Nicolaus Becker
Encyclopedia
Nikolaus Becker was a German lawyer and writer. His one poem of note was the 1840 "Rheinlied" (Rhine song) which was set to music over 70 times, the most famous setting being Die Wacht am Rhein
.
already was about 200 years old, it was inspired by the Rhine crisis of 1840, caused by the French prime minister Adolphe Thiers
, who again voiced demands that France should own the left bank of the Rhine (described as France's "natural boundary"), as France had done decades earlier during Napoleons reign. In response, Becker wrote a poem called Rheinlied, which contained the verse: "Sie sollen ihn nicht haben, den freien, deutschen Rhein ..." (They shall not have him, the free, German Rhine).
This patriotic poem brought him much praise throughout Germany. The Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm IV send him 1000 Thaler
, and King Ludwig I of Bavaria
honoured him with a goblet. The "Rheinlied" was set to music over 70 times, and other Rheinlied songs followed, the most famous being Die Wacht am Rhein
. The wording was mostly defensive.
The French answered, with Alfred de Musset
: "Nous l'avons eu, votre Rhin allemand" (We've had him, your German Rhine) rubbing salt into the wounds Napoleon and others had caused, while Lamartine's "Peace Marseillaise" (1841) was peaceful.
He published a volume of more poems in 1841, but none achieved much popularity.
Die Wacht am Rhein
"Die Wacht am Rhein" is a German patriotic anthem. The song's origins are rooted in historical conflicts with France, and it was particularly popular in Germany during the Franco-Prussian War and the First World War....
.
The Rhine Song
While the French-German enmityFrench-German enmity
French–German hereditary enmity is the idea of unavoidably hostile relations and mutual revanchism between Germany and France that became popular with the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871...
already was about 200 years old, it was inspired by the Rhine crisis of 1840, caused by the French prime minister Adolphe Thiers
Adolphe Thiers
Marie Joseph Louis Adolphe Thiers was a French politician and historian. was a prime minister under King Louis-Philippe of France. Following the overthrow of the Second Empire he again came to prominence as the French leader who suppressed the revolutionary Paris Commune of 1871...
, who again voiced demands that France should own the left bank of the Rhine (described as France's "natural boundary"), as France had done decades earlier during Napoleons reign. In response, Becker wrote a poem called Rheinlied, which contained the verse: "Sie sollen ihn nicht haben, den freien, deutschen Rhein ..." (They shall not have him, the free, German Rhine).
This patriotic poem brought him much praise throughout Germany. The Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm IV send him 1000 Thaler
Thaler
The Thaler was a silver coin used throughout Europe for almost four hundred years. Its name lives on in various currencies as the dollar or tolar. Etymologically, "Thaler" is an abbreviation of "Joachimsthaler", a coin type from the city of Joachimsthal in Bohemia, where some of the first such...
, and King Ludwig I of Bavaria
Ludwig I of Bavaria
Ludwig I was a German king of Bavaria from 1825 until the 1848 revolutions in the German states.-Crown prince:...
honoured him with a goblet. The "Rheinlied" was set to music over 70 times, and other Rheinlied songs followed, the most famous being Die Wacht am Rhein
Die Wacht am Rhein
"Die Wacht am Rhein" is a German patriotic anthem. The song's origins are rooted in historical conflicts with France, and it was particularly popular in Germany during the Franco-Prussian War and the First World War....
. The wording was mostly defensive.
The French answered, with Alfred de Musset
Alfred de Musset
Alfred Louis Charles de Musset-Pathay was a French dramatist, poet, and novelist.Along with his poetry, he is known for writing La Confession d'un enfant du siècle from 1836.-Biography:Musset was born on 11 December 1810 in Paris...
: "Nous l'avons eu, votre Rhin allemand" (We've had him, your German Rhine) rubbing salt into the wounds Napoleon and others had caused, while Lamartine's "Peace Marseillaise" (1841) was peaceful.
He published a volume of more poems in 1841, but none achieved much popularity.
External links
- http://www.jhelbach.de/dichtung/rheinli.htm Der Rhein in der Lyrik