Lower Saxony has no anthem. Lower Saxony has the Lower Saxony song. This is – for good reason – not the official anthem, but is often sung at shooting festivals and similar occasions. The song is not entirely unproblematic. “Where did the Welsh brood sink? / In Lower Saxony’s mountains, / In Lower Saxony’s anger ”it says in the second stanza. And in the fourth stanza there are the lines: “From the fathers blood and wounds / The heroism of the sons grows. / Lower Saxony should show it: / Good and blood for freedom. “Heroism and good and blood and” Heil Herzog Widukinds tribe! “In the refrain – that is actually no longer possible today.
On November 1st, however, the country celebrates its 75th birthday, and it would be nice if you had something to sing too. That is what Braunschweig cathedral cantor Gerd-Peter Münden thought – and composed a song for Lower Saxony. Münden is a composer of various hymns and a man who can move the masses. He is the initiator of the project “Great! We sing ”, in which more than 700,000 children have now taken part. Prime Minister Stephan Weil had asked the cathedral cantor to give a “class! We sing ”project for the state birthday. Since such a singing festival with many participants is currently difficult to implement due to the corona, Münden has come up with something else: the new country song. In two versions. The NDR had a vote on the two versions (one more ballad-like, one more anthemic) – the anthemic variant won.
And now it’s there – if you want to listen: “Sea and coast – a song for the 75th birthday of Lower Saxony”. Above all, it is a song for high school students. Text and sheet music are to be made available for schools.
“My narrow limits”
The evangelical pastor Eugen Eckert, who has written 1,500 songs so far (including: “There lives a longing deep within us”, “My narrow limits” and “Would be singing full of our mouths”), eleven oratorios, a requiem and many masses, singspiele and Wrote cantatas, also provided the text here. There is no longer any talk of blood and anger, of castle and weir, of roaring storms and the German fatherland. Instead, it’s about “multicolor”, “happiness” and “happiness”. The first verse of the new Lower Saxony song goes like this:
“Sea and coast, Harz and heath, vast land at all times. / Lower Saxony, where we live, shapes and loves diversity. / The trees are deeply rooted, the fields bring bread for us, / Thirst quenches some clear sources: happiness from morning to sunset, / happiness from morning to sunset. “
Oh well.
He cannot be accused of being bloodthirsty. Maybe the opposite. The song for the state birthday is a kitsch and cuddle anthem. Self-evident things are most affectionately pasted together. “People here, they are reliable, freedom-loving, helpful. / Lower Saxony, where we live, shapes and loves diversity ”. The whole thing sounds – somehow fitting – like the background music to a home film. And it also sounds hard like the Kirchentag.
“Sea and Coast”: A song for the 75th birthday of Lower Saxony
Sea and coast, Harz and heath, vast land at all times. Lower Saxony, where we live, shapes and loves diversity. Trees are deeply rooted, fields bring us bread, thirst quenches some clear sources: happiness from early to sunset, Happiness from dawn to dusk. People here are reliable, freedom-loving, helpful. Lower Saxony, where we live, shapes and loves diversity. Clear language, clear edges, big words are not needed. Far the horizon of life, far the heart , clear view. Old cities, rich heritage, creative and cheerful. Lower Saxony, where we live, prides itself on versatility. Tradition and new approaches, mosaics and masterpieces: a home that we love, the future grows here, happiness blossoms here. Text: Eugen Eckert 2021 Melody: Gerd-Peter Münden 2021
Those: NDR
“We are hymnless”
But it’s difficult too. What should one sing about? What is the country’s identity? What would be the common goals that would be different from the goals of people in other federal states? And how should that sound then? Solemnly? Carried? Happy? Optimistic? “We are hymnless,” says Gert Hahne, the deputy spokesman for the Lower Saxony state government. And he has a theory as to why that is so: “Even at the time it was founded, the country was so inhomogeneous that they did without an anthem.”
Basically a wise decision.
By Ronald Meyer-Arlt
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