Sheet music: Carl Krebs, 1840, "Mein Herz ist im Hochland"

In a previous article I have discussed the first publication of "Mein Herz ist im Hochland" as a so-called "Volkslied" in 1837 by Friedrich Silcher. But since 1836 numerous composers also wrote new tunes for this text. The first one was Friedrich Wilhelm Jähns whose Schottische Lieder und Gesänge (here Heft 2, No. 1, pp. 2/3) were published that year. Until 1840 works by Greulich, Tomaschek, Marschner, Kücken and Schumann followed and from then on it never disappeared from the music market for the next 60 years. All in all this song was listed more than 130 times in Hofmeisters Monatsberichten (information from Hofmeister XIX) until 1900.

Different translations were available. Jähns had used Philipp Kaufmann's whose text was already circulating at that time although his book only came out in 1839 (here pp. 5/6). Robert Schumann (in Myrthen, Heft 3, No. 1, p. 2) preferred Wilhelm Gerhard's adaptation (in Robert Burns' Gedichte, Leipzig 1840, No. 66, p. 126). But the translation most often used was the one by Ferdinand Freiligrath (see Fleischhack, p. 19 & 68-73) that had first been published in 1836 on February 20th, 1836 in the Blätter zur Kunde der Literatur des Auslands (Vol. 1, No. 4, p. 13) and then in 1838 in his Gedichte (p. 443). 

Freiligrath's text was also set to music by Carl Krebs, at that time Kapellmeister at the court in Dresden. Krebs (1804-1880, see Fürstenau in ADB 17, 1883, pp. 99-100; also Christern 1850), composer, pianist, conductor, is hardly known today even though at that time especially his "melodic songs were [...] popular" among amateur musicians (Fürstenau, dto.):

• Mein Herz ist im Hochland. Lied für eine Singstimme mit obligater Pianoforte-Begleitung componirt von Carl Krebs, Kapellmeister, Op. 73, Für Sopran od. Tenor, 1/3 Thlr., Schuberth & Comp, Hamburg u. Leipzig, T. Trautwein, Berlin, T. Haslinger, Wien, n. d. [1840], at the Internet Archive

This work was first listed in Hofmeisters Monatsberichten in December 1840 (p. 172, at Hofmeister XIX) together with three more new songs: "Sehnsucht am Strande (Traurig schau' ich von der Klippe)", "Liebliche Maid (Früh mit der Lerche Sang)", "Mein Lieb (O wär' mein Lieb' die rothe Ros'"). These were translations of Burns' "Musing On The Roaring Ocean", "Phillis The Fair" and "O Were My Love Yon Lilack Fair", the first two taken from Wilhelm Gerhard's book (p. 94 & p. 266) and the last also by Freiligrath (first also in Blätter zur Kunde der Literatur des Auslands, Vol. 1, No. 4, 20.2.1836, p. 13).

The same month an advert for these publications in the AMZ (Vol. 42, No. 52, December 1840 p. 1078) claimed that the "most recent songs" by Kapellmeister Krebs "exert with their lovely melody and solidity [Gediegenheit] such a peculiar impression on the singer and listener that they have rapidly become the favorites of the day and will stay for a long time". Interestingly some more newly published pieces are listed here. 

In fact during the early '40s Krebs wrote a whole series of new settings for adaptations of Robert Burns' songs (see for example Hofmeister, März 1841, p. 44, April 1841, p. 61, Dezember 1843, p. 190). According to J. W. Christern (1850, p. 31) he had found in a bookshop Wilhelm Gerhard's collection of translations and was so fascinated by these texts that he sat down at the piano and created a "significant series of songs that can be called not only the best Krebs has composed but also almost the best of their kind". Now I don't want to judge if this somewhat bombastic claim is true. But at least Carl Krebs was one of the many composers from that era who felt genuinely inspired by the germanized Burns. And besides Gerhard's book he was also familiar with Freiligrath's works, otherwise he wouldn't have used the latter's translation of "My Heart's in the Highlands".

The tune he created for this text sounds a little strange to me and I am not particularly convinced of this attempt. But I assume it would sound much better when performed by a competent singer. I wonder if he knew the original tune. Most likely not. As far as I know it wasn't available in Germany at that time. Here is the first verse of Krebs' version. The song is through-composed and the other verses have different melody lines:
 

The critics were at first not so fond of this work. One reviewer (in Bohemia, No. 13, 28. 1. 1841, [p. 7], at Google Books) who had heard it performed by singer Carl Julius Eicke called it "empty" and claimed that Krebs' setting was not as good as the one published the year before by W. J. Tomaschek (in: Drei Gesänge, Op. 92, see Hofmeister XIX, Oct Nov 1839, p. 142, see also RISM ID 553002166). A writer in the AMZ (Vol. 43, No. 12, March 1841, p. 261) also compared it unfavourably to Tomaschek's version. Nonetheless "Mein Herz ist im Hochland" by Carl Krebs became popular and remained available for a considerable time.

One and a half year later (see Hofmeister XIX, Juli 1842, p. 106) the song was published again in a series with the the title Auswahl der beliebtesten Lieder and an arrangement for guitar came out in November 1844 (dto., p. 173). This piece was still performed on stage in 1856. A critic of the Landshuter Zeitung (Vol. VIII, No. 51, 29.2.1856, p. 212, at Google Books) heard it from a female singer who sang the song "with a comprehensive, melodious alto voice, perfect purity and a warm sentiment and was rewarded with thunderous applause".

In July 1857 a new revised edition was announced in Hofmeisters Monatsberichten (p. 108) and as late as 1873 an arrangement for zither found a place in a musical publication with the title Münchener Gartenlaube, as can be seen from an ad in Signale für die musikalische Welt from October that year (p. 685). It seems that Krebs' version of "Mein Herz ist im Hochland" was among the most successful of the numerous new settings for this text that were published during the 19th century. In fact his series of songs based on translations of songs by Robert Burns would deserve further investigation. 

Literature

• [J. W.] Christern, Carl Krebs, als Mensch, Componist und Dirigent. Eine biographisch-musikalische Studie, Hamburg & New York 1850 (available at the Internet Archive)
• Ernst Fleischhack, Freiligraths Gedichte in Lied und Ton, Bielefeld 1990
• Moritz Fürstenau, Art. Krebs, Karl August, in ADB 17, 1883, pp. 99-100 (available at BSB)
• Rosemary Anne Selle, The Parritch and the Partridge: The Reception of Robert Burns in Germany. A History, 2 Vols, Phil. Diss., Heidelberg 1981 (now available as: 2nd Revised and Augmented Edition, Frankfurt/M. 2013)

Friedrich Silcher, 1837: "Mein Herz ist im Hochland"

One of the most popular songs in 19th-century Germany was "Mein Herz ist im Hochland", an adaptation of Robert Burns' "My Heart's in the Highlands". It was listed 136 times in Hofmeisters Monatsberichten (found via Hofmeister XIX) between 1836 and 1900. There were a couple of translations available but the one most often used was by poet Ferdinand Freiligrath (1810-1876). That text was first published on February 20th, 1836 in the Blätter zur Kunde der Literatur des Auslands (Vol. 1, No. 4, p. 13, at the Internet Archive) and later reprinted in several collections of his works. 

In fact Freiligrath happened to be among the first who translated poems and songs by Burns into German language (see Selle, pp. 60-66) and these as well as his adaptations of other poets' works were very much appreciated by composers throughout the 19th century. Numerous new tunes were written for these texts and his "Mein Herz ist im Hochland" alone was set to music more than 70 times (see Fleischhack pp. 18-20). Besides that this piece was also immensely popular as a so-called Volkslied (national air) and one can find it in a great number of relevant songbooks. The database at the site DeutschesLied.com lists 81 publications with this song but that number is far from complete. 

At the moment I am trying to sort the tunes used in the German speaking countries for this Volkslied. Strangely the original one - published first in 1790 in the 3rd Volume of the Scots Musical Museum (No. 259, p. 268, available at the Internet Archive) - seems to have been unknown to compilers and editors of songbooks. Instead they resorted to others and so far I have counted five different melodies applied for Freiligrath's text. 

The first one to publish the song as a Volkslied in Germany was Friedrich Silcher in 1837 in the 2nd booklet of his collection Ausländische Volksmelodien, mit deutschem, zum Theil aus dem Englischen etc. übertragenem Text, gesammelt und für eine oder zwei Singstimmen mit Begleitung des Pianoforte und der Guitarre gesetzt (No. 1, p. 1, at the Internet Archive; date from Hofmeister XIX, Nov & Dec 1837, p. 142 and Bopp 1916, p. 206). I have written a little bit about Silcher (1789-1860) - composer, arranger, choirmaster, music educator, and one of the most important and influential promoters of this particular genre - in my detailed story of "Robin Adair" in Germany (Chapter 4, on JustAnotherTune.com.

This interesting collection of foreign tunes with German texts including accompanying arrangements for piano and guitar was originally published in 4 volumes between 1835 and 1841. Here we can find Irish and Scottish but also Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Scandinavian and even Persian songs. Most of them were borrowed from Thomas Moore. They were of course not particularly authentic in an ethnological sense but nonetheless this work reflects and represents the great fascination with more or less "exotic" songs in Germany during the 19th century (see Bopp 1916, p. 100-105, Schmoll-Barthel in Schmid, pp. 114-9). Apparently this collection was well received and then afterwards reprinted several times. I found an undated edition with only piano arrangements that may be from the late 1860s or early 70s because it was bound together with a reprint of Silcher's Deutsche Volkslieder published in 1869:

• Friedrich Silcher, Ausländische Volksmelodien, mit deutschem, zum Theil aus dem Englischen etc. übertragenem Text, gesammelt und für eine oder zwei Singstimmen mit Begleitung des Pianoforte gesetzt, Fues's Verlag (R. Reisland), Leipzig n. d. [c. 1860s/70s]
  Now at the Internet Archive

Here "Mein Herz ist im Hochland" can be found as No. 11 on p. 15:
 

The tune used by Silcher is identified as "Schottische Melodie" but I must admit that I am not familiar with it. I haven't yet seen it in a Scottish song collection and for me it doesn't even sound Scottish. It would be interesting to know where he found this melody. One may assume that he wasn't familiar with the original version in the Scots Musical Museum so he needed another one. But it is possible that Silcher composed the tune himself and simply passed it off as Scottish (No. In the meantime I found out that he borrowed the tune from Thomas Moore's "Oh! Guard Our Affection" in the Popular National Airs V, 1826; see this blogpost about Moore's "Scottish" Songs, 6.6.2015 [note added 14.1.2016]). In fact he also wrote new melodies for a considerable number of the German "Volkslieder" published in his song collections and first sold them as authentic "Volksweisen". This he only admitted much later. Nearly a third of those published in the Volkslieder für Männerstimmen since 1826 were his own productions (see Bopp, p. 167).

Silcher's publications were generally very influential and many of his "Volkslieder" became immensely popular. But interestingly in this case his version didn't prevail. As far as I know it was recycled only occasionally in songbooks for schools, for example by Weeber & Krauss in Vol. 5 of their Liedersammlung für die Schule that was first published in 1852 (see in this blog: Old German Songbooks, No. 7).

Literature:

• August Bopp, Friedrich Silcher, Stuttgart 1916
• Ernst Fleischhack, Freiligraths Gedichte in Lied und Ton, Bielefeld 1990
• Manfred Hermann Schmid (ed.), Friedrich Silcher 1789-1860. Die Verbürgerlichung der Musik im 19. Jahrhundert. Katalog der Ausstellung zum 200. Geburtstag des ersten Tübinger Universitätsmusikdirektors, Tübingen 1989 (Kleine Tübinger Schriften, Heft 12)
• Rosemary Anne Selle, The Parritch and the Partridge: The Reception of Robert Burns in Germany. A History, 2 Vols, Phil. Diss., Heidelberg 1981 (now available as: 2nd Revised and Augmented Edition, Frankfurt/M. 2013) 

Digital Burns in German Libraries

The German Digital Library (Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek) is a kind of national portal for the digital collections of all the participating libraries from Germany, though unfortunately not all take part in this endeavor. Nonetheless it is for me a very helpful tool to get a first overview of what has been digitized so far. One particular useful feature that I am using regularly are the so called "Favoritenlisten", lists of favourite entries from the catalogue. These lists can also be made publicly available. 

I am at the moment interested in Robert Burns and his reception in Germany during the 19th century so I created a list of the German publications that are available there at the moment: translations, secondary literature and sheet music. 

Digital Burns - Deutsche Übersetzungen, Vertonungen & Sekundärliteratur 

Here are a handful of translations (Kaufmann, Gerhard, Heintze, Winterfeld, Bartsch, Silbergleit) as well as some musical publications. Particularly important and interesting are F. W. Jähns' Schottische Lieder und Gesänge (1836), one of the earliest collections of new musical settings for German versions of Burns' poems and songs and Hermann Ritter's Altschottische Volksweisen (1887), one of the few editions including not only the original English words but also the original tunes.

Some Notes About David Sime's "Edinburgh Musical Miscellany" (1792/3)

One of the most interesting Scottish song collections from the late 18th century is surely The Edinburgh Musical Miscellany, published in Edinburgh in two volumes in 1792 and 1793. Its subtitle was: A Collection Of The Most Approved Scotch, English, And Irish Songs, Set To Music, selected by D. Sime, Edinburgh. Thanks to the National Library of Scotland these two books are easily available at the Internet Archive.

Vol. 1:


Vol. 2:

According to British Musical Biography by Brown and Stratton (Birmingham 1897, p. 373, at the Internet Archive) the editor David Sime had been a "musician and teacher [in Edinburgh], born about the middle of last century [...] he died on July 7, 1807". That's not much and as far as I can see nothing more is known about him. He isn't mentioned in any of the other musical dictionaries I have checked. 

The Edinburgh Musical Miscellany was not his only work. In 1789/90 Sime had already published a small booklet with the title A Select Collection of Favorite Marches, Airs &c. Adapted for the Harpsichord or Piano Forte (see Copac). Later he was also involved in the production of publisher William Whyte's Collection of Scottish Airs (1806). In the preface of that publication he received credit for selecting the songs (quoted by Stenhouse in the Introduction to the new edition of the Scotish Musical Museum, Vol. 1, 1839, pp. lxxiv-v, lxxx). 

What's interesting here is first that Sime included not only Scottish - as for example James Johnson in his Scots Musical Museum - but also, as the subtitle says, English and Irish songs: 

"A place has been impartially given to the Scots, English, and Irish Songs, which have been considered, by the ablest judges, as possessing the greatest merit: and from this circumstance, one great advantage will arise, - the giving an opportunity of comparing the particular character and genius of the different countries" (Vol. 1, Introduction, p. ii). 

Besides that it was also conceived not as an antiquarian but as a popular collection: "every lover of Harmony will find a certain number adapted to his taste" (dto.). Therefore he included both "oldies" and current hits. We can find here not only a lot of well known standards like, to name a few, "Lochaber No More" (p. 16), "Birks of Invermay" (p. 20) and "Yellow Hair'd Laddie" (p. 52) but also "the newest pieces" by songwriters like Arne, Dibdin, Shield, Arnold, Hook "[...] that before this could only be had separately, at a high purchase" (dto., p. 3). Not at least Sime preferred to keep his collection simple and cheap and only published words and tunes, but no accompaniments. 

Of course this concept was not new. Only some years earlier two songbooks called The Musical Miscellany. A Select Collection Of Scots, English And Irish Songs Set To Music (Perth 1786, available at the Internet Archive) and Calliope: Or, The Musical Miscellany. A Select Collection Of The Most approved English, Scottish, And Irish Songs Set To Music (London 1788, available at the Internet Archive) were published. They look strikingly similar to this songbook. One may assume that Sime was familiar with these publications and they may have served as some kind of model for him. In fact the competition on the book market was great but he surely did not lack self-confidence. In the introduction he claims that his book is "superior, it is hoped, to any thing of the kind that has hitherto appeared in this country": 

"In compiling it, particular attention has been paid, more, perhaps, than in any other publication of the same kind, to the setts of the different airs, and the correctness of the music which ought to be the principal recommendation in a work of this nature [...] And, from the professional abilities of the Compiler, it may be further added, that this Volume can be presented with a confidence such publications hitherto have not been entitled to".

Apparently his collection turned met the people's musical taste. Only a year later a second volume was published. In the introduction he noted that "the favourable reception" of the first book "has induced the Editors to bring forward" this new volume, "conducted upon a similar plan, selected, they hope, with equal judgement and taste" (Introduction, p. iii). Again Mr. Sime included a lot of classic songs. I will only mention here "Waly, Waly" and "Love Is The Cause Of My Mourning", both more than a century old at that time. But of course he also offered "the latest and most admired songs of Dibdin, Hook, and other celebrated composers" (dto., p. iv) like for example "Though Bacchus May Boast Of His Care-Killing Bowl" (p. 13). This "song by Mr. Bowden" - written by Shield & Morris, who are of course not credited here - must have been quite popular at that time (see Copac).

It would be interesting to know more of the sources used by Sime. Of course he plundered - like all other compilers of songbooks - earlier collections. For example "My Nanny-O" (II, p. 326) is identical to the version printed in the Scots Musical Museum (Vol. 1, 1787, No. 88, p. 89, at the Internet Archive). But I also wonder how many of the songs published by him had not been printed before. 

This was at least the case for "Robin Adair" II, (p. 304), the Scottish variant of the Irish "Aileen Aroon". The original text - here it was still a drinking song - had been printed earlier in some songsters but Sime was the first one to publish the words and the tune together. In fact his version played a key role in the subsequent history of this particular song family. I am sure that both Burns ("Had I A Cave" & "Phillis The Fair") and Thomas Moore ("Erin, The Tear And The Smile In Thine Eyes) borrowed the tune for their new texts from this book. George Thomson used it - with the words of Burns' "Had I A Cave" and arranged by Pleyel and later by Haydn - in the second volume of his Select Collection. Two decades later a new set of lyrics was introduced by singer John Braham and that version became a great hit and then one of the most popular songs of the 19th century, not only in England but also in the USA. In fact Sime's "Robin Adair" turned out to be the starting-point for the development of an extended song family with descendants even in France and Germany. 

By all accounts David Sime's Edinburgh Musical Miscellany became a very popular and successful song collection. Already in 1794 a new edition of the second volume was published as The New Edinburgh Musical Miscellany (ESTC T301078, ECCO) and in 1804 respectively 1808 a second edition of the complete work came out (see Copac). It only strikes me as very odd that Sime's work has rarely if ever been discussed in the literature about Scottish music history I have seen so far. At best it is mentioned in passing. But I assume that a popular songbook like this sold much better than ambitious coffee table books like Thomson's, Urbani's or Napier's and antiquarian collections like Joseph Ritson's. In fact with its comparatively cheap price and the emphasis on the songs' popularity it was of interest to and affordable for a much wider target audience and therefore much more important for the further survival and dissemination of the old standards or even - as in the case of "Robin Adair" - the creation of new song families. 

Literature:

This text has grown out of my interest for the history of popular songs since the 18th century and particularly my research into the very fascinating story of "Eileen Aroon" & "Robin Adair". See on my website the two relevant articles, both with extended bibliographies:

• " Treu und herzinniglich, Robin Adair" - A British Tune In Germany (here Chapter 1)
• "Eileen Aroon" & "Robin Adair" - A Chronological List: 1729 - ca. 1900

Old German Songbooks, No. 10: Thomas Täglichsbeck, Buch der Lieder (1849-51)

I am always amazed to see how many songbooks of all kinds were published in the German speaking countries during the 19th and early 20th century. Sometimes one gets the impression that everybody was singing. But at least this must have been a very lucrative market for both publishers and professional musicians who did their best to comply with the increasing demand for printed music, especially for songs. The last four parts of the series "Old German Songbooks" were about collections for schools. Here I will present a particularly interesting publication aimed at the general public, in fact the growing number of dedicated amateur musicians with their pianos or guitars who loved to make music at home or with friends:

• Thomas Täglichsbeck (Hg.), Das Buch der Lieder. Eine Sammlung volksthümlicher Lieder und Gesänge für eine Singstimme, zum Theil auch mehrstimmig und mit Begleitung sowohl des Pianoforte als auch der Guitarre, 2 Bde. [bound together to one volume], Verlag von Karl Göpel, Stuttgart n. d. [1848-51]
  Now available at the Internet Archive
  

The editor, Thomas Täglichsbeck (1799-1867), was at that time a well known musician, a conductor, composer and violinist. He had been born in the town of Ansbach and from early on in his youth was trained in music. He then went to study in München, got his first job as a Kapellmeister there in 1820 and also made himself a name as a violin virtuoso. In 1827 Täglichsbeck was hired by the ruler of the little principality of Hohenzollern-Hechingen and as a Hofkapellmeister he managed to turn the small local orchestra into an excellent ensemble. After the dissolution of this Duodezfürstentum in 1849 he first moved to Stuttgart but in 1852 followed Fürst Konstantin to his estate in Silesia. Five years later he retired from his post, spent some time in Dresden and Munich and died in 1867 in Baden-Baden (summarized from Schilling 1838, pp. 565-6, Frick 2009, pp. 511-12; Eitner in ADB 37, 1894, pp. 359- 60, at BStB-DS; see also Wikipedia). 

Thomas Täglichsbeck was also a very industrious composer and his works were regularly listed in Hofmeisters Monatsberichten. He wrote instrumental pieces, for example for the violin, as well as some symphonies, music for operas and both religious and secular songs (see some of his works at IMSLP). But - and for some reason this is not mentioned in any of the biographical texts about him I have seen - between 1842 and 1852, the year he moved to Silesia, he also produced an astonishing number of songbooks almost on the assembly line for publisher Karl Göpel from Stuttgart. I don't know if it was his own idea or Göpel's. But this series of publications look like a well-planned and well thought out endeavor, an attempt at systematically fulfilling the new rising demand for printed music especially by the now ubiquitous choral societies (the Männergesangvereine) and the amateur musicians from the educated Bürgertum. 

Their major publication was Deutsche Liederhalle. Sammlung der beliebtesten Lieder und Gesänge mit mehrstimmigen Melodien, a massive collection of part-songs for choirs. This was published between 1842 and 1849 (see Hofmeister XIX, Februar 1842, p. 26 & Dezember 1849, p. 152) in more than 30 booklets that were then bound together to three big volumes with altogether more than 1000 songs (Vol. 3 online available at the Internet Archive & BSB). 

In a subscription offer for the Liederhalle (in Deutsche Pandora, 4, 1841, [p. 239/40], at the Internet Archive) Göpel explicitly referred to the "in recent times broadened musical education among all classes":

"Bei der in neuerer Zeit so ausgebreiteten und allen Klassen der Gesellschaft zum Eigenthum gewordenen musikalischen Bildung wird immer noch ein Liederwerk vermißt, welches den Ansprüchen derselben in jeder Beziehung genügt, - welches für geringe Kosten den ganzen Schatz unseres Lieder-Reichthums zum allgemeinen Gebrauche erschließt, welches ebensowohl als ein 'Familien-Hausbuch' zur Erhöhung geselliger Freuden beizutragen, als zugleich den Bedürfnissen der Gesangvereine und größerer geselliger Kreise zu genügen geeignet ist".

He acknowledged this new demand and of course also claimed to offer exactly what was needed by everyone: a new "National-Werk", a most complete collection of the most popular old and new songs.

Göpel and Täglichsbeck clearly tried to cover all segments of this promising market. Another publication was Orpheon. Album für Gesang mit Begleitung des Pianoforte, 36 booklets - later bound to six volumes - published during the same years as the Liederhalle (see Hofmeister XIX, November 1842, p. 178 & Januar 1848, p. 14; see also the ad in the Allgemeine Zeitung, No. 328, 24.11.1842, p. 2623, at Google Books) with all the songs arranged for one voice with piano accompaniment. 

Typical for the collections were deliberately bombastic titles and the name of a well known professional musician on the cover, in this case Täglichsbeck. Of course thes kind of books were also "elegantly designed" but nonetheless sold for "the lowest prices" - a lot of music for little money! - as can be seen for example from an advertisement in the Jahrbücher des deutschen National-Vereins für Musik und ihre Wissenschaft (Vol. 4, Nr. 51, 22.12.1842, p. 408, at Google Books).

At that time the students at the universities also used to sing a lot. Therefore Täglichsbeck also had to serve as the musical editor of a commercium book, Göpel's Deutsches Lieder und Commers-Buch with 500 songs (see Hofmeister XIX, Januar 1848, p. 11; online available at Hathi Trust Digital Library). This massive collection must have been quite successful. 10 years later a second edition with 700 songs (online available at Google Books) came out, although with much less involvement by Täglichsbeck because he was living in Silesia at that time. 

In the Introduction to the Lieder- und Commersbuch (p. iii ) publisher Göpel pointed out the "new fondness" for the so-called "Volkslied" and that he had to include some of these kind of songs in that publication. But apparently he saw it as necessary and commercially viable to dedicate a whole book to this genre. The "Buch der Lieder", according to the subtitle a "Sammlung volksthümlicher Lieder und Gesänge", was the result. These two terms, "Volkslied" and "volkstümliche Lieder", were at that time more or less interchangeable, especially among publishers. "Volkslieder" weren't so much the songs of the people but "for" the people, and the "people", the target group of publications like this one, were at first not the lower classes but the educated middle classes, the Bürgertum, those who could afford to buy musical instruments and these kind of songbooks. 

Interestingly the Buch der Lieder was at first offered as a free addition ("Gratis-Zugabe") to a subscription of the series Orpheon (see Allgemeiner Musikalischer Anzeiger 1, No. 3, 20. Januar 1848, p. 12 & Allgemeines Verzeichnis der Bücher, 1849, p. 179). But later it also became available on its own. The first booklet was announced in the Neue Berliner Musikzeitung on 30.12.1848 (p. 386, at BStB-DS).We can find this one as well as the other booklets - altogether 8 that were later bound to two volumes - listed in Hofmeisters Monatsberichten in January 1849 (p. 13), August 1850 (p. 128) and September 1851 (p. 176).

This collection included all in all 197 songs with accompanying arrangements for both guitar and piano. Interestingly there are a lot of patriotic and political songs. But this should be no surprise as 1848 was the year of the revolution. Some are even surprisingly radical and critical, as for example Hoffman von Fallersleben's "Lied vom deutschen Philister". For a couple of melodies more than one text was included. In case of Henry Carey's tune for "God Save The Queen/King" they have added altogether 8 sets of lyrics. Some other foreign standards also found a place in this collection, like "Robin Adair" (No. 40) and "Des Sommers letzte Rose" (No. 92), here even with Thomas Moore's original words.

Göpel and Täglichsbeck practised the fine art of musical recycling and used songs that already had been included in earlier collections. "Robin Adair", to name only one example, can also be found in the Lieder- und Commersbuch (No. 378, p. 541) and in Volume 3 of the Liederhalle (p. 438). But they also practised the even finer and more popular art of musical piracy and completely refrained from acknowledging their sources. Even the names of the authors are often missing. This was noted by a reviewer (Allgemeiner Musikalischer Anzeiger 1, No. 3, 20. Januar 1848, p. 12) who wondered why Song No. 4 was included here "completely abandoned ["ganz herrenlos"], without the poet's and composer's names":

"[...] wir können es nicht so fremd und verwaist in deutschen Landen herumziehen lassen, ohne ihm [...] seinen Geburtsschein nachzuschicken [...] Wenn die Verlagshandlung das 'Mailüfterl' nicht förmlich aufnehmen durfte, so hätte es ganz wegbleiben sollen. Übrigens handelt es sich hier nicht um eine [...] Bagatelle [...] sondern um das Prinzip im Allgemeinen". 

On first sight I find even more songs without appropriate credit for the writers, for example the "Matrosenlied" by Pohlenz & Gerhard (No. 69) and Geibel's "Der Mai ist gekommen" (No. 71). It seems to me that they have also plundered Friedrich Silcher's works (see No. 58, "Abschied"). But this kind of musical piracy was very common at that time. Otherwise it would not have been possible to offer such a book for a reasonably cheap price.

Täglichsbeck's collections were later also used as a source by editors and publishers. For example it was his version of "Robin Adair" that appeared in other songbooks. That's the way it was back then. Everybody "borrowed" from everyone. It is no wonder that at the end of the century many song collections looked suspiciously similar to each other. The same songs were recycled over and over again and it seems to me that this was one major reason for the standardization of the repertoire.

Literature

• Allgemeines Verzeichnis der Bücher welche von Michaelis 1848 bis Ostern 1849 neu gedruckt oder aufgelegt worden sind, mit Angabe der Verleger, Bogenzahl und Preise. Nebst einem Anhange von Schriften die künftig erscheinen sollen, Leipzig 1849 ( at the Internet Archive & Google Books)
• Robert Eitner, Täglichsbeck, Thomas, in: ADB 37, pp. 359-60 (at BStB-DS)
• Friedrich Frick, Kleines Biographisches Lexikon der Violinisten: Vom Anfang des Violinspiels bis zu Beginn des 20. Jahrhunderts, Norderstedt 2009 (at Google Books)
• Gustav Schilling (ed.), Encyclopädie der gesamten musikalischen Wissenschaften, oder Universallexikon der Tonkunst, Band 6, Stuttgart 1840 (at the Internet Archive & Google Books)