"Schwertlied" ("Sword Song")Alfred Baskerville
''The Poetry of Germany''. Fifth Edition, Philadelphia, 1866, pp. 221–224
/ref> is a poem by Theodor Körner, written shortly before his death in battle on 26 August 1813.

Historic context

Theodor Körner was a famous poet during his lifetime, and was appointed poet to the court at the

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

Burgtheater The Burgtheater (; literally: "Castle Theater" but alternatively translated as "(Imperial) Court Theater", originally known as '' K.K. Theater an der Burg'', then until 1918 as the ''K.K. Hofburgtheater'', is the national theater of Austria in ...

. He nonetheless gave up his civilian life and joined the

Lützow Free Corps Lützow Free Corps ( ) was a volunteer force of the Prussian army during the Napoleonic Wars. It was named after its commander, Ludwig Adolf Wilhelm von Lützow. The Corpsmen were also widely known as the “''Lützower Jäger''“ or “''Schwa ...

, a

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

n military unit composed of volunteers from all over Germany. As a soldier, Körner wrote several patriotic poems, like " Lützows wilde, verwegene Jagd" and the "Schwertlied". Several hours after having written the "Schwertlied" Körner fell in battle near

Gadebusch Gadebusch () is a town in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in the district of Nordwestmecklenburg. Halfway between Lübeck, Schwerin and Wismar, it is part of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region. The town is known for two notable monuments: the ''Stadt ...

(

Mecklenburg Mecklenburg (; ) is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The largest cities of the region are Rostock, Schwerin, Neubrandenburg, Wismar and Güstrow. ...

Otto Erich Deutsch Otto Erich Deutsch (5 September 1883 – 23 November 1967) was an Austrian musicologist. He is known for compiling the first comprehensive catalogue of Franz Schubert's compositions, first published in 1951 in English, with a revised edition pu ...

. ''

Schubert Thematic Catalogue ''Schubert: Thematic Catalogue of all his Works in Chronological Order'', also known as the Deutsch catalogue, is a numbered list of all compositions by Franz Schubert compiled by Otto Erich Deutsch. Since its first publication in 1951, Deutsch ...

''
No. 170
/ref> and consequently became a national hero in Germany.

Content

"Schwertlied" functions as paean of warrior spirit. Therein, Körner describes the relationship between a soldier and his sword as if the weapon were his bride thirsting for blood. In the end, he draws the sword, as battle awaits him, thus making the marriage legal before God ("At last / Hath truly God allied / The right hand to the bride.").

Settings

The poem was set to music by

Carl Maria von Weber Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber (5 June 1826) was a German composer, conductor, virtuoso pianist, guitarist, and Music criticism, critic in the early Romantic music, Romantic period. Best known for List of operas by Carl Maria von Weber, h ...

in 1814 ( op. 42 Nr. 6, J. 169).Emily Ezust (editor)
"Schwertlied"The LiederNet Archive
(retrieved 8/3/2015)

Franz Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; ; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical period (music), Classical and early Romantic music, Romantic eras. Despite his short life, Schubert left behind a List of compositions ...

set the poem as a part-song (or cantata) for voice, unison choir and piano, on 12 March 1815 ( 170). It was first published in 1873, and in the 1894 edition of Series XX, Volume 2 of

Franz Schubert's Works Franz Schubert's Works: Complete and Authoritative Edition (), also known as the Collected Edition, is a late 19th-century publication of Franz Schubert's compositions.Deutsch 1951, p. xiii The publication is also known as the Alte Gesamt-Ausgabe ...

it was published as No. 54.

References

{{German patriotic songs German patriotic songs German poems Part songs by Franz Schubert

Historic context

Content

Settings

See also

References