Stories of Famous Songs, Vol 2

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FAMOUS SONGS
the same as Carey's—there is a similarity and that is all. The Prussian national hymn is un-doubtedly sung to the tune of our own national anthem. The students of Heidelberg also sing a song called " Heil dir Germania," to Carey's composition.
I give here for what it is worth the very latest history of the German National Hymn, " Heil dir im Siegeskranz," which has the same melody as u God Save the Queen," and appeared in a theological journal, "Pastor Bonus," in Trier. The story goes that the air was taken from a Siberian procession chant, and it is told as follows; It is well known that great as well as mediocre composers have borrowed their musical ideas from the rich store of Catholic church songs, but it remained undiscovered that the Prussian fatherland made a big loan from the same source. Herr E. Handtmann, from Seedorf, relates in " der Kreuzzeitung" (July ioth, 1894), from traditions of his family, that the text of the " King's-song" was made known in Silesia by Prussian soldiers in the year 1813. But nobody could sing the words. Then it happened that officers of a Silesian regiment, amongst them Scharnhorst, met a procession under the guidance of a Catholic priest wending their way to Reinery and chanting:
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