Ich hab mich ergeben
"Ich hab mich ergeben", originally titled "Gelübde", is a German patriotic song. The text was written in 1820 by Hans Ferdinand Maßmann.
As singing the traditional anthem, the "Deutschlandlied", starting with the line "Deutschland, Deutschland über alles", didn't seem appropriate after Germany's surrender in World War II, the double meaning of the line
Two Christmas carols use the same tune: the English "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” and the Swedish "När juldagsmorgon glimmar". The tune is also used in the Micronesian national anthem, a cultural realm which has been historically influenced by German colonial presence.
History
The national anthem of the Federated States of Micronesia, "Patriots of Micronesia", uses the same tune, as does the Estonian song "Mu Isamaa armas" which used to be Estonia's official flag song until 2009 when it was replaced by Gustav Ernesaks's "Mu Isamaa on minu arm". The Latvian song "" also has the same tune. The melody is quoted by Johannes Brahms in his Academic Festival Overture. The Deutschlandfunk used the motif to the words "dir Land voll Lieb und Leben" as its interval signal.The second stanza includes the words "land of the free", similar to the well-known words of "The Star-Spangled Banner", written eight years earlier.
Melody
\header
\layout
global =
soprano = \relative c
alto = \relative c'
tenor = \relative c
bass = \relative c
verse = \lyricmode
\score
Arrangement: Friedrich Gernsheim:, in '', vol. 1, Leipzig, C. F. Peters 1906.
"Wir hatten gebauet"
The music had originally been composed for another patriotic song by August Daniel von Binzer, "Wir hatten gebauet ein stattliches Haus". Some sources state that in this song the colours Black, Red, and Gold are mentioned for the first time in this order which is not true. In 1817, Binzer had written a different song that begins with the words "Stoßt an! Schwarz-Rot-Gold lebe!"The song's first performance took place on 27 January 1819 after the forced dissolution of the Urburschenschaft. Around one year later, he wrote it down in the register of the participants of the 1817 Wartburg Festival. There, he called the tune a "Thuringian folk song", but no evidence of such earlier melody exists. The lyrics were published for the first time in the Kieler Commers- und Liederbuch in 1821, the tune followed in 1825.
The text refers to the dissolution of the Urburschenschaft due to the Carlsbad Decrees. During the Vormärz, censorship often replaced the colours with lines.
| German original | English translation |
Wir hatten gebauet Ein stattliches Haus Und drin auf Gott vertrauet Trotz Wetter, Sturm und Graus. II Wir lebten so traulich, So innig, so frei, Den Schlechten ward es graulich, Wir lebten gar zu treu. III Sie lugten, sie suchten Nach Trug und Verrat, Verleumdeten, verfluchten Die junge, grüne Saat. IV Was Gott in uns legte, Die Welt hat's veracht't, Die Einigkeit erregte Bei Guten selbst Verdacht. V Man schalt es Verbrechen, Man täuschte sich sehr; Die Form kann man zerbrechen, Die Liebe nimmermehr. VI Die Form ist zerbrochen, Von außen herein, Doch was man drin gerochen, War eitel Dunst und Schein. VII Das Band ist zerschnitten, War schwarz, rot und gold, Und Gott hat es gelitten, Wer weiß, was er gewollt. VIII Das Haus mag zerfallen. Was hat's dann für Not? Der Geist lebt in uns allen, Und unsre Burg ist Gott! | We had built A stately house And trusted in God therein Despite tempest, storm and horror. II We lived so cozily, So devotedly, so free, To the wicked 'twas abhorrent, We lived far too faithfully. III They peered, they looked For deceit and treachery, Slandered, cursed The young, green seed. IV What God put inside us, The world hath despised. This unity stirred suspicion Even among good people. V People reviled it as crime, They deluded themselves badly; They can shatter the form, But never the love. VI The form is shattered, From out to within, But inside it they smelled Sheer haze and appearance. VII The riband is cut to pieces, 'Twas black, red and gold, And God allowed it, Who knows what He wanted. VIII The house may collapse. Would it matter? The spirit lives within us all, And our fortress is God! |