O Christmas Tree
The song O Tannenbaum (historically and regionally also O Tannebaum ) is one of the most famous Christmas carols . It is a folk tune whose text in its current form goes back to August Zarnack and Ernst Anschütz .
history
O Tannenbaum goes back to a song from the 16th century, which was quoted by Melchior Franck in a Quodlibet in 1615 and was also popular as a Silesian folk song at the beginning of the 19th century . Ludwig Erk and Franz Magnus Böhme give an even older source with the song Es ein Stallknecht his bridle in the German song library . This song contained the following verse between 1550 and 1580:
O fir, you are a noble branch,
you green winter and the dear summer time
When all trees are dry
So you green, noble little fir tree
The folk song O Tannenbaum, you carry a 'green twig ', which has been handed down from Westphalia with its now-known melody since the beginning of the 19th century, is based on the same models .
August Zarnack (1777–1827) wrote O Tannenbaum based on this song in 1819 as a tragic love song in which the constant Christmas tree is used as a symbolic contrast to an unfaithful lover. This song, in the second stanza of which “O Mägdelein, O Mägdelein, how wrong is your mind” is sung, can still be found in the General German Kommersbuch today. It became a Christmas carol after the Leipzig teacher Ernst Anschütz kept the first stanza in 1824 and replaced the remaining three with two others in which only the tree is mentioned. The setting up of firs as Christmas trees had meanwhile become a custom for a festival. The second line of the song was originally called "How faithful are your leaves" because the love song contrasted the loyalty of the tree and the infidelity of the loved one. In Anschütz 'Christmas carol this remained unchanged at first, but the text “How green are your leaves” became better known in the 20th century.
The melody has been a popular tune since the 16th century, which was sung as Long Live the journeyman carpenter even before 1799 and was also popular as the student song Lauriger Horatius .
Because of the popularity of the song and the relative simplicity of the melody, other texts were often composed to accompany the melody. For example, after the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1918, a version with lines like "O Tannenbaum ... the Kaiser has thrown in a sack, he buys a handle and starts at Krupp in Essen" or "... he pulls it." Put on blue trousers and start turning at Krupp ”. Also known are the student variant "O Christmas tree ... the teacher screwed my ass, oh Christmas tree ... that's why I ship him to the fence" and the version that turns the child's fear of Santa Claus into mockery: "O Christmas tree ... the Santa Claus wants to steal apples; he puts on his slippers so that he can sneak better ”.
There are lyrics of O Tannenbaum in many other languages. An international labor movement song called The Red Flag , the anthem of the American states of Maryland ( Maryland, My Maryland ), Florida , Michigan , Iowa, and the emblematic song of Nankai High School and University ( Tianjin , PRC) use this melody. The chant "We'll keep the blue flag flying high" by the English football club FC Chelsea is sung to this melody. There is a school song in Iceland whose text begins with “Í skólanum, í skólanum, er skemmtilegt að vera” and which is sung to the melody of “O Tannenbaum”.
text
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First published in the musical school hymn book in 1824
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O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree,
how faithful *) are your leaves!
You are not only greening in summer,
no also in winter when it snows.
O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree,
how faithful are your leaves!
O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree,
I like you very much.
How often has
a tree of yours not delighted me at Christmas time !
O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree,
I like you very much!
O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree,
your dress wants to teach me something:
Hope and constancy
give comfort and strength at all times.
O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree,
your dress wants to teach me something.
melody
- Three-part movement
literature
- Hoffmann von Fallersleben , Karl Hermann Prahl: Our folk songs. 4th edition. Engelmann, Leipzig 1900, p. 203, Textarchiv - Internet Archive .
- Birgit Horn-Kolditz: O Tannenbaum - original manuscript in the Leipzig City Archives. In: Sächsisches Archivblatt 2/2008, pp. 3–4, sachsen.de (PDF; 1.7 MB).
Web links
- Tobias Widmaier: O Tannenbaum (2007). In: Popular and Traditional Songs. Historical-critical song lexicon of the German Folk Song Archive
- Helmut Zimmermann: Where does the Christmas carol “O Tannenbaum” come from? explicit.net, December 25, 2011
- "O Christmas tree" in different languages
- Melody "O Tannenbaum" (MIDI; 2 kB)
- "My Maryland"
Individual evidence
- ↑ General German song lexicon or complete collection of all known German songs and folk chants in alphabetical order. In four volumes. Third volume: N – V. Hoßfeld, Leipzig 1846, p. 49 ( digitized in the Google book search).
- ^ German song treasure trove. A collection of the best singable songs of the German people. Graßmann, Stettin 1856, second department, p. 6 ( digitized in the Google book search).
- ↑ Ludwig Erk, Franz Magnus Böhme (Ed.): Deutscher Liederhort. Volume 1. Breitkopf and Härtel, Leipzig 1893 (reprint: Olms, Hildesheim 1963), pp. 545-548 ( digitized version ).
- ^ Ernst Anschütz: Musical school hymn book. Issue 1. Reclam, Leipzig 1824, p. 134 f. ( Digital copy from the Herzog August Library ).
- ↑ Tobias Widmaier: O Tannenbaum (2007). In: Popular and Traditional Songs. Historical-critical song lexicon of the German Folk Song Archive
- ↑ a b c Ingeborg Weber-Kellermann : The book of Christmas carols. 10th edition. Atlantis, Zurich 2003, ISBN 3-254-08213-3 , pp. 210-213.
- ↑ Wolfgang Steinitz : The great Steinitz - German folk songs of a democratic character from six centuries. Reprint in one volume. Zweiausendeins, Frankfurt 1983, ISBN 3-88436-101-5 , pp. II 576-578.
- ↑ O Tannenbaum / O Christmas Tree / O Jule Træ. Retrieved October 19, 2019 (Icelandic).
- ↑ O Tannenbaum - The original text . In: Der Tagesspiegel ; accessed on October 1, 2016