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Thread: Two German songs in honour of meadows

  1. #1
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    Default Two German songs in honour of meadows

    This German tune with text written in Estonian by Friedrich Kuhlbars (1841-1924) “Elagu kõik me armsamad aasad” (“Long live all our lovely meadows”) is popular in Estonia also in nowadays. I’m sure that first time I learned it at school when I was about 8, but probably even earlier. The another song, attached to the first one, is written by German composer Franz Wilhelm Abt (1819-1885). Also famous song with text written in Estonian “Ta elagu!” (“Long live!”) by Heinrich Rosenthal (1846 –1916). It is often sung during celebrations in honour of someone. Here is the arrangement for two voices on one mandolin.
    The video is recorded in June 2020 in the meadows some miles out of my hometown.

    https://youtu.be/aeGhu_rvEJs

    Toomas Rannu
    Flat-backed mandolin, crafted by Viljar Kuusk in 2008 (Tallinn, Estonia).
    Tabs for mandolin (PDF) attached.Click image for larger version. 

Name:	elagu kõik me armsamad aasad.pdf 
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ID:	186672Click image for larger version. 

Name:	ta elagu.pdf 
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    Last edited by Toomas Rannu; Jun-18-2020 at 5:19am.

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    Registered User John Kelly's Avatar
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    Default Re: Two German songs in honour of meadows

    Interesting, and the video with the live sound in the meadow is lovely. First tune has strong similarities with the French song "Alouette", which I remember learning as a young student in my French class in school!
    I'm playing all the right notes, but not necessarily in the right order. - Eric Morecambe

    http://www.youtube.com/user/TheOldBores

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    Default Re: Two German songs in honour of meadows

    Quote Originally Posted by John Kelly View Post
    Interesting, and the video with the live sound in the meadow is lovely. First tune has strong similarities with the French song "Alouette", which I remember learning as a young student in my French class in school!
    Thank you, John for this interesting information! Some have found that this is a German song "Auf der Mauer, auf der Lauer". It’s interesting if there are some more.

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    Peace. Love. Mandolin. Gelsenbury's Avatar
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    Default Re: Two German songs in honour of meadows

    The first couple of bars are similar to Alouette. I'm German, and the closest match to my mind hasn't been mentioned yet: This German children's song about a lanky boy and a plump girl picking fruit. https://youtu.be/xphR1FWISRk I'm sure it's the same tune.

    That's a lovely setting for your beautiful mandolin playing, by the way.

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    Default Re: Two German songs in honour of meadows

    Quote Originally Posted by Gelsenbury View Post
    The first couple of bars are similar to Alouette. I'm German, and the closest match to my mind hasn't been mentioned yet: This German children's song about a lanky boy and a plump girl picking fruit. https://youtu.be/xphR1FWISRk I'm sure it's the same tune.

    That's a lovely setting for your beautiful mandolin playing, by the way.
    Thank you! This “Spannenlanger Hansel” is really very close to it and I unlikely shouldn't have been found that song.

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    Default Re: Two German songs in honour of meadows

    Nice and lovely location to play.

    Jamie
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    Default Re: Two German songs in honour of meadows

    Quote Originally Posted by JEStanek View Post
    Nice and lovely location to play.

    Jamie
    Thank you, Jamie! There are many birds there in this time of the year. I tried to catch some to sing on the background. Somehow it succeeded and I think it adds much to these simple songs.
    Toomas

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    Registered User Martin Jonas's Avatar
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    Default Re: Two German songs in honour of meadows

    Very nice Toomas! I remember singing "Spannenlanger Hansel" with my children when they were little -- it's one of those songs I learned from my own mother as a child. Here is the German Wikipedia page for the song, which gives a lot of historical context and text variations. No meadows in the German text, but as usual with folk songs a certain unspoken sub text:

    https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spannenlanger_Hansel

    Martin

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  14. #9
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    Default Re: Two German songs in honour of meadows

    Quote Originally Posted by Martin Jonas View Post
    Very nice Toomas! I remember singing "Spannenlanger Hansel" with my children when they were little -- it's one of those songs I learned from my own mother as a child. Here is the German Wikipedia page for the song, which gives a lot of historical context and text variations. No meadows in the German text, but as usual with folk songs a certain unspoken sub text:

    https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spannenlanger_Hansel

    Martin
    Thank you Jonas for the website link. I see that "Spannenlanger Hansel" is some 20-30 years earlier than "Auf der Mauer, auf der Lauer", the very similar song to that.
    https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auf_de..._auf_der_Lauer.
    So it seems like songs live their own life and travel around with a little help from composers and poets and who knows from who. And it’s very interesting to track them and see how they change and develop.

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