| Share page | Visit Us On FB |
|
STORIES OF
is a sameness about the expressions that make them exceedingly feeble and unexciting. In Germany, as in all countries, stirring songs are only written at stirring times. The song "Schleswig-Holstein, Meerumschlungen" is still remembered in North Germany; it dates from the period when the provinces Schleswig and Holstein were struggling with Denmark for their independence. This capital piece was written in 1844 by Chemnitz. " Patriotic" songs were common under Frederick the Great, but they were mainly mere glorifications of the famous commander, and with the exception perhaps of " Fredericus Rex," I have not come across any of particular merit.
National ideas were chiefly carried on after the fall of the French First Empire by the gymnastic associations {TurnvereineA), which were very numerous just after 1816. In Germany, it is well to bear in mind, gymnastics have always been, more or less, mixed up with politics—a questionable blend which, happily, is now going out, and only lingers from force of tradition.
In the turbulent times of 1848 and 1849 " Die Fahne Schwarz-roth-gold" was very much the vogue. The principal popular song writers of this century (they are all dead) are Schenken-
112 |
||