August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben.

August Heinrich Hoffmann (April 2, 1798 - January 19, 1874), who used Hoffmann von Fallersleben as his pen name, was a German poet. He is best known for writing "Das Lied der Deutschen", which is now the national anthem of Germany, and a number of popular children's songs. Image File history File links Hoffmann_von_Fallersleben. ... Image File history File links Hoffmann_von_Fallersleben. ... April 2 is the 92nd day of the year (93rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 273 days remaining. ... 1798 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... January 19 is the 19th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1874 (MDCCCLXXIV) was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... A poet is someone who writes poetry. ... Das Lied der Deutschen (The Song of the Germans, also known as Das Deutschlandlied, The Song of Germany) has been used wholly or partially as the national anthem of Germany since 1922. ...

Biography

Hoffmann was born in Fallersleben (today Wolfsburg), Brunswick-Lüneburg, then part of the Holy Roman Empire. Fallersleben is a district in the City of Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, with about 12,000 inhabitants (2004). ... Wolfsburg is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany. ... Brunswick-Lüneburg was an historical state within the Holy Roman Empire. ... The double-headed eagle The Holy Roman Empire was a mainly Germanic conglomeration of lands in Central Europe during the Middle Ages and the early modern period. ...

The son of a merchant and Mayor of his native city, he was educated at the classical schools of Helmstedt and Braunschweig, and afterwards at the universities of Göttingen and Bonn. His original intention was to study theology, but he soon devoted himself entirely to literature. In 1823 he was appointed custodian of the university library at Breslau, a post which he held till 1838. He was also made extraordinary professor of the German language and literature at that university in 1830, and ordinary professor in 1835. Hoffmann was deprived of his chair in 1842 in consequence of his Unpolitische Lieder (1840-1841, "Unpolitical Songs"), which gave much offence to the authorities in Prussia. Helmstedt is a city located at the eastern edge of the German state of Lower Saxony. ... Map of Germany showing Braunschweig Braunschweig [ˈbraunʃvaik] (English & French: Brunswick) is a city of 245,500 people (as of December 31, 2004), located in Lower Saxony, Germany. ... The Georg-August University of Göttingen (Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, often called the Georgia Augusta) was founded in 1734 by George II, King of Great Britain and Elector of Hanover, and opened in 1737. ... The main building, viewed from the Hofgarten. ... Theology (Greek θεος, theos, God, + λογια, logia, words, sayings, or discourse) is reasoned discourse concerning religion, spirituality and gods. ... Wrocław. ... German (called Deutsch in German; in German the term germanisch is equivalent to English Germanic), is a member of the western group of Germanic languages and is one of the worlds major languages. ... Coat of Arms of the Kingdom of Prussia, 1701-1918 Prussia (German: ; Latin: Borussia, Prutenia; Lithuanian: ; Polish: ; Old Prussian: PrÅ«sa) was, most recently, a historic state originating in East Prussia, an area which for centuries had substantial influence on German and European history. ...

In 1841, on the North Sea island of Helgoland, he penned the words to "Das Lied der Deutschen", starting with "Deutschland, Deutschland über alles". The text expresses the pan-German sentiments common in revolutionary republicans of the period and were highly inflammatory in the princedoms of the German-speaking world. This sentiment was, of course, considered high treason. The phrase über alles did not refer to militant ideas of conquest of foreign countries, but to the need for loyalty to a united Germany to replace all other regional loyalties. The North Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, located between the coasts of Norway and Denmark in the east, the coast of the British Isles in the west, and the German, Dutch, Belgian and French coasts in the south. ... Heligoland during World War I. Heligoland (in German, Helgoland and in North Frisian, Lun, Hålilönj) is a small, German, triangular-shaped island approximately 2 km long, though a smaller island east of it is usually also included. ... Das Lied der Deutschen (The Song of the Germans, also known as Das Deutschlandlied, The Song of Germany) has been used wholly or partially as the national anthem of Germany since 1922. ...

During his exile, he traveled in Germany, Switzerland and Italy, and lived for two or three years in Mecklenburg, of which he became a naturalized citizen. After the revolution of 1848 he was enabled to return to Prussia, where he was restored to his rights, and received the salary attached to a promised office not yet vacant. He married in 1849, and during the next ten years lived first in Bingerbrück, afterwards in Neuwied, and then in Weimar, where together with Oskar Schade (1826-1906) he edited the Weimarische Jahrbuch (1854-1857). The great coat of arms of Mecklenburg-Western-Pommerania Mecklenburg is a geographical area located in Northern Germany. ... —Alexis de Tocqueville, Recollections The European Revolutions of 1848, in some countries known as the Spring of Nations, were the bloody consequences of a variety of changes that had been taking place in Europe in the first half of the 19th century. ... Bingerbrück, a town of Germany, in the Prussian Rhine province, at the confluence of the Nahe and the Rhine, lying just below Bingen, and at the junction of the main lines of railway Mainz-Coblenz and Bingerbruck-Metz. ... Missing image Map of Germany showing Neuwied Neuwied is a town in the Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany, lies on the right bank of the Rhine, 8 miles below Coblenz, on the railway from Frankfurt am Main to Cologne. ... The city hall Goethe and Schiller in front of the Deutsche Nationaltheater Weimar is a city in Germany. ...

In 1860 he was appointed librarian to the Duke of Ratibor at the monasterial castle of Corvey near Höxter on the Weser, where he died in 1874. The Imperial Abbey of Corvey (German: Fürstabtei Corvey) was a Benedictine abbey on the River Weser, 2km northwest of Höxter, now in North Rhine-Westphalia. ... Höxter is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, capital of the district Höxter, prettily situated on the left bank of the Weser, 32 miles north of Kassel. ...

Evaluation

Hoffmann von Fallersleben was one of the most popular poets of modern Germany. In politics he ardently sympathized with the progressive tendencies of his time, and he was among the earliest and most effective of the political poets who prepared the way for the outbreak of 1848. As a poet, however, he acquired distinction chiefly by the ease, simplicity and grace with which he gave expression to the passions and aspirations of daily life. Although he had not been scientifically trained in music, he composed melodies for many of his songs, and a considerable number of them are sung by all classes in every part of Germany.

Among the best known is the patriotic "Das Lied der Deutschen" (Deutschland, Deutschland über alles), set to a 1797 tune by Joseph Haydn. The lyrics were written in 1841 on the island of Heligoland, then in British possession. After the small island was traded to Germany in 1890, a monument was erected in 1891 to his memory. The monument was subsequently destroyed in a series of events in and after World War II. The rocky island has survived erosion in the North Sea as well as British bombings until 1952, and thus is regarded also as a symbol of resistance. Das Lied der Deutschen (The Song of the Germans, also known as Das Deutschlandlied, The Song of Germany) has been used wholly or partially as the national anthem of Germany since 1922. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Heligoland (in German, Helgoland and in North Frisian, Lun, HÃ¥lilönj) is a small German archipelago in the North Sea. ... Combatants Major Allied powers: United Kingdom Soviet Union United States France Republic of China and others Major Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan Hungary and others Commanders Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Charles de Gaulle Chiang Kai-Shek Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tojo Regent Miklos Horthy. ...

The best of his poetical writings is his Gedichte ("Poems", 1827), but there is great merit also in his

• Alemannische Lieder ("Alemannic Songs", 1826),
• Soldatenlieder ("Soldier Songs", 1851),
• Soldatenleben ("Soldier's Life", 1852),
• Rheinleben ("Rhine Life", 1865), and in his
• Fünfzig Kinderlieder ("Fifty Children's Songs"),
• Fünfzig neue Kinderlieder ("Fifty New Children's Songs"), and
• Alte und neue Kinderlieder ("Old and New Children's Songs").

His Unpolitische Lieder, Deutsche Lieder aus der Schweiz ("German Songs from Switzerland") and Streiflichter ("Highlights") are not without poetical value, but they are mainly interesting in relation to the movements of the age in which they were written.

As a student of ancient Teutonic literature, Hoffmann von Fallersleben ranks among the most persevering and cultivated of German scholars, some of the chief results of his labors being embodied in his Horae Belgicae, Fundgruben für Geschichte deutscher Sprache und Literatur ("Sources for the History of German Language and Literature"), Altdeutsche Blätter ("Old German Papers"), Spenden zur deutschen Literaturgeschichte und Findlinge.

Among his editions of particular works may be named

• Reineke Vos,
• Monumenta Elnonensia and
• Theophilus

Die deutsche Philologie im Grundriss ("Fundamentals of German Philology", 1836) was at the time of its publication a valuable contribution to philological research, and historians of German literature still attach importance to his Various people have been known by the name Theophilus. ...

• Geschichte des deutschen Kirchenliedes bis auf Luther ("History of the German Church Song until Luther", 1832; 3rd ed., 1861),
• Unsere volkstümlichen Lieder ("Our Folk Songs", 3rd ed., 1869) and
• Die deutschen Gesellschaftslieder des 16. und 17. Jahrh. ("German Society Songs of the 16th and 17th Centuries", 2nd ed., 1860).

In 1868-1870 Hoffmann published in 6 vols. an autobiography, Mein Leben: Aufzeichnungen und Erinnerungen ("My Life: Notes and Memories", an abbreviated ed. in 2 vols., 1894). His Gesammelte Werke ("Collected Works") were edited by H. Gerstenberg in 8 vols. (1891-1894); his Ausgewählte Werke ("Selected Works") by H. Benzmann (1905, 4 vols.). See also Briefe von Hoffmann von Fallersleben und Moritz Haupt an Ferdinand Wolf ("Letters by Hoffmann von Fallersleben and Moritz Haupt to Ferdinand Wolf", 1874); J. M. Wagner, Hoffmann von Fallersleben, 1818-1868 (1869-1870), and R. von Gottschall, Portraits und Studien ("Portraits and Studies", vol. v., 1876).

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben

• Selected texts at Project Gutenberg (in German)

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