reform theologian Strauss . These positions cost him employment, but with the help of his friend Salomon Rüschli he can set up his own lithography business and a. publish popular music. "In his opinion, the folk song should and could unite the confederates, who were then divided in religious disputes, and restore their unity". Widmer is now, in the 1840s, at the height of his life, wrote a number of his most famous poems and is in contact with composers, singers and singers' associations all over Switzerland. He is deeply concerned about the political rifts in Switzerland, albeit with a clear stance of his own. A turning point did not occur until 1855. If nature, fatherland and freedom have been the basic tones up to now, it seems above all his national dreams of hope [with the Federal Constitution of 1848] to have come true ».
At the end of the 1850s, Widmer sells his lithography business and acquires the “Zum Schöne Grund” country house in Oberstrass. He is active v. a. as an innkeeper of his many friends as well as with a small farm. After several strokes he died on May 18, 1868. Going back to his biographer Schollenberger, he is often associated with the attributes of “poet, writer, singer father and promoter of popular singing, man of good spirits, of true piety , bon vivant, popular eccentric , physical pleasure, philanthropist , politically interested person, original, cheerful nature, laid out for rough jokes, quirky guy, jasser , pipe and cigar smoker, wine lover, impulsive nature, friend of sociability, nature and animal lover ... »provided.
The Swiss psalm
At the end of the 1830s, Widmer met the Wettinger collegiate bandmaster, Father Alberich Zwyssig, as a customer of his lithography business and made friends with the musically and characteristically similar spirit. The political differences surrounding the expulsion of the Wettinger monks , in which Widmer is clearly on the side of the monastery dissolvers, have caused this friendship to wane.
Widmer is politically firmly rooted in liberal terms, but the dispute and the threatened breakup of the Swiss confederation still hurts him. He expresses this longing for a peaceful and unified Switzerland in several poems, including the original version of the “Swiss Psalm”. Presumably in the spring of 1841 he presented the text to the "Bees entertainment circle". “The friends were deeply moved” writes Schollenberger, the text hits the patriotic nerve and the longing of that time, and so the bee friends decide to pass Widmer's text on to Zwyssig for setting without his knowledge.
Zwyssig remembers an earlier composition, the musical expressiveness of which he finds again in Widmer's “Schweizerpsalm”, and which he would like to underlay with the text, which must, however, be adapted. Zwyssig and Widmer contact them by letter to bring the text into the final form. Since the correspondence has not been received, it cannot be clarified who suggested or made which change. After the Swiss Psalm was set to music, which was first heard in the autumn of 1841, the author and composer remained on friendly terms and Zwyssig visits Widmer about annually.
| Original text of the Swiss Psalm by Leonhard Widmer 1840 | Text after setting by Alberich Zywssig (completely new words in italics ) | |
|---|---|---|
|
1 |
Step forward in the light of the dawn, |
If you step in the dawn, therefore, I |
|
2 |
Step along in the glow of the evening, forever |
So come in the evening glow, I'll |
|
3 |
Step into the gray sea of fog, |
Dies in fog flor therefore |
|
4th |
Step into the wild storm, |
So drive in the wild storm. |
The original text and the text set to music differ only slightly. In particular, the Unitarian image of God and the formative titles of God are preserved. The anthropomorphic appearance of God in images of nature is reinforced by the additional “come”, “pull” and “drive”. Likewise, the danger of pantheistically identifying God and the image of nature is increased if God is seen and found in the image of nature instead of just being sought. In return, these changes adapt Widmer's strict text to the voluminous melody. Widmer's core theme, concern for the future of divided Switzerland and his call for unity (“Pray, Swiss, pray!”), Which is reflected in the search for and forebearance of the noble fatherland, is, however, pushed back.
The other two changes emphasize trusting God , the tenor of Zwyssig's life. In verse 4, there is a specific talk of childlike (i.e. unconditional) trust in every need (not only during thunderstorms). In verse 2, a worried, longing “should I dream” becomes a trusting “can I dream”.
Poems set to music
A small selection of Widmer's most famous poems set to music:
- Alpenleben ( Where mountains rise ), set to music by JG Laib
- Schweizerheimweh ( It lives in every Swiss breast ), set to music by JR Weber
- Longing for the mountains, set to music by Ignaz Heim
- S'Schwyzerhüüsli, set to music by Franz Abt
Individual evidence
- ↑ Hunziker, p. 12 f. The disputes, of course, did not take place, or only between denominations , but above all between conservative and progressive circles among Reformed and Catholics .
- ↑ Spörri, p. 21
- ↑ It is unclear whether the Schweizerpsalm was already the title of the original poem. Spörri claims this, but Hunziker reproduces the text without a title and is otherwise silent about the origin of the title.
- ↑ The time or period of origin of the poem cannot be clearly clarified. Spörri states on page 10 that it was written in 1840. The Catholic hymn book of German-speaking Switzerland (No. 563) writes "before 1841". Meng (p. 38) begins in the summer of 1841 when the poem arrives at Zwyssig - the text and lecture to the bee friends are therefore certainly (shortly) before that. Hunziker (p. 26) relocates the whole event to the year 1842 without a traceable source being named.
- ↑ Hunziker (p. 29) essentially attributes the change to Widmer, Spörri (p. 11) essentially to Zwyssig.
- ↑ The first two stanzas of the text follow Zwyssig's handwriting in the Swiss National Library of Bern, true to the letter
-
↑ There are three deviations from later versions of the Swiss Psalm and today's Swiss national anthem:
- In verse 1 is held Alpenfirn often Alpine Firn . The official national anthem has returned to the original spelling in one word
- In verse 3 the national anthem writes Tritt die Sonne ...
- The Lord has been added to the refrain
- ↑ after Hunziker, p. 17 ff.
literature
- Hermann Schollenberger: Leonhard Widmer. «The poet of the Swiss psalm». Sauerlander, Aarau 1906.
- Fritz Hunziker: Leonhard Widmer, the poet of the Swiss Psalm. A poet from the people for the people. Ebner, Meilen 1958.
- Hubert Spörri: Leonhard Widmer, P. Alberik Zwyssig and the Swiss Psalm. Widmer-Zwyssig patrons' association publishing house, Wettingen 2008.
- Swiss psalm. Modifications made by Bonifaz Kühne. Poetry after Leonhard Widmer. Composer: Alberich Zwyssig. [Score], 9th edition; for 4-part mixed choir. Euphonia-Musikverlag, Hochdorf [1993]
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Widmer, Leonhard |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Swiss poet, promoter of popular song and founder of a music shop with a publisher |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 12, 1808 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Field miles |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 18, 1868 |
| Place of death | Oberstrasse |