SONGS HAVE A HISTORY. They tell a story; they can play a part in historical events and developments and even become synonymous with them; and ultimately they create their own respective histories. The scope of the specific history of an individual song—in which its text and music, usage and meaning, function and purpose can change—has hitherto been somewhat neglected in song studies. At the same time songs, particularly those with a long-lasting impact, become attached to discourse-shaping narratives that are frequently interfused with pseudo-historical attributions and legend creation. This makes songs—particularly political songs—susceptible to false interpretation and instrumentalization. Therefore it was the aim of this research to systematically investigate the origin and reception of individual popular songs that had played an incisive role in the German Vormärz and 1848 Revolution and thereby shed light on their changing history in its multilayered facets. As a result the twenty-two reconstructed song histories in this book provide a complete overview of reception that enables at the same time basic insights into, on one hand, the new forms of politicization of popular songs in the nineteenth century and, on the other, the processes of their handing-down and ultimate emergence as cultural heritage.

This book has resulted from a longstanding collaboration that began in 2008 as a British-German research project and thereafter developed into an intensive partnership. Both authors collaborated closely on the researching and writing up of all aspects of the song histories contained in this book. The research was primarily carried out in the (former) Deutsches Volksliedarchiv in Freiburg (DVA) following the methodological approach of critical research in popular song pioneered by the Historisch-kritisches Liederlexikon (www.liederlexikon.de). Our collaboration was enabled by grants from the British Academy, the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), and the German Academic Exchange (DAAD), for which we are extremely grateful. In particular the support of the bilateral AHRC and DFG award from 2009–12 was of crucial importance for this project.

The authors would like to thank Johanna Ziemann, Ingrid Bertleff, and Renate Sarr (all from Freiburg im Breisgau) for research assistance and Kara Rick (Eberbach) for her excellent music notation.