Old German Songbooks, No. 9: Hauer & Schulz, Liedertempel (between 1860 and 1900)

Here I have another song collection for girls' schools with the title Liedertempel, edited by Hermann Hauer (1812-1888) and Ferdinand Schulz (1821-1897). It consists of three small booklets with 68, 80 and 104 pages. Original copies of these songbooks are apparently not that easy to find. I only saw them in one library catalog. The Bibliothek für Bildungsgeschichtliche Forschung in Berlin has different editions - from the 3rd to the 13th - of some booklets of this series (no direct link to the results possible, search the catalog for "Liedertempel"). 

 The 13th edition of booklets 1 & 2 as well as the 12th of No. 3 were listed in Hofmeisters Monatsberichten in 1900 (p. 350). I have the 9th edition of Nos. 1 & 3 and the 10th of No. 2. One may assume that they were published some years earlier, perhaps during the '80s or early '90s. I haven't yet been able to find out when this series was first printed. 

• H. Hauer & F. Schulz, Liedertempel. Sammlung ein- und mehrstimmiger Lieder für Mädchenschulen, 3 Hefte, im Selbstverlag, Berlin n. d.
  Erstes Heft, 9. verbesserte gänzlich umgearbeitete Auflage
  Zweites Heft, 10. gänzlich umgearbeitete Auflage
  Drittes Heft, 9. Auflage
  All now available at the Internet Archive (my own scans of books from my collection)

Hermann Hauer worked as music teacher in Berlin but was also busy as a composer, organist and choirmaster. Some information about him can be found in Ledebur's Tonkünstler-Lexicon Berlin's (1861, pp. 226-7, at Google Books) and in an obituary published in the Yearly Chronicle of his school in 1889 (Friedrichs-Gymnasium. Jahresbericht über das Schuljahr 1888-89, p. 16, at Google Books). He was born in the town of Dardesheim near Halberstadt in the Harz mountains. His father was a cantor and from early on in his youth he sang in local choirs and played the organ in church. In 1832 he moved to Berlin where he studied music theory, organ and singing.

Hauer became member of the renowned Sing-Akademie and organist at a church but was also busy as a choirmaster. He founded two choral societies, one a Männergesangsverein for journeymen, the other one a mixed choir. For example in 1849 two concerts with the latter were favourably reviewed in the Neue Berliner Musikzeitung (Bd. 3, 1849, pp. 100, 389, at BStB-DS). In 1856 he was hired as a singing teacher by a Gymnasium in Berlin where he worked until his retirement for health reasons in 1888. 

Besides that Hermann Hauer was also busy as a composer of church music and songs, wrote instructional books for singing and piano playing and edited several other song collections, for example Liederkranz für den Berliner Handwerker-Verein (2. Auflage, Berlin 1846, online available at ZLB Berlin, urn:nbn:de:kobv:109-opus-108019), Mehrstimmiges Schulliederbuch für mittlere und höhere Volksschulen (see Hofmeister XIX, December 1845, p. 191) and Auswahl mehrstimmiger Lieder für höhere Lehranstalten (see Hofmeister XIX, Juli 1900, p. 350). 

His partner and co-editor Ferdinand Schulz - born in a town in Thüringen - had a quite similar life story (see Tonkünstler-Lexicon, pp. 527-8). He also came from a musical family, his father was cantor and organist and in 1841 he moved to Berlin where he studied music theory, organ and piano. In 1843 he was hired as a singer for choir of the Berlin Cathedral (the Domchor) and later also founded a Männergesangsverein, became the conductor of a church choir and worked as a music teacher. Schulz also made himself a name as a composer, especially of pieces for the piano, songs and church music. More than 70 of his works are listed in Hofmeisters Monatsberichten. He also edited song collections, for example a Sammlung der beliebtesten Freimaurer-Gesänge für eine Singstimme mit leichter Piano-Begleitung (Berlin 1872, online available at BStB-DS).

The Liedertempel is not included in their list of works in the Tonkünstler-Lexicon. So it's likely that it was only published after 1861. This collection is quite interesting but looks a little bit old-fashioned compared to other songbooks for schools from the late 19th century. The amount of so-called "Volkslieder" is rather small. Apparently they preferred songs by notable composers, mostly what was known back then as "Lieder im Volkston", for example by Nägeli, Abt, Reichardt, Kreutzer, Schumann, Mendelsohn-Bartholdy and by Silcher. Of course they couldn't resist including some of their own works. Nonetheless their collection was in use for several decades although after the turn of the century it disappeared from the market and was eclipsed by other, more modern songbooks. 

Literature:

• Carl Freiherr von Ledebur, Tonkünstler-Lexicon Berlin's von den ältesten Zeiten bis auf die Gegenwart, Berlin 1861 (at Google Books)
• Friedrichs-Gymnasium. Jahresbericht über das Schuljahr 1888-89. Vom Direktor Professor Dr. Kempf, Berlin 1889 (at Google Books)
• Deutsche Nationalbibliothek, GND dataset for Schulz (130476897) & Hauer (11652264X, here with incorrect year of death: it should be 1888 instead of 1892; and also with a reference to book written by another author of this name. This should be corrected).

Old German Songbooks, No. 8: W. Kothe, Gesangbuch für katholische Schulen (2 editions: 1894 & 1908)

Here is another old songbook from Germany, once again one for the use in schools. This collection also had a particularly long life, not as long as the Liedersammlung by Weeber & Krauß (see here) but it remained in print for at least 50 years. I have found two editions, one from 1894 and the other one published in 1908, nearly a decade after the death of the original editor. As usual the books I have scanned are no clean library copies but were clearly heavily used by their former owners. 

• Wilhelm Kothe, Gesangbuch für katholische Schulen. Eine Sammlung von 140 ein- und mehrstimmigen Schul- und Volksliedern. Mit hoher Genehmigung des Hochwürdigen Herrn Fürstbischofs von Breslau und des Hochwürdigen Herrn Bischofs von Ermland. 19., verbesserte Auflage, Leipzig 1894
  Now available at the Internet Archive
• Wilhelm Kothe, Gesangbuch für katholische Schulen. Eine Sammlung von 140 ein- und mehrstimmigen Schul- und Volksliedern. Mit hoher Genehmigung des Hochwürdigen Herrn Fürstbischofs von Breslau und des Hochwürdigen Herrn Bischofs von Ermland. 25. Auflage, besorgt von Augustin Apel, Leipzig 1908 [pp. 31/2 missing]
  Now available at the Internet Archive

The editor Wilhelm Kothe (1831-1899) was a music educator and seminary teacher from Lower Silesia. He had studied in Berlin but also had been in Speyer, Brühl and Regensburg to learn a little bit more. At first he worked in Liebenthal and then since 1871 until 1899 in the town of Habelschwerdt. In 1891 Kothe was honoured with the title Königlicher Musikdirektor (summarized from Hamann 1976, pp. 62-3). 

He was a very industrious and productive editor and writer and created, for example, pieces for the organ as well as choral arrangements. But he also published some more books, among others a Gesangbuch für ein- und mehrklassige Volksschulen (see Hofmeister XIX, August 1888, p. 322), a Katholisches Gesang- und Gebetsbuch (see Hofmeister XIX, April 1894, p. 165), guidelines for singing lessons (Kurzgefasster Leitfaden für die methodische Behandlung des Gesangunterrichtes in der Volksschule; 4th ed., 1870 online available at BStB, München, Mus.th. 1798) and a historical work about the Prussian King Friedrich der Große als Musiker, sowie als Freund und Förderer der musikalischen Kunst (Braunsberg 1869, online avaliable at BStB, München, Mus.th. 1797). 

But this Gesangbuch für katholische Schulen may have been his most successful work. It was first published in 1865 (see the preface) but as far as I can see there is no extant copy of this original version. A third edition from 1869, "vermehrt und verbessert" with 120 songs, can be found at the BStB in Munich (Mus.pr. 332, now [10.5.2014] also available online). The book was then the regularly reprinted and republished for several decades but it seems there were few changes except that he added a couple of more pieces. The 19th edition from 1894 presented here includes - as the title says - 140 songs.

After Kothe's death in 1899 this collection remained in print and the editorship was assumed by one Augustin Apel (1867-1937; dates from Krause & Marwinski 1999, p. 18, at Google Books), a music teacher from the town of Heiligenstadt. Here I have the so-called "jubilee edition", the 25th, that was published in 1908. As late as 1915 a 28th edition came out (see DNB 574435468) but it seems that this was the last one. Perhaps this collection began to look a little old-fashioned at that time. 

The repertoire promoted in this book is not that different from many other song collections for schools from this era and a not unsurprising amount of songs is still known today. This is especially the case with the ditties for the younger children in the first part (No. 2-9). One gets the impression that these kind of educational songbooks were in fact very effective in teaching the pupils a kind of basic stock of so-called "Volkslieder" that they then remembered for the rest of their life. 

Kothe also included a couple of standards by composers like Nägeli, Schumann, Mozart and of course Silcher, for example the latter's immensely popular "Loreley". And not at least - this was during the Kaiserreich - the pupils were also treated to a great number of patriotic pieces, songs like "Unser Kaiser lebe lang" (No. 101), "Des Deutschen Vaterland" (No. 105) or "Dem Kaiser" (No. 115), all more or less indigestible today. What is missing - for some reason - are the all very popular imported foreign hits, for example "Mein Herz ist im Hochland" or "Lang, Lang ist's her". The only exception is the tune of "Robin Adair", here not with the words of Wilhelm Gerhard's "Treu und herzinniglich" but with "Heimat, Ade!". That text was apparently preferred by the compilers of collections for schools. But interestingly Kothe has edited the melody a little bit and the second part looks in parts different from the standard version: 

Literature

• Fritz Hamann, Die Musikerziehung an den ehemaligen Lehrerseminaren in Nieder- und Oberschlesien, Ost- und Westpreußen, Pommern und Posen nebst Biographien ihrer Musiklehrer (SML). Ein Beitrag zur deutschen Musik- und Schulgeschichte, Dortmund 1976 (Veröffentlichungen der Forschungsstelle Ostmitteleuropa, Reihe A, 31)
• Friedhilde Krause & Felicitias Marwinski, Handbuch der historischen Buchbestände Deutschlands 20, Hildesheim 1999

A New Song History: "Robin Adair" in Germany

While researching the history of the songs "Eileen Aroon" and "Robin Adair" I learned - much to my surprise, I must admit - that the tune had also been very popular in the German speaking countries for quite a long time. One adaptation - "Treu und herzinniglich" - was introduced by poet Wilhelm Gerhard in 1826 and it soon became a standard in collections of so-called "Volkslieder". A second text - "Heimat, Ade!" - appeared first in the 1850s and was later not uncommon in songbooks for schools. I got the impression that the Folklorists in Germany didn't care much for these songs and not much research has been done. But in fact this turned out to be a very fascinating story. I have worked quite a long time on that but now I am glad that it is complete and as usual the text that is now available on my website has become much longer than expected:  

• "Treu und herzinniglich, Robin Adair" - A British Tune in Germany (JustAnotherTune.com)

This is conceived more as a kind of documentation but I also felt it necessary to discuss some important theoretical questions. Especially the term "Volkslied" needed some clarification. I was not interested in our current definitions of this very controversial concept - Herder's "cuckoo's egg" (see Chapter III) - but in the practical use of it during the 19th and early 20th century. At that time the "Volkslied" covered a very broad range of songs and today's ideas of "authenticity" are not of much use in this respect.

Besides that I have learned a lot that I didn't know before. For example I must admit that I had never heard of Wilhelm Gerhard, a formerly popular German poet who is completely forgotten today. He not only played an instrumental role in this story but also turned out to be a most fascinating character. A considerable number of his poems and adaptations - later he also translated Burns - were set to music and one gets the impression that his contemporaries regarded him as a very competent lyricist. Perhaps I will write a little more about him in the near future.

Another thing I have learned is that an unbelievable great amount of songbooks and sheet music of all kinds were published during that era. Did the people really use them? At least it seems that music publishing was a worthwhile and rewarding business. But today it is not that easy to keep track of all of them. The holdings of the libraries are somewhat fragmentary, not every publication has survived until today and many songbooks are a little bit difficult to get. Moreover the strange secretiveness of many editors and publishers regarding their sources wasn't particularly helpful. But nonetheless I hope I have reconstructed the song's history in a reasonable way. In one case - the origin of "Heimat, Ade!" - I had to correct myself three times and I am still not sure if there maybe was an even earlier initial publication.

The success and long-running popularity of "Robin Adair" in Germany also shows how easy foreign songs could be integrated into the "Volkslied"-genre. Other songs were even more popular, for example Burns' "My Heart's In The Highlands" - as "Mein Herz ist im Hochland" - and as far as I can see this has not been addressed properly so far. Only after World War I this multicultural attitude began to vanish and the foreign hits were piece by piece purged from the repertoire and then were at best ghettoized in extra chapters. Otherwise it cannot be explained why these kind of songs that had once been so popular have completely disappeared from the musical memory. I hope this text I have written helps a little bit to uncover this not overly well-known chapter of German music history.