The Bayernhymne (Hymn of Bavaria) is the official anthem of the

Free State of Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total la ...

History

The melody of the song was written by Max Kunz in 1835. The text for the original first three stanzas was written by Michael Öchsner. Both men were members of the Bürger-Sänger-Zunft München (Citizen-Singers-Guild Munich), that first performed the song on December 15, 1860. In 1946, the poet Joseph Maria Lutz wrote a new third stanza as a replacement for the ''Königsstrophe'' (King’s Stanza), since after the

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of King Ludwig III in 1918, Bavaria has been without a king. He also replaced the '' Deutsche Erde'' (German soil) in the first stanza with ''Heimaterde'' (native soil). In 1946, it was also officially recognised as the national anthem of Bavaria, and on July 29, 1966, the then

prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

of Bavaria, Alfons Goppel, chose the version written by Joseph Maria Lutz to be the official version. In 1980, the Bavarian

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Franz Josef Strauß Franz Josef Strauss ( ; 6 September 1915 – 3 October 1988) was a German politician. He was the long-time chairman of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU) from 1961 until 1988, member of the federal cabinet in different positions between ...

changed the official version to contain just the first two stanzas and switched ''Heimaterde'' back to ''Deutsche Erde'', though the ''Heimaterde'' version is still widely used (for example, it was sung during the visit of

Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the soverei ...

to his native Bavaria in 2006, who also joined in singing this version). The song, like most national anthems, contains many symbolic representations, including repeated allusions to the colours white and blue, Bavaria’s

national colours National colours are frequently part of a country's set of national symbols. Many states and nations have formally adopted a set of colours as their official "national colours" while others have ''de facto'' national colours that have become well ...

, especially describing Bavaria's ''Himmel'', which can refer to both sky and heaven. The march Bayerischer Defiliermarsch is often played along the hymn.

Current Version

(According to the bulletin of the Bavarian prime minister on July 18, 1980.)

Variations

Version by Joseph Maria Lutz from 1946

Michael Öchsner’s 1860 Poem

Later Text from Michael Öchsner

References

External links

Official site of the Bavarian Parliament
(in German)
Official site of the Bavarian Government
(in German, includes audio) {{Authority control German anthems Regional songs Culture of Bavaria German patriotic songs Songs about Germany National anthem compositions in A major