About "Mit Sing und Sang"

Title	Composer	Description	View or Listen	Date Posted
Mit Sing und Sang	Ludolf Waldmann	Voice and guitar A song about singing, expressing sentiments of the Wandervogel movement	mus  pdf  mid  mp3  xml	2007-04-12
Mit Sing und Sang English Version	Ludolf Waldmann	Voice and guitar Translated by Tom Potter	mus  pdf  mid  mp3  xml	2007-04-12

Title: "Mit Sing und Sang" (Singing, Singing!)

History

The title in German is quirky and probably untranslatable, so I have given a very free translation as "Singing, Singing!"

"Mit Sing und Sang" is emblematic of the famous Wandervogel youth movement, circa 1896-1920.  During this period, thousands of idealistic young people from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland met together in large groups with guitars and German songbooks, singing and performing for each other.  Often these gatherings were held in forest or mountain settings.

There were several organizations having the word Wandervogel as part of the organization name.  The word Wandervogel means "wandering bird", or "migratory bird".  At first only boys belonged to the Wandervogel organizations; later young women sometimes participated.  Nudism was practiced at some gatherings!

There were attractive aspects of the Wandervogel movement: a search for beauty, an appeal to youthful idealism, and an emphasis on healthy lifestyle.  But there was a dark side too.  Some Wandervogel groups voted to exclude Jews.  Moreover, the movement stimulated a nationalistic fervor that that may have helped German leaders whip up a militarisitic mood among youth in the period leading to World War I.  (During that war, many of the original Wandervögel died in battle.  In the 1930's, Hitler abolished the German Wandervogel groups and replaced them with the Hitler Youth.)

"Mit Sing und Sang" represents the good, idealistic side of Wandervogelism!  This song has a lively and beautiful melody, reminiscent of many German folksongs.  And its lyrics perfectly express typical Wandervogel sentiments.  I think this is why Walther Werckmeister gave this song a place of honor as the final song in his large German song collection, Deutsches Lautenlied (see citation below).

All I know about the composer and poet Ludolf Waldmann I learned from searching in books.google.com.  Waldmann was born in 1840, and in 1915 he lived in Berlin.  He composed at least one opera.

Remarks

This song requires at least two singers, since the voice line divides into two parts near the end of the piece.

The order in which to play the various parts of the song, and when to repeat them is not clear in the score.  Here is a suggested order of performance:

Section	Measure numbers
Guitar prelude	1-9
Verse 1, first part	10-19
Verse 1, first part (Repeat)	10-19
Verse 1, 2nd part	20-45
Chorus	37-45
Chorus (Repeat)	37-45
Verse 2, first part	10-19
Verse 2, first part (Repeat)	10-19
Verse 2, 2nd part	20-45
Chorus	37-45
Chorus (Repeat)	37-45
Verse 3, first part	10-19
Verse 3, first part (Repeat)	10-19
Verse 3, 2nd part	20-45
Chorus	37-45
Chorus (Repeat)	37-45
Guitar coda	46-54

For a shorter performance, leave out some or all of the repeats!  Another option: play the guitar prelude before all three verses, not just before verse 1.

References

Lichtenberg, Al, Memoir: "Ways of the Wandervogel", posted as a PDF file on the web site of his daughter Judith Lichtenberg, University of Maryland philosophy department.

Manthey-Zorn, Otto, Germany in Travail, Published 1922, Marshall Jones, 139 pages, Original from the University of Michigan, Digitized Nov 14, 2006, pp. 46-59.  In books.google.com.

W. Werckmeister (1873-?), editor, Deutsches Lautenlied, A. Köster Verlag, Berlin, 1916 edition, pp. 673-674.