Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser
"Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser" (German pronunciation: [ɡɔt ɛʁˈhaltə fʁants dən ˈkaɪ̯zɐˈ]; lit. '"God save Francis the Emperor"') was a personal anthem to Francis II, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and later of the Austrian Empire, with lyrics by Lorenz Leopold Haschka (1749–1827) and music by Joseph Haydn. It is sometimes called the "Kaiserhymne" (German: [ˈkaɪ̯zɐˈhʏmnə]; Emperor's Hymn). Haydn's tune has since been widely employed in other contexts: in works of classical music, in Christian hymns, in alma maters, and as the tune of the "Deutschlandlied", the national anthem of Germany.
English: God preserve Francis the Emperor
Kaiserhymne, Volkshymne (English: Emperor's Hymn, People's Hymn)
Gott erhalte, Gott beschütze/Unsern Kaiser, unser Land! (English: God preserve, God protect/Our Emperor, our country!)
Joseph Haydn, 1797
1797
1918
As elsewhere in Haydn's music, it has been conjectured that Haydn took part of his material from folk songs he knew. This hypothesis has never achieved unanimous agreement, the alternative being that Haydn's original tune was adapted by the people in various versions as folk songs. For discussion, see Haydn and folk music.
Irrespective of the original source, Haydn's own compositional efforts went through multiple drafts, discussed by Rosemary Hughes in her biography of the composer.[4] Hughes reproduces the draft fragment given below (i.e., the fifth through eighth lines of the song) and writes: "His sketches, preserved in the Vienna National Library, show the self-denial and economy with which he struggled to achieve [the song's] seemingly inevitable climax, pruning the earlier and more obviously interesting version of the fifth and sixth lines, which would have anticipated, and so lessened, its overwhelming effect."
The original version of the song (see autograph score, above) included a single line for voice with a rather crude piano accompaniment, with no dynamic indications and what David Wyn Jones calls "an unevenness of keyboard sonority".[5] This version was printed in many copies (two different printers were assigned to the work) and sent to theatres and opera houses across the Austrian territories with instructions for performance.[5] The Vienna premiere took place in the Burgtheater on 12 February 1797, the day the song was officially released. The Emperor was present, attending a performance of Dittersdorf's opera Doktor und Apotheker and Joseph Weigl's ballet Alonzo und Cora. The occasion celebrated his 29th birthday.[5]
Not long after, Haydn later wrote three additional versions of his song:
Later composers in the Western classical canon have repeatedly quoted or otherwise employed Haydn's tune, as is demonstrated by the following chronological list. As the tune was widely known, the uses by other composers were heard as quotations and served as an emblem of Austria, of Austrian patriotism, or of the Austrian monarchy.
English: Emperor's Hymn/People's Hymn
Gott erhalte, Gott beschütze (English: God preserve, God protect)
Johann Gabriel Seidl, 1854
Joseph Haydn, 1797
- 1854 (lyrics)
- 1867 (officially in the new state)
1918
