Much of the music, and song lyrics, that I survey and document elsewhere -- being quote-unquote classical music -- comes from a different century altogether than this one.

To be specific, it's mostly the turn from the 1700's into the first half of the 1800's; said another way, the transition from the eighteenth century into the nineteenth century. I especially find myself dwelling on French-language and German-language writings of the time.

And what an edifying contrast there is between the German-speaking lyricists, composers, and music-loving, German-speaking public of the early 1800's, as well as the French-speaking ones, with those of the early 2000's.

It makes me stop and think, to read Thompson's description of the French and the Germans of today, commemorating the events of 1917. In 1817, and for generations after, the German-speaking governments and nations saw things very differently indeed, and it all plays out in the song lyrics sung by the "Gesangvereinen" in which German-speaking men sang in choruses.

Napoleon in one century; Hitler in a later century; entire countries polarized for or against them, and the nationalism growing ever more intense. "Triumphalism" is a fit word for much of the sentiment in those places at that time.

I fear that the United States has much to learn before we can do as the French and Germans are capable of doing when they commemorate Armistice Day.