Melody of the German national anthem premiered

The imperial song is sung for the first time in Viennese theatres

Seeking to mark the birthday of Holy Roman Emperor Franz II, Joseph Haydn composed the imperial anthem Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser (God save Franz the Kaiser). It was first sung in all of Vienna’s theatres on 12 February 1797. The honoured emperor himself attended the event at the Burgtheater and thanked the composer with a gift.

In 1841, August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben wrote Das Lied der Deutschen (The song of the Germans) whilst living on the island of Heligoland, which at the time belonged to Great Britain. Set to Haydn’s melody, the song soon caught on and was regularly sung in public. Despite its popularity, Das Lied der Deutschen remained just one of many songs sung by the German national movement and was not established as the official German national anthem until 1922. After reunification in 1990, the German government decided to sing only the third verse proclaiming “Unity and justice and freedom for the German fatherland!”