Er lebe hoch! Wo ist der Kaiser?

[muckefuck]

Die Österreichischen Kaiserhymnen, auch Volkshymnen genannt, waren von 1826 bis 1918 die offiziellen Hymnen des Kaiserreichs Österreich (ab 1867 Österreich-Ungarns). In der Habsburger Monarchie gab es keine National- oder Landeshymne im eigentlichen Sinne. Vielmehr waren die Hymnen dem jeweils amtierenden Kaiser gewidmet. Daher änderte sich der Text bei jedem Thronwechsel, während die von Joseph Haydn stammende Melodie beibehalten wurde.

Summary: The closest thing to a "national anthem" in pre-war Austria was the "Kaiserhymn" or "Imperial Anthem", whose lyrics changed with every emperor (although the opening words Gott erhalte... "May God preserve..." were generally maintained), but were always set to a tune composed by Joseph Haydn in 1797.

You know this tune: In 1841, thirty years before there existed a country called "Deutschland", the German poet Hoffmann von Fallersleben wrote lyrics to it beginning with the now infamous line "Deutschland, Deutschland über alles, über alles in der Welt". It wasn't until the Weimar Republic, however, that this version became the official national anthem of Germany.

Until then, the German monarchy's answer to the "Imperial Anthem" of Austria was "Heil dir im Siegerkranz", with lyrics written by the Schleswigian parson Heinrich Harries originally to honour the Danish King Christian VII. As it turns out, you know this melody, too: It's "God Save the King"!

The current national anthem of Austria is neither "Gott erhalte unsern Kaiser!" or the Radetzky March, but "Land der Berge, Land am Strome", with lyrics dating back only to 1946. The melody was supposed to be from Mozart (KV 623a, a.k.a. "Kettenlied"), but the modern consensus is that it was actually written by his Freemason buddy Johann Holzer.

Comments

[lhn.livejournal.com]

Until then, the German monarchy's answer to the "Imperial Anthem" of Austria was "Heil dir im Siegerkranz", with lyrics written by the Schleswigian parson Heinrich Harries originally to honour the Danish King Christian VII. As it turns out, you know this melody, too: It's "God Save the King"!

Well, that's something to trot out the next time someone points out that we swiped the tune for "My Country 'Tis of Thee" from the British.