Tomorrow, children, there will be something

Tomorrow, children, there will be something , a melody based on Carl Gottlieb Hering

Giving presents under the Christmas tree (around 1860)

Tomorrow, children, there will be something (original title: Die Weihnachtsfreude ) is a German Christmas carol that is spread with two melodies.

Emergence

There are different representations of the origin of the song. Max Friedlaender prints the first stanza in his book Das deutsche Lied im 18. Jahrhundert and states that in 1795 the 2nd edition of the songs for the formation of the heart by Karl Friedrich Splittegarb (1753–1802) from Mittel Steinkirch near Lauban in the Upper Lusatia was published for the first time. Splittegarb's text is titled Die Weihnachtsfreude and consists of seven stanzas. But it goes back to an older song that started with the words Tomorrow! there will be something tomorrow! begins and is printed in the small children's library by Joachim Heinrich Campe (1746-1818) published 1779–82 . Probably because of the title Frizchen's Christmas Joy , some editions of Büchmann's Winged Words suggest that Christian Adolph Overbeck might be hiding behind the unknown author of this poem . However , the poem cannot be found in Overbeck's collection of Fritzchen's songs . This song was set to music in 1783 by Johann Philipp Kirnberger (1721–1783) and in 1787 by Johann Friedrich Reichardt (1752–1814).

Settings of Splittegarb's new text appeared in 1809 in the New Practical Singing School for Children by Carl Gottlieb Hering (1766-1853) and in 1811 in the melodies for the song collection of Martin Friedrich Philipp Bartsch (1770-1833) published in Berlin . Friedlaender names Bartsch as the composer for the latter melody version (with question marks). In several song books the text of the song is wrongly attributed to Bartsch. He is said to have written it in 1809 in a Berlin folk tune .

content

Children before the presents in 1952

Following a development of Christmas carols in the early 19th century after the Enlightenment and secularization , the mythical content of Christmas , the birth of Jesus , is not even mentioned in the lyrics. Instead, the author focuses on describing the children's anticipation of the Christmas presents .

This anticipation is nourished by the memory of the decorated room and the numerous gifts from the previous year. There is still no talk of a Christmas tree , as it is sung about in the later songs O Tannenbaum (1824) and At the Christmas tree the lights are burning (1841).

The conclusion is a reminder to be grateful to the parents who - and not the Christ Child or Santa Claus - have been taking care of the festival for a long time.

As a satire on the sentimentality of the bourgeois Christmas party and the Christmas carols singing about it, the German writer Erich Kästner wrote a socially critical parody of this song in 1927 under the title Christmas song, chemically cleaned , which begins with the words "Tomorrow, children, there will be nothing" and the The content of this song is reversed: Poor children do not receive any presents and should not wish for any.

text

The joy of Christmas.

Tomorrow, children, there will be something!
Tomorrow we will be happy!
What bliss, what life
Will be in our house;
We'll wake up one more time,
Heysa, then it's Christmas Day!

How then will the room shine
From the great number of lights! More
beautiful than with happy dances
A cleaned crown hall.
Do you remember how it was last year
on holy evening

Do you still remember my horse on wheels?
Malchen's nice shepherdess?
Jettchen's kitchen with the stove,
and the polished tin?
Heinrich's colorful Harlequin
With the yellow violin?

Do you still remember the big wagon,
And the beautiful hunt of Bley?
Our little clothes to wear,
and all that nibbling?
My hard-working sawman
with the ball below?

What a beautiful day tomorrow is!
We hope for new joy.
Our good parents have been taking care of
this for a long, long time.
Oh, of course, whoever does not honor her is
not worthy of all pleasure.

No, you sisters and you brothers,
let us be grateful to them , And to our
good parents again
tenderness and love,
And make the most honest effort
to flee everything that offends them.

Let us not look
envious of one another at the presents ;
Instead, think of things:
"How do we keep them beautiful,
That their cuteness will
delight us for a long time afterwards?"

A doll stove , as sung about in the additional stanza

In some prints another stanza of unknown origin is inserted:

Do you still remember the games, books
and the beautiful rocking horse,
beautiful clothes, want cloths,
dollhouse, doll's stove ?
Tomorrow the candles shine,
tomorrow we will be happy.

melody

Melody by Carl Gottlieb Hering (1809):

Alternative melody version (Max Friedlaender states that he "unfortunately could not determine anything about their origin [...]". Some songbooks name "Berlin around 1811" as the origin):

Another alternative melody version, based on the folk song What can please you more :

literature

• Max Friedlaender: The German song in the 18th century . Sources and Studies. JG Cotta'sche Buchhandlung Nachhaben, Stuttgart / Berlin 1902, p. 424 ( Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).
• Ernst Klusen : German songs . second edition. Insel Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1981, ISBN 3-458-04827-8 , p. 810, 857 .
• Ingeborg Weber-Kellermann : The book of Christmas carols . 151 German Advent and Christmas carols. 12th edition. Schott, Mainz 2008, ISBN 978-3-254-08213-8 , pp. 248 ff .
• We sing the most beautiful Christmas carols . Herder Verlag, Freiburg im Breisgau 2008, ISBN 978-3-451-30097-4 , p. 18, 61 .

Web links

Commons : Tomorrow, children, there will be something  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Wikisource: The joy of Christmas

Wikisource: Tomorrow, children, there will be something

• Tomorrow, children, there will be something. In: www.ingeb.org. Retrieved on December 1, 2011 (text in German, melody as midi file). 
• Tomorrow, children, there will be something. In: Alojado songs archive. Retrieved December 1, 2011 (text and sheet music, melody as MIDI file). 
• Tomorrow, children, there will be something. In: song project by SWR2 and Carus-Verlag. Retrieved on July 3, 2013 (text and sheet music, sung version and sing-along version as MP3, print-out version as PDF). 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} The section on the origin of the song is largely based on Friedlaender 1902, p. 424
2. ^ ^{A b} Karl Friedrich Splittegarb: Songs for the formation of the heart . 2nd Edition. Franke, Berlin 1795, p. 317-319 ( digitized version ).
3. ↑ Johann Heinrich Campe (ed.): Small children's library . Eighth ribbon. Herold, Hamburg 1782, p. 1–2 ( digitized version ).
4. ^ Georg Büchmann , continued by Walter Robert-tornow , Konrad Weidling and Eduard Ippel: Geflügelte Words; the treasure trove of quotations from the German people . 26th edition. Haude & Spener, Berlin 1919, p.  208 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
5. ^ Christian Adolph Overbeck: Fritzchens Lieder . 1781. New edition. Campe, Hamburg 1831 ( digitized version of the new edition 1831 in the Google book search)
6. ^ ^{A b} Carl Gottlieb Hering: New practical singing school for children based on an easy type of teaching . tape 4 . Fleischer, Leipzig 1809, p. 32-33 ( digitized version ).
7. ^ Klusen: German songs . P. 857
8. ↑ Martin Friedrich Philipp Bartsch: Melodies for the song collection to elevate, refine and delight the heart, a pleasant, useful and lasting Christmas, New Years and birthday present for German youth. Platen, Berlin 1811, p. 210 ( scan from Bonn University and State Library at Wikimedia Commons , PDF, 7.15 MB).
9. ↑ ^{a b} Weber-Kellermann 2008, p. 249
10. ↑ We sing the most beautiful Christmas carols , p. 61
11. ↑ Gerhard Blail: O you happy . The story of our most beautiful Christmas carols. 1st edition. Quell Verlag, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-7918-2801-0 , p. 10 .
12. ↑ ^{a b} Hildegard Meyberg (Hrsg.): Let's sing in the Christmas season . Auer, Donauwörth 1985, ISBN 3-403-01602-1 , p. 95 f .
13. ↑ Johann Nepomuk Ahle (ed.): Spiritual Christmas tree. 7th booklet: Small Christmas games, songs, poems. Pustet, Regensburg 1873, p. 31 f. ( Digitized version ).
14. ^ Hoffmann von Fallersleben , Ernst Richter : Schlesische Volkslieder , Leipzig 1842, p. 209 f. ( Text archive - Internet Archive )
15. ↑ Ludwig Erk (Hrsg.): Deutscher Liederhort: Selection of the excellent German folk songs from the past and the present with their peculiar melodies. Enslin, Berlin 1856, p. 368 f. ( Digitized in the Google book search).
16. ↑ Ludwig Erk, Franz Magnus Böhme (Ed.): Deutscher Liederhort . Volume 3. Breitkopf and Härtel, Leipzig 1894, p. 312 f. ( Digitized version ).