Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Introduction: The Emergence of Political Song 1830–48
- Part I Before 1848: The Vormärz
- Part II 1848–49
- Part III 1848 in Memory
- Conclusion: The Making of Tradition; The Protest Songs of 1848 in the German Folk Revival 303
- Bibliography
- Discography
- Index of Names and Terms
- Index of Song Titles
19 - “Verehrter Herr und König” (“Hungerlied”)
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 October 2020
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Introduction: The Emergence of Political Song 1830–48
- Part I Before 1848: The Vormärz
- Part II 1848–49
- Part III 1848 in Memory
- Conclusion: The Making of Tradition; The Protest Songs of 1848 in the German Folk Revival 303
- Bibliography
- Discography
- Index of Names and Terms
- Index of Song Titles
Summary
THE POEM “HUNGERLIED” (Song of Hunger) otherwise known as “Verehrter Herr und König” (Dear Sir and King) was written by the committed socialist writer Georg Weerth in the period 1844–45. However, the three short verses expressing the misery of starvation were never published in Weerth's lifetime, and there is no record of any reception in the nineteenth century. The text was rediscovered in the context of the German folk revival of the 1970s, where it was set to music by various different artists.
The writer Georg Weerth (1822–56) was a close colleague of Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx. When he wrote the poem he was working as a commercial assistant at a worsted and wool factory in Bradford, England, and, as such, had first-hand experience of the working conditions of the poor. He observed:
Jede andere Fabrikstadt Englands ist ein Paradies gegen dieses Nest; die Luft in Manchester liegt einem wie Blei auf dem Kopfe; in Birmingham ist es nicht anders, als säße man mit der Nase in einer Ofenröhre; in Leeds muß man vor Staub und Gestank husten, als hätte man mit einem Male ein Pfund Cayennepfeffer verschluckt— aber alles das läßt sich noch ertragen! In Bradford glaubt man aber nirgendsonstwo als beim leibhaftigen Teufel eingekehrt zu sein. […] Wenn jemand fühlen will, wie ein armer Sünder vielleicht im Fegefeuer gepeinigt wird, so reise er nach Bradford.
[Every other factory town in England is a paradise compared to this hole; the air in Manchester feels like a lead weight on your head; in Birmingham it's like you’re sitting with your nose in an oven; in Leeds the dust and the stink make you cough as if you’ve just swallowed a pound of cayenne pepper. But all that is bearable! In Bradford you’d think you’d just paid a visit to the devil himself. […] If you want to feel what it could be like for a poor sinner to be tormented in purgatory, then go to Bradford!]
Weerth's poem cycle Die Not (Poverty) from 1844–45 highlighted the plight of various craftspeople and workers in dealing with social misery and the structures of exploitation they had to endure. “Das Hungerlied,” as the closing text, assumes a prominent contextual role. This elevenpart cycle was never published in Weerth's lifetime, only five of its poems being issued after 1845 under the title Lieder aus Lancashire (Songs from Lancashire).
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- Information
- Songs for a RevolutionThe 1848 Protest Song Tradition in Germany, pp. 254 - 262Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2020