O Tannenbaum

"O Christmas Tree" redirects here. For the album by Celtic Woman, see O Christmas Tree (album).
Not to be confused with Operation Tannenbaum, the proposed World War II invasion of Switzerland by the Axis Powers.

"O Tannenbaum"
Silver fir (Abies alba)
Song
LanguageGerman
English titleO Christmas Tree
Published1824
LyricistErnst Anschütz
Audio sample
Bilingual performance of the first verse by the United States Army Band Chorus

"O Tannenbaum" (German: [oː ˈtanənbaʊm]; "O fir tree"), known in English as "O Christmas Tree", is a German Christmas song. Based on a traditional folk song that was unrelated to the holiday, it became associated with the traditional Christmas tree.

History

The song lyrics draw on a long-standing tradition of the Tannenbaum (the German name for a fir tree) as a symbol of faithfulness due to the tree's evergreen quality. As early as the 16th century, songbooks included a text that gave rise to a folk song, "O Tannenbaum, du trägst ein' grünen Zweig" ("O fir tree, you wear a green branch").[1] In the 1856 edition of the Deutscher Liederhort, folk song collector Ludwig Erk identified three distinct melodies associated with this song in different regions of Germany.[2] While the tunes were only recorded in the 18th and 19th centuries, a line from the song using one of the melodies was quoted in 1605 by Melchior Franck in the quodlibet "Nun fanget an".[3]

In 1820 German educator August Zarnack published the second volume of his collection of folk songs for use in schools, including as No. 51 "Der Tannenbaum".[4] For this number the existing folk song may have served as inspiration, but the text now presented as a lover's complaint, in which the fidelity of the fir tree is contrasted with the fickleness of a maiden. Zarnack also paired the song with a tune a bit different from those collected by Erk, using a melody that had earlier been published with the song "Es lebe hoch der Zimmermannsgeselle" ("Up high works the carpenter's apprentice").[5] As was occasionally the practice of folklorists under German Romanticism, Zarnack may well have written much or all of the text himself, basing the song on his own conception of a suitably folk idiom.

The lyrics known today were written by Ernst Anschütz, a teacher and organist in Leipzig, and published in his 1824 Musikalisches Schulgesangbuch.[6] Anschütz wrote two additional verses to the song, linking the tree's faithful colouration to the joy and hope of the Christmas season. While he published it with the same "Zimmermannsgeselle" tune as Zarnack, it eventually was associated with the melody of "Lauriger Horatius", an old student song. As the custom of decorating Christmas trees became more widespread in this period, this became one of the most popular Christmas songs in both German and English, although it is not explicitly about such a tree.

Anschütz retained Zarnack's first verse, hence in German the song does not actually refer to Christmas until the second verse. Some versions today change treu ("faithful") to grün ("green") and may also alter the line Wie oft hat nicht zur Weihnachtszeit to Wie oft hat schon zur Winterzeit; if the third verse with pedagogical allusions to religion is omitted, the text can be made effectively secular.

Melody

\header { tagline = ##f } \paper { paper-width = 200\mm } \layout { indent = 0 \context { \Score \remove "Bar_number_engraver" } \context { \Voice \remove "Dynamic_engraver" } } global = { \key g \major \time 3/4 \partial 8 } chordNamesC = \chordmode { \global \set midiInstrument = "acoustic guitar (nylon)" \set chordChanges = ##t \transpose c c, { s8 | g2\pp d4 | g2. | a2:m d4:7~ | d:7 g s8 } } chordNamesV = \chordmode { \set midiInstrument = "acoustic guitar (nylon)" \set chordChanges = ##t \transpose c c, { s8 | g4:7 c2 | d2.:7 | d:7 | g2 s8 \bar "|." } } sopranoC = \relative c' { \global \autoBeamOff \set midiInstrument = "flute" d8 | g8. g16 g4 a | b8. b16 b4. b8 | a b c4 fis, | a g r8^"Fine" \bar "|." \break } sopranoV = \relative c' { \autoBeamOff \set midiInstrument = "flute" d'8 | d b e4. d8 | d c c4. c8 | c a d4. c8 | c b b4^"D.C. al fine" r8 \bar "|." } verse = \lyricmode { O Tan -- nen -- baum, o Tan -- nen -- baum! Wie treu sind dei -- ne Blät -- ter; du grünst nicht nur zur Som -- mer -- zeit, nein, auch im Win -- ter, wenn es schneit. O Tan -- nen -- baum, o Tan -- nen -- baum, wie treu sind dei -- ne Blät -- ter. } rightC = \relative c' { \global d8~\pp | <d b>2 <fis d>4 | <g d> <gis e>2 | e4 <a e> d, | c8. b16 b4 r8 } rightV = \relative c' { g'8~ | g4 <c g>2\pp | <a fis>4 <fis d>2 | <fis d>4 <a fis>2 | <g d>4 q r8 \bar "|." } leftC = \relative c' { \global d,8 | <b' g>2\p <fis d>4 | f e d | <a' c,>2 <a d,>4 | <fis g,> <g g,> r8 } leftV = \relative c' { r8 | <g g,>4 q q | <a a,> q q | <d, d,> q q | <g g,> q r8 \bar "|." } \score { << \new ChordNames { \chordNamesC \chordNamesV } \new Staff { \sopranoC \sopranoV } \addlyrics \verse \new PianoStaff << \new Staff { \rightC \rightV } \new Staff { \clef bass \leftC \leftV } >> >> \layout { } } \score { \unfoldRepeats { << \chordNamesC \\ \sopranoC \\ \leftC \\\rightC >> << \chordNamesV \\ \sopranoV \\ \leftV \\\rightV >> << \chordNamesC \\ \sopranoC \\ \leftC \\\rightC >> } \midi { \tempo 4 = 90 \context { \Score midiChannelMapping = #'instrument } \context { \Staff \remove "Staff_performer" } \context { \Voice \consists "Staff_performer" } } }

Source[7]

Lyrics

Other uses

The tune has also been used (as a contrafactum) to carry other texts on many occasions. Notable uses include:

See also

References

  1. ^ Bergmann, Joseph, ed. (1845). "CXXI. Es hieng ein stallknecht seinen zaum" [A stable-boy hung his bridle]. Das Ambraser Liederbuch vom Jahre 1582 [The Ambras Songbook of 1582] (in German). Stuttgart: Bibliothek des Literarischen Vereins. pp. 137–138. O danne du bist ein edler zweig, Du grünest winter und die liebe sommerzeit, Wenn alle beume dürre sein, So grünest du edles dannenbeumelein.
  2. ^ Erk, Ludwig (1856). Deutscher Liederhort: Auswahl der vorzüglichern deutschen Volkslieder aus der Vorzeit und der Gegenwart mit ihren eigenthümlichen Melodien. Berlin: Enslin. pp. 348–349.
  3. ^ Franck, Melchior (1955). Gudewill, Kurt (ed.). Drei Quodlibets. Wolfenbüttel: Möseler Verlag.
  4. ^ Zarnack, August (1820). Deutsche Volkslieder mit Volksweisen für Volksschulen. Berlin: Maurersche Buchhandlung. pp. 29–30.
  5. ^ Widmaier, Tobias (2007). "O Tannenbaum". Historisch-kritisches Liederlexikon [de] [Historical-Critical Song Lexicon] (in German). Zentrum für Populäre Kultur und Musik [de], University of Freiburg. Retrieved 26 December 2025.
  6. ^ Anschütz, Ernst (1824). Musikalisches Schulgesangbuch. Leipzig: Carl Heinrich Reclam. pp. 134–135.
  7. ^ William L. Simon, ed. (September 1995) [1981]. The Reader's Digest Merry Christmas Songbook (14th printing ed.). pp. 16–17. ISBN 0-89577-105-5, modified to use "D.C. al fine".
  8. ^ Birgit Horn-Kolditz (2008). "'O Tannenbaum': Originalhandschrift im Stadtarchiv Leipzig". Sächsisches Archivblatt (in German) (2): 3–4. Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 29 December 2025.
  9. ^ Zarnack published his collection of songs in two formats: one with a musical setting for two vocal parts, for which only the first verse of each song was printed, and one without printed music that included all the verses of each song. In the latter version, he gives the line as im Winter auch, wenns friert und schneit. ("Also in winter, when it freezes and snows.") Anschütz copied the text and both vocal parts from the edition with printed music, so it is not entirely certain whether he knew that in writing additional verses, he was replacing others with different subject matter.
  10. ^ by John Rutter
  11. ^ "O Tannenbaum (English lyrics)". decantus.com. Archived from the original on 5 December 2019. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  12. ^ The Bay View Magazine (1913), p. 175
  13. ^ "Rev. C. V. Waugh". Alachua County Library District Heritage Collection. Archived from the original on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 12 February 2008.
  14. ^ "New Citizen Civic Handbook, page 44" (PDF). sos.state.ia.us. 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 March 2009. Retrieved 26 December 2006.
  15. ^ Letter from the President of the General Alumni Association Archived 2021-05-06 at the Wayback Machine, Holy Cross Magazine
  16. ^ "Musiknavet" (PDF). Idébanken. 2005. p. 22. Retrieved 20 September 2014.
  17. ^ Saint Bonavenure University website Archived 2011-05-27 at the Wayback Machine . Accessed January 3, 2014.
  18. ^ "校歌歌谱" (in Chinese). Nankai University. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
  19. ^ "The Alma Mater St. John's University". St. John's University. Retrieved 9 February 2025.
  20. ^ "Scout Vesper". ScoutSongs.com. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  21. ^ "On My Honor – Girl Scout Version Lyrics".
  22. ^ Moon over Parador (1988) – We Have a Hit on YouTube[dead link][citation needed]
  23. ^ "Democrats, Good Democrats (Grover Cleveland)". Smithsonian.
allikas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O_Christmas_Tree