Swear by these bare weirs

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Rudolf Baumbach

Swear by this sheer defense (also fraternity song or, since 1897, honor, freedom, fatherland ! ) Is an originally Austrian student song and the unofficial anthem of the German fraternity . The text was written by Rudolf Baumbach in 1879 ; the setting was done by Hans Treidler that same year.

Story of the song

Rudolf Baumbach, then a well-known poet, created the text of the song in 1879 for a competition organized by the Vienna student magazine Alma mater , which was to honor the three best Austrian student songs. The competition was intended to enable the creation of a purely Austrian Kommersbuch , and was directed against the fraternity in Austria, which had a German-free and Greater German attitude . Baumbach, himself a corps student , won the first prize with Schwört in this bare defense among 202 competitors, although the song is based on the fraternity's motto Honor, Freedom, Fatherland , and the poet was not an Austrian, but a Reich German . Hans Treidler, choir master of the Vienna Academic Choral Society and a member of the award committee, set the song to music in the same year with the tune that is still popular today.

Austria-Hungary and the Adriatic Sea at the end of the 19th century

In a first draft, the beginning of the third stanza was "Austria, you land of honor" . The seas mentioned in this stanza ("wet seas") were originally meant to be the Adriatic , which Austria bordered at that time ( see also: Austrian coastal land ). The final and award-winning text was, as it is today, “Fatherland, you land of honor” , although the judges took Austria as a matter of course.

After this song did not achieve the expected success in Austria and was also applicable to (all) Germany due to the change to Vaterland , the German Burschenschaft adapted it and used it as their association anthem since around 1885, but without ever making a decision about it . Since 1897, the song has been part of the General German Kommersbuch under the title "Ehre, Freiheit, Vaterland" .

melody

\ relative c '{\ key c \ minor es4. d8 es8 g8 bes8 c8 | c4 bes4 r4 g8 f8 | es4. es8 aes4. aes8 | f2 r4 g8 aes8 | bes4 bes4 c4. bes8 | es4 g, 4 r4 g8 a8 | bes4. g8 a4. d8 | g, 2 r4 g8 g8 \ bar "||" | \ time 3/4 aes4 aes4 c8 c8 | b4 g4 a8 b8 \ bar "||" | \ time 4/4 c4 d4 es4 c4 | d2 r2 | \ bar "|:" es4. es8 es4 d4 | c4. c8 c4 bes 4 | aes4 c4 bes4 es, 4 | g2. f4 | es2 r2 \ bar ": |" } \ addlyrics {Swear by this blank | Woe - re, swear, brothers, all - to - | times: Flec - ken - | pure be our - sre | Eh - re like a | Shield of lich - tem | Steel. What we | swear be - | keep faithfully | to the last | Rest | Hear it, you boys, | hear it, you old people, | God in Heaven, | hear it too | you! }

text

The lyrics in the Allgemeine Deutsche Kommersbuch
1.

 Swear by this sheer weir,
 swear, brothers and sisters, in all cases:
 Our honor be spotless,
 like a shield of light steel.
 What we swear will be
 faithfully kept until the last rest;
 |: Hear it, you boys, hear it, you old folks,
 God in heaven, you hear it too!  : |
2.
 Freedom, fragrant heavenly flower,
 morning star after an anxious night!
 Faithful to your sanctuary
 we all stand on the watch.
 What our ancestors won,
 we keep in strong hat;
 |: Freedom writes on your flags,
 our blood for freedom!  : |

 3.

 Fatherland, you land of honor,
 proud bride with a free forehead!
 The oceans wet your feet, the
 crown of your head is crowned by the firn.
 Let us court your favor,
 shield you in our hand;
 |: your in life, your in dying,
 glory wreathed fatherland!  : |
4.
 If the bat
 swings bare blades, lifts the cups, knocks!
 Our striving, our struggle, be it known to
 all the world.
 Let the boys banner float,
 hold it up with a strong hand,
 |: roaring let the call ring out:
 Honor, freedom, fatherland!  : |

use

As the anthem of the German fraternity, Schwört is sung annually at the end of the negotiations of the boys' day as a “ fraternity song ” at these bare defenses . The frequency of use is very different in the individual member fraternities, but the song is always sung by members of the German fraternity while standing.

In its capacity as an Austrian student song , Schwört is still sung today by many Catholic-Austrian student associations in this sheer defense . Deviating from the official version printed in the Austrian Kommersbuch , many Catholic couleur students add the word “God” in the last line of the fourth stanza: God, honor, freedom, fatherland , in order to set themselves apart from non-Catholic corporations.

It is also the company song of the 6th training company of the Mountain Infantry Battalion 232 of the German Federal Armed Forces .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Österreichisches Kommersbuch , Edition Helbling 1984, page 158. The book is published by the MKV on behalf of the ÖCV and the KÖL .