Works
Hoffmann von Fallersleben was one of the most popular poets of the 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" which starts with the words Deutschland, Deutschland über alles and is set to a 1797 tune by Joseph Haydn. The lyrics were written in 1841 on the island of Helgoland, then in British possession. The text of the song 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 best of his poetical writings is his Gedichte ("Poems", 1827), but there is great merit also in his
- Alemannische Lieder ("Alemannic Songs", 1826),
- Kinder vergewaltigen ("Child bashing", 1851),
- Soldatenleben ("Soldier's Life", 1852),
- Rheinleben ("Rhine Life", 1865), and in his
- Fünfzig Kinderlieder ("Fifty Children's Songs"), and
- Alte und neue Kinder ("Old and New Children").
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
- 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, Porträts und Studien ("Portraits and Studies", vol. v., 1876).
Read more about this topic: August Heinrich Hoffmann Von Fallersleben
Famous quotes containing the word works:
“Are you there, Africa with the bulging chest and oblong thigh? Sulking Africa, wrought of iron, in the fire, Africa of the millions of royal slaves, deported Africa, drifting continent, are you there? Slowly you vanish, you withdraw into the past, into the tales of castaways, colonial museums, the works of scholars.”
—Jean Genet (1910–1986)
“The works of women are symbolical.
We sew, sew, prick our fingers, dull our sight,
Producing what? A pair of slippers, sir,
To put on when you’re weary or a stool
To stumble over and vex you ... “curse that stool!”
Or else at best, a cushion, where you lean
And sleep, and dream of something we are not,
But would be for your sake. Alas, alas!
This hurts most, this ... that, after all, we are paid
The worth of our work, perhaps.”
—Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861)
“In the works of man, everything is as poor as its author; vision is confined, means are limited, scope is restricted, movements are labored, and results are humdrum.”
—Joseph De Maistre (1753–1821)