| Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser | |
| English Title: | God preserve Francis the Emperor |
| Prefix: | Imperial |
| Country: | Habsburg monarchy |
| Alt Title: | Kaiserhymne, Volkshymne |
| En Alt Title: | Emperor's Hymn, People's Hymn |
| Alt Title 2: | Gott erhalte, Gott beschütze/Unsern Kaiser, unser Land! |
| En Alt Title 2: | God preserve, God protect/Our Emperor, our country! |
| Author: |
|
| Composer: | Joseph Haydn |
| Music Date: | 1797 |
| Adopted: | 1797 |
| Until: | 1918 |
| Successor: | "Deutschösterreich, du herrliches Land Deutschlandlied " |
| Predecessor: | Vivat terra sancta |
| Sound: | Deutschlandlied played by USAREUR Band.ogg |
| Sound Title: | Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser (Deutschlandlied) played by the United States Navy Band Instrumental. |
"German: Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser|italic=no" (pronounced as /de/;) was a personal anthem to Francis II, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and later of the Austrian Empire, with lyrics by Lorenz Leopold Haschka (1749–1827) and music by Joseph Haydn. It is sometimes called the "Kaiserhymne" (pronounced as /de/; Emperor's Hymn). Haydn's tune has since been widely employed in other contexts: in works of classical music, in Christian hymns, in alma maters, and as the tune of the "Deutschlandlied", the national anthem of Germany.
The lyrics are as follows:
The song was written when Austria was seriously threatened by Revolutionary France and patriotic sentiments ran high. The story of the song's genesis was narrated in 1847 by Anton Schmid, who was Custodian of the Austrian National Library in Vienna:[1]
Saurau himself later wrote:
I had a text fashioned by the worthy poet Haschka; and to have it set to music, I turned to our immortal compatriot Haydn, who, I felt, was the only man capable of creating something that could be placed at the side of ... "God Save the King".[2]
"Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser" was first performed on the Emperor's birthday, 12 February 1797. It proved popular, and came to serve unofficially as Austria's first national anthem.
As elsewhere in Haydn's music, it has been conjectured that Haydn took part of his material from folk songs he knew. This hypothesis has never achieved unanimous agreement, the alternative being that Haydn's original tune was adapted by the people in various versions as folk songs. For discussion, see Haydn and folk music.
Irrespective of the original source, Haydn's own compositional efforts went through multiple drafts, discussed by Rosemary Hughes in her biography of the composer. Hughes reproduces the draft fragment given below (i.e., the fifth through eighth lines of the song) and writes: "His sketches, preserved in the Vienna National Library, show the self-denial and economy with which he struggled to achieve [the song's] seemingly inevitable climax, pruning the earlier and more obviously interesting version of the fifth and sixth lines, which would have anticipated, and so lessened, its overwhelming effect."
The original version of the song (see autograph score, above) included a single line for voice with a rather crude piano accompaniment, with no dynamic indications and what David Wyn Jones calls "an unevenness of keyboard sonority". This version was printed in many copies (two different printers were assigned to the work) and sent to theatres and opera houses across the Austrian territories with instructions for performance. The Vienna premiere took place in the Burgtheater on 12 February 1797, the day the song was officially released. The Emperor was present, attending a performance of Dittersdorf's opera Doktor und Apotheker and Joseph Weigl's ballet Alonzo und Cora. The occasion celebrated his 29th birthday.
Not long after, Haydn later wrote three additional versions of his song:
Joseph Haydn seems to have been particularly fond of his creation. During his frail and sickly old age (1802–1809), the composer often would struggle to the piano to play his song, often with great feeling, as a form of consolation; and as his servant Johann Elssler narrated, it was the last music Haydn ever played:
The Kaiser Lied was still played three times a day, though, but on 26 May [1809] at half-past midday the Song was played for the last time and that 3 times over, with such expression and taste, well! that our good Papa was astonished about it himself and said he hadn't played the Song like that for a long time and was very pleased about it and felt well altogether till evening at 5 o'clock then our good Papa began to lament that he didn't feel well...
Elssler goes on to narrate the composer's final decline and death, which occurred on 31 May.
Later composers in the Western classical canon have repeatedly quoted or otherwise employed Haydn's tune, as is demonstrated by the following chronological list. As the tune was widely known, the uses by other composers were heard as quotations and served as an emblem of Austria, of Austrian patriotism, or of the Austrian monarchy.
| Kaiserhymne/Volkshymne | |
| English Title: | Emperor's Hymn/People's Hymn |
| Prefix: | Imperial |
| Alt Title: | Gott erhalte, Gott beschütze |
| En Alt Title: | God preserve, God protect |
| Author: | Johann Gabriel Seidl |
| Lyrics Date: | 1854 |
| Composer: | Joseph Haydn |
| Music Date: | 1797 |
| Adopted: |
|
| Until: | 1918 |
| Successor: | "Deutschösterreich, du herrliches Land" (Austria) "Himnusz" (Hungary) |
After the death of Francis in 1835, the tune was given new lyrics that praised his successor, Ferdinand: "Segen Öst'reichs hohem Sohne / Unserm Kaiser Ferdinand!" ("Blessings to Austria's high son / Our Emperor Ferdinand!"). After Ferdinand's abdication in 1848, the original lyrics were used again because his successor (Francis Joseph) was also named Francis. However, in 1854, yet again new lyrics were selected: "Gott erhalte, Gott beschütze / Unsern Kaiser, unser Land!" ("God preserve, God protect / Our Emperor, our country!").
There were versions of the hymn in several languages of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (e.g., Czech, Croatian, Slovene, Hungarian, Ukrainian, Polish, Italian).
At the end of the First World War in 1918, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was abolished and divided into multiple states, one of them being the residual state of Austria, which was a republic and had no emperor. The tune ceased to be used for official purposes. When the last Emperor, Charles I, died in 1922, monarchists created an original stanza for his son Otto von Habsburg. Since the emperor was in fact never restored, this version never attained official standing.
The hymn was revived in 1929 with completely new lyrics, known as "Sei gesegnet ohne Ende", which remained the national anthem of Austria until the Anschluss. The first stanza of the hymn's 1854 version was sung in 1989 during the funeral of Empress Zita of Austria and again in 2011 during the funeral of her son Otto von Habsburg.
Long after Haydn's death, his melody was used as the tune for Hoffmann von Fallersleben's poem Das Lied der Deutschen (1841). The third stanza (which begins with "Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit") is sung to the same melody, and is the present national anthem of Germany and formerly of West Germany. The first verse of Fallersleben's poem was formerly the national anthem of the Weimar Republic,[8] and later, Nazi Germany.[9]
In the ordinary nomenclature of hymn tunes, the melody of "Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser" is classified as 87.87D trochaic metre. When employed in a hymn it is sometimes known as "Austria", or "Austrian Hymn". It has been paired with various lyrics.
| German original | English translation | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ihm erblühen Lorbeerreiser,Wo er geht, zum Ehrenkranz!Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser,Unsern guten Kaiser Franz | Laß von seiner Fahne SpitzenStrahlen Sieg und Fruchtbarkeit!Laß in seinem Rate SitzenWeisheit, Klugheit, Redlichkeit;Und mit Seiner Hoheit BlitzenSchalten nur Gerechtigkeit | Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser,Unsern guten Kaiser Franz! Ströme deiner Gaben FülleÜber ihn, sein Haus und Reich | Brich der Bosheit Macht, enthülleJeden Schelm- und Bubenstreich!Dein Gesetz sei stets sein Wille,Dieser uns Gesetzen gleich.Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser,Unsern guten Kaiser Franz | Froh erleb' er seiner Lande,Seiner Völker höchsten Flor!Seh' sie, Eins durch Bruderbande,Ragen allen andern vor | Und vernehm' noch an dem RandeSpäter Gruft der Enkel Chor.Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser,Unsern guten Kaiser Franz! | May sprigs of laurel bloom for himAs a garland of honour, wherever he goes.God keep Francis the Emperor,Our good emperor Francis! From the tips of his flagMay victory and fruitfulness shine | In his councilMay knowledge, wisdom and honesty sit!And with his Highness's lightningMay justice but prevail | God keep Francis the Emperor,Our good emperor Francis! May the abundance of thy giftsPour over him, his house and Empire | Break the power of wickedness, and revealEvery trick of rogues and knaves!May thy Law always be his Will,And may this be like laws to us.God keep Francis the Emperor,Our good emperor Francis | May he gladly experience the highest bloomOf his land and of his peoples!May he see them, united by the bonds of brothers,Loom over all others | And may he hear at the edgeOf his late tomb his grandchildren's chorus.God keep Francis the Emperor,Our good emperor Francis! |
During Haydn's lifetime, his friend the musicologist Charles Burney, made an English translation of the first verse which is more poetical albeit less literal than the one given above:
God preserve the Emp'ror FrancisSov'reign ever good and great;Save, o save him from mischancesIn Prosperity and State!May his Laurels ever bloomingBe by Patriot Virtue fed;May his worth the world illumineAnd bring back the Sheep misled!God preserve our Emp'ror Francis!Sov'reign ever good and great.
Burney's penultimate couplet about sheep has no counterpart in the original German and appears to be Burney's own contribution.
| German original | IPA transcription | English translation | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Laßt uns Seiner Väter Kroneschirmen wider jeden Feind; Innig bleibt mit Habsburgs ThroneÖsterreichs Geschick vereint. IIFromm und bieder, wahr und offenlaßt für Recht und Pflicht uns stehn,laßt, wenn's gilt, mit frohem Hoffenmuthvoll in den Kampf uns gehn!Eingedenk der Lorbeerreiser,die das Heer so oft sich wand, Gut und Blut für unsern Kaiser,Gut und Blut für's Vaterland | IIIWas der Bürger Fleiß geschaffenschütze treu des Kriegers Kraft;mit des Geistes heitern Waffensiege Kunst und Wissenschaft!Segen sei dem Land beschieden,und sein Ruhm dem Segen gleich: Gottes Sonne strahl' in Friedenauf ein glücklich Österreich | IVLaßt uns fest zusammenhalten,In der Eintracht liegt die Macht;Mit vereinter Kräfte WaltenWird das Schwere leicht vollbracht,Laßt uns Eins durch BrüderbandeGleichem Ziel entgegengehn! Heil dem Kaiser, Heil dem Lande,Österreich wird ewig stehn | VAn des Kaisers Seite waltet,Ihm verwandt durch Stamm und Sinn,Reich an Reiz, der nie veraltet,Uns’re holde Kaiserin.Was als Glück zu höchst gepriesenStröm’ auf sie der Himmel aus: Heil Franz Josef, Heil Elisen,Segen Habsburgs ganzem Haus! | 2pronounced as /[fʁoːm ʊnt ˈbiːdɐ vaːɐ̯ ʊnt ˈɔfˌn][last fyːɐ̯ ʁɛçt ʊnt pflɪçt ʊns ʃteːn][last vɛn ɛs gɪlt mɪt ˈfʁoːəm ˈhɔfˌn][muːtfɔl ɪn deːn kampf ʊns geːn][ˈaɪ̯ngəˌdɛŋk deːɐ̯ ˈlɔɐ̯ˌbeːɐ̯ˈʁaɪ̯sɐ][diː das heːɐ̯ zoː ɔft zɪç vant] [guːt ʊnt bluːt fyːɐ̯ ˈʊnzɐn ˈkaɪ̯zɐ][guːt ʊnt bluːt fyːɐ̯ ɛs ˈfaːtɐˌlant] / 3pronounced as /[vas deːɐ̯ ˈbʏɐ̯gɐ flaɪ̯s gəˈʃafˌn][ˈʃʏtsə tʁɔʏ̯ dɛs ˈkʁiːgɐs kʁaft][mɪt dɛs ˈgaɪ̯stəs ˈhaɪ̯tɐn ˈvafˌn][ˈziːgə kʊnst ʊnt ˈvɪsˌnʃaft][ˈzeːgˌn zaɪ̯ deːm lant bəˈʃiːdˌn][ʊnt zaɪ̯n ʁuːm deːm ˈzeːgˌn glaɪ̯ç] [ˈgɔtəs ˈzɔnə ʃtʁaːl ɪn ˈfʁiːdˌn][aʊ̯f aɪ̯n ˈglʏklɪç ˈøːstɐʁaɪ̯ç] / 4pronounced as /[last ʊns fɛst tsuːzamn̩ˈhɛːltˌn][ɪn deːɐ̯ ˈaɪ̯nˌtʁaxt liːkt diː maxt][mɪt fɛɐ̯ˈʔaɪ̯ntɐ ˈkʁɛftə ˈvaltˌn][vɪɐ̯t das ˈʃveːʁə laɪ̯çt fɔlˈbʁaxt][last ʊns aɪ̯ns dʊɐ̯ç ˈbʁyːdɐˈbandə][ˈglaɪ̯çˌm tsiːl ɛntˈgeːgˌngeːn] [haɪ̯l deːm ˈkaɪ̯zɐ haɪ̯l deːm ˈlandə][ˈøːstɐʁaɪ̯ç vɪɐ̯t ˈeːvɪç ʃteːn] / 5pronounced as /[an dɛs ˈkaɪ̯zɐs ˈzaɪ̯tə ˈvaltət][iːm fɛɐ̯ˈvant dʊɐ̯ç ʃtam ʊnt zɪn][ʁaɪ̯ç an ʁaɪ̯ts deːɐ̯ niː fɛɐ̯ˈʔaltət][ʊns ʁə ˈhɔːldə ˈkaɪ̯zeːʁɪn][vas als ˈglʏk tsuː høːçst gəˈpʁiːzˌn][ʃtʁøːm aʊ̯f ziː deːɐ̯ ˈhɪmˌl aʊ̯s] [haɪ̯l fʁants ˈjoːzɛf haɪ̯l eˈliːzˌn][ˈzeːgˌn ˈhapsˌbʊɐ̯ks ˈgantsˌm haʊ̯s] / | Let us defend the Crown of his fathers,Shielding it from every foe. Forever with the Habsburg Throne,Austria's fate remains united. IIDevout and honest, true and open,Let us stand for right and duty!Let us, if needed, with joyous Hope,Go courageously in the battle | Mindful of the laurel wreaths,That the army so often wove itself. Treasure and Blood for Our Emperor,Treasure and Blood for Our Fatherland! IIIWhat was wrought by the diligence of citizens,may the soldier’s power faithfully protect | With cheery weapons of mind,Arts and Science may triumph!Blessings be granted into the Land,And its fame match the blessings. God’s sunshine in peace,On a happy Austria | IVLet us always stand together,For unity there is power!With our combined strength,The difficult is easily overcome | Let us, brotherly united,Go towards the same goal. Hail to the Emperor, Hail to the Empire,Austria will forever stand! VAt the side of Emperor prevails,Related to him by descent and mind | Rich in charm that never becomes outdated,Our gracious empress!What is praised as luck most highly,Heaven pour on them | Hail to Franz Joseph, Hail to Elisabeth,Blessing to the entire House of Habsburg! |
For translations into several of the languages that were spoken in the Austrian Empire, see Translations of Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser.