In 1916, Austrian emperor Franz Joseph II died and in 1918 the end came for the Empire. On November 12, 1918, the Republic of "German Austria" was proclaimed which created a precarious political situation. The Germans took advantage; they decided it was their right to lute Austria for a nice hymn. Because in 1922 the Germans stole the old Austrian imperial anthem (composed by Austrian Joseph Haydn), and made it the national anthem of the Republic of Germany. It is still in use today. They used a text by Hoffmann von Fallersleben from 1841. In 1929 the Austrians retaliated and declared the same Haydn song the Austrian national anthem (with a new text by Ottokar Kernstock). So for several years the two countries used the same melody for their national anthem! World War II and the post war era changed everything again. The humble Austrians graciously let the Germans keep the song ;o) and created their present national anthem with a text by Paula von Preradovic and a melody by W. A. Mozart. But let's go back to the beginning.

In 1792 emperor Franz II took the throne (see painting). He was not only ruler of the Habsburg dynasty but also the elected sovereign of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nations. The new emperor had trouble to win the hearts of his subjects as their ruler because of the war with France under Napoleon Bonaparte.

So the poet Lorenz Leopold Haschka was commissioned to write verses for a song that would inspire a feeling of unity. Composer Joseph Haydn was asked to set the verses into music. He called his song - suggestively - a "Volkslied," a term that can mean both a folksong and a popular or national song.
emperor Franz II
On the Emperor's birthday on February 12, 1797, Haydn's "Volkslied," later to be known as the "imperial anthem," was heard for the first time, in the presence of the imperial couple. The performance took place in the Burgtheater, between a comic opera and a tragic ballet.

In the London edition published by Broderip & Wilkinson, entitled "Hymn for the emperor," the first verse reads in Charles Burney's translation:

God preserve the Emp'ror Francis
Sov'reign ever good and great;
Save, o save him from mischances
In Prosperity and State!
May his Laurels ever blooming
Be by Patriot Virtue fed;
May his worth the world illumine
And bring back the Sheep misled!
God preserve our Emp'ror Francis!
Sov'reign ever good and great.

In a well-coordinated move, copies of Haydn's song had been sent fresh from the press to all playhouses, opera houses and similar institutions in the major cities of the Monarchy, so that it could be heard there, too, during performances on February 12. It was an excellently organized demonstration of patriotism. Right away, the song served its purpose: it was extremely popular and an important patriotic tune.

In the course of time, the song took on more and more the character of a national anthem. With the final defeat of Napoleon and the new efflorescence of a victorious Austria, Haydn's song gained official status. In 1826 it was given a place in court protocol. The court composer Franz Krommer was commissioned to do an arrangement for military band. On October 1, 1826, the Emperor issued the following order:
"It is resolved that the national anthem shall in future be played by all regimental bands when they are on parade and being inspected by personages of importance to whom a musical salute is due according to regulations .... All care shall be taken that the hymn be performed precisely in keeping with the original issued materials, for any arbitrary alteration or supposed embellishment would harm its true spirit and detract from its effect as a show of honour."

It is an indication of the quality and popularity of Haydn's melody that it was used by himself in the "Emperor Quartet" and by other composers down to our own time as a theme for variations - and that other words entirely were written to it. Some examples of blatant plagiarism include: a Hamburg edition as a "Folksong for Hamburg's Happy Citizens with Music by J. Haydn," Berlin offered it as a freemasons' song, and ten years after that it turned up in a Paris edition for the first time as an offertory in the Catholic liturgy. One of the many other "versions" was the "National Anthem for Chorus with a new text to His Majesty the King of Saxony" which was published in 1827. Considering the year, that was an act of plagiarism with a certain political explosiveness. Not a single copy of this edition is known to exist today; it may well be that it was called back after an intervention at government level.

When Emperor Franz died on March 2, 1835, he was succeeded by his son Ferdinand I, and a new text for the anthem became a political necessity. The text that was finally approved by the emperor was written by poet Baron Joseph Christian von Zedlitz. In a decree of February 12, 1836, Zedlitz's words became the official text of the national anthem. Like the original verses, they were soon translated into many languages. By now, Haydn's melody was so firmly anchored in the mind of the public as an anthem that there were no more major or demeaning plagiarisms.

But in Germany in 1841 Hoffmann von Fallersleben published his "Lied der Deutschen," giving Haydn's tune a new set of verses that was to become the source of political conflict 80 years later, as mentioned in the opening paragraph.

On December 2, 1848, Emperor Ferdinand abdicated and his 18-year-old nephew Franz Joseph came to the throne; again a new official text was needed. Long story short: Franz Joseph's marriage with Bavarian Princess Elisabeth prompted a new verse for the anthem honoring the empress. And maybe in that fact I can find some personal justification for the theft of the anthem by the Germans: after all, our beloved empress Elisabeth of Austria was of German descent...

There were no revisions or adaptations, no references to current events throughout the long reign of Emperor Franz Joseph I, though there were certainly enough incidents; Haydn's anthem was finally raised above the level of day-to-day politics.

So when you listen to today's German national anthem, you'll know that it exists because of Austrian patriotic efforts from a distant but quite imperial past time. And no one can take away that Joseph Haydn is regarded as an Austrian composer, even though in his time Germans and Austrians were not really differentiated from each other. But that's another complicated story.

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