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.

Old German Songbooks, No. 7: Weeber & Krauss, Liedersammlung für die Schule (three editions: 1850s, 1870s, 1900s)

One of the most durable and long-lasting songbooks for schools in Germany was surely the Liedersammlung für die Schule [...] in stufenmäßig geordneter Folge conceived and compiled by Johann Christian Becker and Friedrich Krauss. The very first edition consisting of five booklets came out in 1852 and from then on this series remained in print at least until 1915. 

Johann Christian Weeber (1808-1877) worked as a teacher for music, composer, organist andMusikdirektor in the town of Nürtingen in Swabia (see Schwaebische-orgelromantik.de). Weeber had already published a collection for schools a couple of years earlier of which there are apparently no extant copies: Liederbuch für die deutsche Schul-Jugend, Stuttgart 1847 (see Hofmeister XIX, Januar 1847, p. 16). His co-editor Friedrich Krauß (1816-1872) was a pastor who later would compile other song collections, for example 42 Rhythmische Choräle der evangelischen Kirche aus dem 16. und 17. Jahrhundert and or 8 Grabgesänge für 4-stimmigen Männerchor (see Hofmeister XIX, März 1853, p. 291 & November 1860, p. 187).

There is at least one extant copy of the original edition the Liedersammlung. It is available in the WLB Stuttgart (Paed.oct.4482-1/5, see SWB-catalog for Vol. 3) although unfortunately it has not yet been digitized. I happened to find an early reprint, the 3rd edition from 1854, with all five booklets bound together in one volume:

• J. Chr. Weeber & Friedrich Krauß, Liedersammlung für die Schule. Vier Abtheilungen, in stufenmäßig geordneter Folge. I. Heft zum Gebrauch der Elementarklasse. II. Heft zum Gebrauch der Mittelschule. III. Heft zum Gebrauch der Oberschule. IV. Heft zum Gebrauch der gehobenen Oberklasse. Mit einem Anhang: V. Heft: Liedersammlung für Knabenschulen, 3./3./3./2./1. Stereotyp-Auflage, In Kommission bei der Ebner'schen Kunst- und Musikalienhandlung, Stuttgart 1854/54/54/54/52
  Now available at the Internet Archive (my own scan of a book from my collection)

This collection - cheaply produced and therefore relatively inexpensive - apparently became very popular and was then reprinted regularly. For example a 4th edition came out already in 1857 (see catalog UB Frankfurt: Mus 1932/577 Nr. 3) and in the early 70s the 7th edition was published. All the five booklets are identical to the original version:

• J. Chr. Weeber & Friedrich Krauß, Liedersammlung für die Schule. Vier Abtheilungen, in stufenmäßig geordneter Folge. I. Heft zum Gebrauch der Elementarklasse. II. Heft zum Gebrauch der Mittelschule. III. Heft zum Gebrauch der Oberschule. IV. Heft zum Gebrauch der gehobenen Oberklasse. Mit einem Anhang: V. Heft: Liedersammlung für Knabenschulen, 7./7./8./7./5. Stereotyp-Auflage, In Kommission bei Eduard Ebner, Stuttgart 1873/73/72/73/68
  Now available at the Internet Archive (my own scan of a book from my collection)

This is in fact a very interesting collection. Here we can find for example the usual amount of patriotic and religious pieces, some songs by composers like Schulz, Kreutzer, Silcher, Mozart, Haydn, Nägeli and even Gluck as well as a generous amount of so-called "Volkslieder". Thankfully they also included some foreign songs - with German words of course. In the third booklet there is for example "Des Sommers letzte Rose", an adaption of Moore's "The Last Rose Of Summer" (No. 29, p. 33) and in Heft 5 a version of Robert Burns' "My Heart's In The Highland" ("Das Hochland", No. 14, pp. 12-13) that was borrowed from Friedrich Silcher who had published it first in 1837 in the 2nd Volume of his Ausländische Volksmelodien. Neither Silcher nor poet Ferdinand Freiligrath - the translator of Burns' text - received any credit: 

Most interesting was what may have been the very first publication of "Heimath, Ade!", a new text for the popular tune of "Robin Adair". This song later became a standard in German and Swiss school songbooks:

Krauß and Weeber died in 1872 respectively 1877 but their songbook remained in use and was reprinted in the original form during the next two decades. But in the 90s the publisher hired one Karl Friedrich Breuninger (1836-1904, see Schwäbische Orgelromantik), a music teacher, organist and choirmaster from Stuttgart for a revised edition. He added an additional booklet, a supplement to Vol. 1 & 2, but also corrected and expanded the other volumes. This way the whole collection grew from nearly 200 to just under 300 pages. For example Heft 3 now included 69 instead of 50 "Liedchen und Lieder". I was able to find an edition printed shortly after the turn of the century:

•  J. Chr. Weeber, Liedersammlung für die Schule. Vier Abteilungen, in stufenmäßig geordneter Folge. I. Heft zum Gebrauch in Elementarklassen. Ergänzungsheft zu I. II. von Breuninger. II. Heft zum Gebrauch in Mittelklassen. III. Heft zum Gebrauch in Mittel- und Oberklassen. IV. Heft zum Gebrauch in Oberklassen, Fortbildungsschulen, Frauenvereinen u. s. w. V. Anhang (Ergänzungsheft zu Heft III),neu durchgesehen von K. Fr. Breuninger, 14./2./13./16./12./14. Auflage, J. B. Metzler'scher Verlag, Stuttgart 1903/01/04/04/03/03
  Now available at the Internet Archive (my own scan of a book from my collection)

All in all this song collection seems to have been modernized rather carefully but still it looked a little bit old-fashioned. In the preface to the 3rd volume he noted that he had deleted some of the less popular songs as well as some that may have been too difficult for the pupils. I also got the impression that the number of patriotic pieces and "Heimatlieder" was raised considerably. I haven't counted them but - of course - that was during the Kaiserreich when the poor kids were permanently plagued with these kind of propaganda disguised as songs. At least the editor spared them Hoffman von Fallersleben's atrocious ditty about Kaiser Wilhelm I ("Wer ist der greise Siegesheld…") that can be found in many other songbooks from this era .

On the other hand some particularly popular standards were added, like the "Lorelei" (here III, No. 53, p. 45) which had not been included in the original edition. In fact at that time no songbook was complete without this beloved song:

Interestingly "Mein Herz ist im Hochland" now found a place in Vol. III (No. 48, p. 41), but not with the uncommon tune from the early editions but with the German "Volksweise" that was most often used at that time for this text: 

Breuninger's new edition was not the end of this collection's life span. In 1915 publisher Auer from Stuttgart brought out one more new edition, now revised by H. Schlegel and F. Schuler (see DNB 56102099X). Apparently this time only the first three volumes were updated. But as far as I know no further editions or reprints followed. After more than 60 years this legendary series came to an end. One may assume that it remained in use for at least a few more years. But at that time it was surely eclipsed by many much more sophisticated and ambitious school songbooks. Nonetheless its longevity is very impressive and numerous generations of children must have learned singing with these handy booklets.

Old German Songbooks, No. 6: Barner's & Beck's Collections for Girls' Schools 1902/04

For different reasons I have become interested in songbooks published in the German speaking countries during the 19th and early 20th century. Countless collections for all kinds of purposes were published during that era. Especially songbooks for school were produced and sold in great numbers. Every pupil needed a couple of them during his school career and for the editors - mostly experienced teachers - they became a source of steady income. Some of these collections remained available for several decades, sometimes even after the death of the original editor. Not at least the authorities - the government as well as the churches - supervised closely the repertoire of songs taught in schools because they saw music as an important means of patriotic education.

Here I will present two influential and widely used songbooks for girls, one by Andreas Barner from Karlsruhe and the other by Philipp Beck from Köln. In both cases it is the second volume - intended for pupils aged 10 to 14 - of a three-part series: 

• Andreas Barner, Liedersammlung für Töchterschulen, Heft 2, 5. Auflage, Karlsruhe n. d. [1902]
  Now available at the Internet Archive (my own scan of a book from my collection)

Barner (1835-1910, see Schwäbische Orgelromantik) was a music teacher and composer but also for more than 40 years organist at the court in Karlsruhe. A couple of his other works are listed in Hofmeisters Monatsberichten, for example a Siegesfantasie und Fuge über "Heil unserm Fürsten Heil"(Hofmeister XIX, September 1871, p. 193) or an instructional book for singing lessons (dto., Januar 1879, p. 31). But this Liedersammlung für Töchterschulen was clearly his most successful publication. The first edition came out in 1879 and was then regularly reprinted. This here is the fifth edition from 1902 and in the preface he noted that his "song collection [...] is becoming more widespread, even abroad". A 6th edition was published in 1909, a year before Barner's death (see DNB 365171921). All in all his collection remained available for more than 30 years.

Even more popular and more widely used was another song book for girls' school:

• Philipp Beck, Liederbuch nebst kurzer Gesanglehre für höhere Mädchenschulen und Lehrerinnen-Bildungsanstalten. Zweiter Teil. 5. - 7. Schuljahr, 17. Auflage, Leipzig 1904
  At the Internet Archive (my own scan of a book from my collection)

The editor was at that time director of the Evangelische höhere Töchterschule und Lehrerinnen-Bildungsanstalt in Köln. Some contemporary newspaper articles from the Zeitungsauschnittsammlung of the University Library in Köln offer a little more information about Philipp Beck (ZAS, II.47, p. 36, II.106, p. 78, II.139, p. 106, 109). He was born in 1843, studied at the seminary in Neuwied and already in 1876, at the age of 33, became director of this school. He remained there for 35 years until his retirement in 1911 and died four years later, in 1915. Apparently this song collection was his only music-related publication but he also edited and revised some volumes of a history book for girls' schools (see GEI-Digital).

Beck's Liederbuch first came out in 1883 (see UB Basel, catalog). A second revised edition - now printed by Bredt in Leipzig instead of Roemke from Köln - was published in the late 1880s and a third in 1890 (see Hofmeister XIX, April 1888, p. 159, Oktober 1890, p. 434). This here is the 17th edition that was printed in 1904. I also have a later, revised and extended, edition with 114 instead of 104 pages. Unfortunately the title page is missing but the foreword is dated as from 1910:

• Philipp Beck, Liederbuch nebst kurzer Gesanglehre für mittlere und höhere Mädchenschulen, Frauenschulen, Studienanstalten und Lehrerinnenseminare.Nach den Bestimmungen von 1908. Zweiter Teil, Leipzig, n. d. [1910 or later]
  Download pdf-file (20,2 MB, my own scan of a book from my collection)

But this collection had an even longer lifespan and reached its 51st edition in 1920 (see DNB 365196177). I even saw a 56th edition published in 1925.

The song repertoires presented by Barner and Beck are of course very similar to each other and around 20 pieces can be found in both collections. There is a heavy dose of patriotic propaganda like, for example, Hoffmann von Fallersleben's "Kaiser Wilhelm":

Wer ist der greise Siegesheld, der uns zu Schutz und Wehr
fürs Vaterland zog in das Feld mit Deutschland's ganzem Heer
[...]

The poor girls had to sing it and I wonder if they really enjoyed these kind of songs. Then there are considerable number of "Heimatlieder", for example "Heimat, Ade!", a German text for the tune of "Robin Adair" that had became a standard in schoolbooks since the 1880s. But the editors also included a lot of popular pieces by composers like Beethoven, Mozart, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Abt etc as well as so-called "Volkslieder" or "volkstümliche Lieder", also a genre massively promoted in schools. In fact the "folk" learned the "folksongs" first and foremost in the school. In both collections we can find for example the "Loreley" ("Ich weiß nicht was soll es bedeuten…"), a poem by Heinrich Heine with a tune by Friedrich Silcher, one of the most popular German songs ever: