German National Anthem for Concert/Military/Wind Band by Keith Terrett Concert Band - Digital Sheet Music

SKU: A0.1520060

The "Deutschlandlied" officially titled "Das Lied der Deutschen" (IPA: [das ˈliːt dɛɐ̯ ˈdɔʏtʃn̩]; lit. 'The Song of the Germans'), has been the national anthem of Germany either wholly or in part since 1922, except for a seven-year gap following World War II in West Germany. In East Germany, the national anthem was "Auferstanden aus Ruinen" (lit. 'Risen from Ruins'), used between 1949 and 1990.

Since World War II and the fall of Nazi Germany, only the third stanza has been used as the national anthem. Its phrase "Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit" ('Unity and Justice and Freedom') is considered the unofficial national motto of Germany,[1] and is inscribed on modern German Army belt buckles and the rims of some German coins.

The music is derived from that of "Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser", composed in 1797 by the Austrian composer Joseph Haydn as an anthem for the birthday of Francis II, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and later of Austria. In 1841, the German linguist and poet August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben wrote the lyrics of "Das Lied der Deutschen" as a new text for that music, counterposing the national unification of Germany to the eulogy of a monarch: lyrics that were considered revolutionary at the time.

The "Deutschlandlied" was adopted as the national anthem of Germany in 1922, during the Weimar Republic, to which all three stanzas were used. West Germany retained it as its official national anthem in 1952, with only the third stanza sung on official occasions. After German reunification in 1990, in 1991 only the third stanza was reconfirmed as the national anthem. It is discouraged, although not illegal, to perform the first stanza (or to some degree, the second), due to association with the Nazi regime.