French and German Songs of the Great War

Subject: French &German Songs of the Great War
From: The Walrus
Date: 21 Apr 06 - 09:47 PM

I'm looking for French and German songs of the Great War period for a living history group songbook, Can anyone help me please?

I'm after any kind of song of the period, 'popular/music hall type, sentimental, cynical, military or civilian - I have one or two, but not enough.

Does anyone have the French words for "Treue Husar" (I believe it exists as both a German and French song).

A final question. Is the "Englandsleider"/"Marinerleider" ("Wir fahren gegen England") a First World War song? I know the lyrics predate the Great War, but when were they set to music?

Thanks.

Walrus

p.s. Apologies for any spelling errors in the German, but I have enough problems with English.

Subject: ADD: Der Treue Husar
From: Joe Offer
Date: 22 Apr 06 - 03:45 AM

You didn't ask for the German version of this song, but I thought I'd post it anyhow.

Der Treue Husar

from http://ingeb.org/Lieder/dertreue.html, which says the song dates to 1825.

1. Es war einmal ein treuer Husar, Der liebt' sein Mädchen ein ganzes Jahr, |: Ein ganzes Jahr und noch viel mehr,    Die Liebe nahm kein Ende mehr. :| 2. Der Knab' der fuhr ins fremde Land, Derweil ward ihm sein Mädchen krank, |: Sie ward so krank bis auf den Tod,    Drei Tag, drei Nacht sprach sie kein Wort. :| 3. Und als der Knab' die Botschaft kriegt, Daß sein Herzlieb am Sterben liegt, |: Verließ er gleich sein Hab und Gut,    Wollt seh'n, was sein Herzliebchen tut. :| 4. Ach Mutter bring' geschwind ein Licht, Mein Liebchen stirbt, ich seh' es nicht, |: Das war fürwahr ein treuer Husar,    Der liebt' sein Mädchen ein ganzes Jahr. :| 5. Und als er zum Herzliebchen kam, Ganz leise gab sie ihm die Hand, |: Die ganze Hand und noch viel mehr,    Die Liebe nahm kein Ende mehr. :| 6. "Grüß Gott, grüß Gott, Herzliebste mein! Was machst du hier im Bett allein?" |: "Hab dank, hab Dank, mein treuer Knab'!    Mit mir wird's heißen bald: ins Grab!" :| 7. "Grüß Gott, grüß Gott, mein feiner Knab. Mit mir wills gehen ins kühle Grab. |: "Ach nein, ach nein, mein liebes Kind,    Dieweil wir so Verliebte sind." :| 8. "Ach nein, ach nein, nicht so geschwind, Dieweil wir zwei Verliebte sind; |: Ach nein, ach nein, Herzliebste mein,    Die Lieb und Treu muß länger sein. :| 9. Er nahm sie gleich in seinen Arm, Da war sie kalt und nimmer warm; |: "Geschwind, geschwind bringt mir ein Licht!    Sonst stirbt mein Schatz, daß's niemand sicht. :| 10. Und als das Mägdlein gestorben war, Da legt er's auf die Totenbahr. |: Wo krieg ich nun sechs junge Knab'n,    Die mein Herzlieb zu Grabe trag'n? :| 11. Wo kriegen wir sechs Träger her? Sechs Bauernbuben die sind so schwer. |: Sechs brave Husaren müssen es sein,    Die tragen mein Herzliebchen heim. :| 12. Jetzt muß ich tragen ein schwarzes Kleid, Das ist für mich ein großes Leid, |: Ein großes Leid und noch viel mehr,    Die Trauer nimmt kein Ende mehr. :|

tr. Frank 1999 A faithful soldier, without fear, He loved his girl for one whole year, For one whole year and longer yet, His love for her, he'd ne'er forget. This youth to foreign land did roam, While his true love, fell ill at home. Sick unto death, she no one heard. Three days and nights she spoke no word. And when the youth received the news, That his dear love, her life may lose, He left his place and all he had, To see his love, went this young lad. Oh mother dear, bring light to me, My darling dies, I cannot see. He was indeed a soldier true, Who loved his girl, a whole year through. And as to his dearheart he went, Without a word, her hand she lent. She lent her hand, and then much more. That love would last for evermore. Hello my dear, love of my own, What do you here, in bed alone? Thank you, thank you, my faithful friend, With me, it soon will be the end. Hello my dear, my faithful knave, Soon I will be in a cool grave. Oh no, oh no, my honeychild, Our love will make your illness mild. Oh no, oh no, not quite so fast, Not for as long our love would last. Oh no, oh no, dearheart to me, Our love and faih must longer be. He took her in his arms to hold, She was not warm, forever cold. Oh quick, oh quick, bring light to me, Else my love dies, no one will see. And when the maid, in death lay here, Her body he laid on a bier. Where can I get six strong young men, To the grave carry my love then. Pallbearers we need two times three, Six farmhands they are so heavy. It must be six of soldiers brave, To carry my love to her grave. A long black coat, I must now wear. A sorrow great, is what I bear. A sorrow great and so much more, My grief it will end nevermore.

Subject: RE: French and German Songs of the Great War
From: Joe Offer
Date: 22 Apr 06 - 03:52 AM

http://ingeb.org/WWII.html has lots of German songs from WWII, but I don't know about WWI.
Before my time...
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: French and German Songs of the Great War
From: Dunkle
Date: 22 Apr 06 - 07:46 AM

If you go to the French site of Yahoo, and type in "chansons de 14-18" in the search box, you'll get a couple of his that might be useful...

Subject: RE: French and German Songs of the Great War
From: Wolfgang
Date: 23 Apr 06 - 06:34 AM

I'll have a look. I have two books (not here) that have these songs.
"Denn wir fahren gegen Engelland" on the ingeb.org site gives 1939 for the tune. The sentiment of the lyrics is definitely WWI, or shortly before WWI when the German fleet was built.

A very typical song of WWI was BTW that song that the socialists (and not Hitler, he just used it) made the National anthem after WWI, the "Deutschlandlied". It is still our NA though the jingoistic first verse and the not really patriotic second verse are never sung. (The official anthem during WWI was a hymn to the emperor sung to the tune that the British still use today as NA). The Deutschlandlied had been written long before WWI (tune even earlier), but the song was first sung officially in 1890 (when Heligoland came back to Germany; the Deutschlandlied had been written in Heligoland that's why it was played at that event) and took off in 1914 when young German soldiers stupidly were sent to storm against machine gun fire singing this song in Langemarck. The official army report line "they died with the Germany-song on their lips" (starben mit dem Deutschlandlied auf den Lippen) became famous and that's why after the war, when the hymn to the emperor did not make sense any longer, only this song and none else could become the NA. In that that that song is a WWI song.

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: French and German Songs of the Great War
From: Wolfgang
Date: 23 Apr 06 - 06:42 AM

In a reprint of a report of a visit of the emperor at the Russian front in 1915 I read that two songs were sung at that event: Heil Dir im Siegerkranz (then the NA) and the Deutschlandlied.

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: French and German Songs of the Great War
From: Wilfried Schaum
Date: 24 Apr 06 - 03:08 AM

Objections, Wolfgang:

Inofficial story about Langemarck: The poor young guys in the trenches sang the Lied der Deutschen (correct title given by the author) to show the forward observers that they were raked by friendly fire falling short. To identify troops by a common song was not unknown in martial history.

In my humble opinion the Lied der Deutschen is far from jingoism. It expresses the yearning for a united fatherland not separated into more than 30 particular states fighting one another (1866!); I read here a sincere love to his land written by an author in exile.

It was made national anthem not by the socialists, but the social democrats. Remember that the socialist uprisings were crushed by the military under the command of a social democratic minister of war (Noske).

And the Englandlied was written by Hermann Loens (1866-1914), KIA as a volunteer on the Western front. The melody now used was written by Herms Niel, 1939. He was a very famous composer of military propaganda songs in WWII.

Subject: RE: French and German Songs of the Great War
From: Wilfried Schaum
Date: 24 Apr 06 - 03:27 AM

The far most complete collection of WWI war and soldier songs I know is:

Olt, Reinhard:
Krieg und Sprache : Untersuchungen zu deutschen Soldatenliedern des Ersten Weltkriegs / von Reinhard Olt
   Giessen : W. Schmitz, 1980-1981
(Beitr�ge zur deutschen Philologie ; 47-48)
Originally presented as the author's thesis (doctoral)--Giessen [1980]
T. 1. [without special title]. - ISBN 3877110282
T. 2. Deutsche Soldatenlieder. - ISBN 3877110231

(available in the British Library and the Library of Congress)

The second volume contains all the songs collected by the Deutsches Volksliedarchiv (German folk song archive) with a standard questionnaire during WWI. There are, unfortunately, no tunes given, but with a bit of luck one may find them at ingeb.org (see my post above). Or ask this man.

Subject: RE: French and German Songs of the Great War
From: GUEST,Mrr
Date: 24 Apr 06 - 12:34 PM

Auprès de ma blonde was a WWI song, no?

Subject: RE: French and German Songs of the Great War
From: GUEST,Pete Peterson
Date: 24 Apr 06 - 01:09 PM

I think Aupres de ma Blonde goes back to the Napoleonic wars. Don't have a source to quote but remember a John Dickson Carr novel "Captain Cutthroat" set in the time where the Grande Armee is marching away to their favorite song.. .

Subject: RE: French and German Songs of the Great War
From: GUEST,Joe_F
Date: 24 Apr 06 - 08:39 PM

One might mention "Lili Marleen". It was written (all but the last stanza) during W.W. I, by a soldier in that war. It did not become popular until W.W. II, tho.

--- Joe Fineman    [e-mail]

||: Math problems? Call 1-800-[(10x)(13i)^2]-[sin(xy)/2.362x]. :||

Subject: RE: French and German Songs of the Great War
From: Wilfried Schaum
Date: 25 Apr 06 - 02:38 AM

Aupres de ma blonde was sung by the French troops during the battle of Malplaquet in 1709 to identify them in the powder smoke.

Subject: RE: French and German Songs of the Great War
From: Wolfgang
Date: 25 Apr 06 - 01:44 PM

Wilfried,

I actually agree with most of your objections.
I know the correct title of the NA but I use the title which is much more common now.
I have at least twice told here in Mudcat what the real meaning of the first verse was (same as you tell here), but it is internationally perceived as jingoistic.
I know the difference between the SPD, the USPD and the KPD. I have used the word by which they would have referred to themselves, namely 'socialists'. That the majority of SPD members do not refer to themselves as Sozialisten is fairly recent, just about three decades old.

The only objection I do not agree with is Langemarck. While your story is intriguing it is at odds with numerous reports. Here's for instance how der Deutschlandfunk (Funk der Deutschen?) did report it in a historic feature:

Es ist der Tag nach dem Gefecht von Langemark, jener flandrischen Ortschaft, die zum Sinnbild des massenhaften maschinellen Todes auf dem Schlachtfeld werden sollte. Mit dem "Deutschlandlied" auf den Lippen rannten vor allem junge Kriegsfreiwillige gegen die alliierten Stellungen an.

You can find similar reports even on sites from the Bundeswehr (here for instance).

I need more than a theory to believe that all those reports are wrong.

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: French and German Songs of the Great War
From: Wolfgang
Date: 25 Apr 06 - 02:00 PM

For Wilfried. Here is the source for the Langemarck story and it's in the official report of the German Army from November 11, 1914, but maybe they did lie to our grandparents then):

Aus dem Bericht der obersten Heeresleitung vom 11. Nov. 1914: Westlich von Langemarck brachen junge Regimenter unter dem Gesange 'Deutschland, Deutschland über alles' gegen die erste Linie der feindlichen Stellungen vor und nahmen sie.

Wolfgang

Subject: ADD: Wo Matrosen Sind
From: Joe Offer
Date: 04 Sep 09 - 04:32 PM

I don't know when this song was written, but I like it. As you can see from this YouTube video, it was used during WWII. Here (click) is a medley of WWII Kriegsmarine songs. I suppose there is a question about the advisability of posting WWII German songs, but I find them interesting. You will note that YouTube has deleted this collection.

But this is just a nice sailor song.

Wo Matrosen Sind
(Franz Funk)

Wo Matrosen sind, ist es schön mein Kind,
Denn ein Seemann der fragt nicht nach Geld.

Heute liebt er hier, Morgen liebt er dort,
Und so geht es herum um die Welt,
Doch das Meer ist sein einziger Schatz,
Darum hält ihm kein anderer Platz.

Wo Matrosen sind, ist es schön mein Kind,
Denn der Seemann ist frei wie der Wind.

Gestern noch hast du mich glücklich gemacht,
Heute schon geht es im See,
Hab ich die heuer auch ganz durch gebracht
Tut dir das weiter nicht weh.

Wo Matrosen sind, ist es schön mein Kind,
Den ein Seeman der fragt nicht nach Geld

Heute liebt er hier, Morgen liebt er dort,
Und so geht es herum um die Welt,
Doch das Meer ist sein einziger Schatz,
Darum hält ihm kein anderer Platz.

Wo Matrosen sind, ist es schön mein Kind,
Denn der Seemann ist frei wie der Wind.

Subject: RE: French and German Songs of the Great War
From: AutumnStar
Date: 04 Sep 10 - 02:41 PM

REF: "Der Truer Husar". The tune of "Der Truer Husar" is long familiar in both French and Italian cultures as well. The lyrics, however, are different. My Bavarian grandmother who was born in the 1890's was well known for memorizing and singing old folksongs. "Der Truer Husar" was one of her favorites. My Italian husband is long familiar with the tune and the Italian version. We were both surprised to discover we each had our own renditions when we watched Kubrick's "Path to Glory". Apart from Wikipedia saying that "Der Treue Husar" is presumed to date back to 1825, I've found no way to learn the origins of the tune (german, french, italian or whatever) nor which lyrics were the original ones. On U-Tube, one can hear these alternative lyric versions sung in both French (even Dalida sings it) and Italian.
It would be lovely if a knowledgable folk music historian could enlighten me on the origins and evolution of both song and lyrics. My gut feeling is that this song is not of military origin but an old folk song that was part of the shared culture derived from the many villages and towns from which the soldiers came and therefore had a bonding affect on military men so far from family and community. --AutumnStar

Subject: RE: French and German Songs of the Great War
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 05 Sep 10 - 01:30 PM

What about Music Hall songs and parodies? German and French equivalents of the kind of stuff in Oh What a Lovely War.

Subject: RE: French and German Songs of the Great War
From: GUEST
Date: 02 Oct 11 - 08:10 AM

I am trying to download these songs on my e tunes. does anyone know a website to do so? Many thanks.

T.

Subject: RE: French and German Songs of the Great War
From: Charley Noble
Date: 02 Oct 11 - 01:14 PM

Another related book which I find fascinating is THE WAR POETS, by Robert Giddings, featuring the lives and writings of Rupert Brooke, Robert Graves, Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon, Edmund Blunden, and other great poets of the 1914-1918 War. Most of the poets are British but there are also some French and German ones as well.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: French and German Songs of the Great War
From: Jack Campin
Date: 05 Dec 18 - 05:07 AM

It would be interesting to see some Russian ones, given that Russia had far more casualties than any other combatant nation.