Stories of Famous Songs, Vol 2

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STORIES OF
December, 1893, the centenary of its publica-tion. It was on the return to the Prussian capital of Field-Marshal Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick after his successful engagements with the French at Pirmasens and Kaiserlautern, in Bavaria, that there appeared in the " Spenersche Zeitung," of December 17th, 1793, a poem entitled " Berliner Volksgesang.', It was signed " Sr" and had " Heil Dir im Siegeskranz" as the opening words. The poem had been sent to the paper by Dr. Balthasar Gerhard Schu-macher, who was in the habit of signing his Latin translations " Sutor" or " Si*," b u t he was not the writer. The real author was a German Protestant clergyman, Heinrich Harries (1767-1802), and the hymn appeared in its original form in the " Fleusburger Wochen-blatt" of January 27th, 1790, as a "Song for the Danish Subjects to Sing on the Birthday of their King." In 1873, Dr. Ochmann took up the question of authorship and established Harries's claims, while Dr. Wolfram succeeded in proving that Schumacher, at any rate, was not the original writer. The last two stanzas of Harries's song had reference to Danish affairs, and were, therefore, omitted by Schu-macher, but in 1801 Schumacher published another version, also adding two verses, and the
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