Not every German might know all the verses to the popular song “Der Mai ist gekommen” (May has come), but they all know the melody and at least the first two lines: Der Mai ist gekommen, die Bäume schlagen aus …
The song or rather the poem was written by Emanuel Geibel in 1841. The melody that is the most known one was composed by Justus Wilhelm Lyra in 1842, the song was published in “Der Salon” in 1843. Today it remains a popular spring and hiking song (Frühlings- und Wanderlied).
The following video shows the German lyrics as well as their English translation. The song is sung by French singer Mireille Mathieu.
Emanuel Geibel
Emanuel Geibel was born in 1815 in Lübeck which is also where he died in 1884. When Geibel was in high school, he started writing poetry, but because of his father’s wishes he studied theology in Bonn and later in Berlin. He struck up friendships with Adalbert von Chamisso, Bettine von Arnim and Franz Kugler while in Berlin. After two years in Greece as a private tutor, Geibel decided that he wanted to make a living by writing.
His first collection of poetry, called “Gedichte” (poems), was published in 1840, and, after a slow start, became a success. Geibel himself revised the publication multiple times adding new poems, like Der Mai ist gekommen, and by 1915 the poetry collection had gone through 136 printings.
Geibel saw himself as the preserver of the lyrical form language from antiquity to Romanticism. Because of his simple words, the idealism in content, and the musicality Geibel’s poems were ideal candidates for musical renderings. Around 300 of his poems were set to music, in an estimated 3600 different versions.
Emanuel Geibel was a widely read and highly regarded poet during his lifetime and until World War I when his popularity diminished. One reason was the fact that his poetry was politicized and exploited. Especially the last two verses from his poem “Deutschlands Beruf” from 1861 were used by Kaiser Wilhem II to justify the war.
The lines say “Und es mag am deutschen Wesen / einmal noch die Welt genesen.” It is a little hard to translate but more importantly, while it is definitely a patriotic poem, it can’t be removed from its historical context. Geibel wrote the poem in 1861 when there wasn’t a unified Germany or German state yet. Throughout his life, Geibel was in favor for a German state, a deutsches Staatswesen, a German state or a German political system.
The (rough) translation is: “And it may be possible that the world can recuperate/recover through the German nature or essence.” The problem also lies in the word “Wesen” which means somebody’s nature, but if Geibel used it as a shortened version of “Staatswesen” it means state or political system.
Regardless of what Geibel really meant, Emperor Wilhelm II used it in a speech in 1907 and shortened it to the slogan “Am deutschen Wesen mag die Welt genesen”. In later versions, the ‘mag’ (may/might) changed to ‘soll’ (shall/should), making it even worse.
Emanuel Geibel’s relevance and popularity was at its highest after the formation of the German Empire in 1871. But even during his lifetime, there were critics of Geibel’s.
Theodor Fontane coined the term “Geibelei” and by that he meant poetry that sounded good but was stereotypical in form and could be filled with any content.
Wilhelm Busch‘s “Balduin Bählamm, der verhinderte Dichter” is mocking the Kitsch authors of his time: the poet’s circle Die Krokodile. King Maximilian II of Bavaria sponsored this group of poets, among them Emanuel Geibel, Paul Heyse and Friedrich Bodenstedt.
Justus Wilhelm Lyra
Justus Wilhelm Lyra was born in 1822 in Osnabrück and died 1882 in Gehrden. He was a composer and later in life a Lutheran pastor.
In 1841, he started studying music and philology in Berlin and worked with Rudolf Löwenstein and Hermann Schauenburg on a collection of German (folk) songs with their musical scores. They published this collection under the title “Deutsche Lieder nebst ihren Melodien” (German songs and their melodies) in 1843, and in it was also the song “Der Mai ist gekommen”. Lyra had set Geibel’s poem to music, and it’s his version that is the most known and most sung version. Other than for Geibel’s poem, he also wrote the musical score for Eichendorff’s “Sehnsucht” of 1834.
In 1843, Lyra went to Bonn for his studies and there he became a member of the fraternity Knorscha (later Fridericia, disbanded in 1847) and within it he founded the Akademische Sängerkranz Bonn (Academic Singers Bevy). He also changed his major to theology and continued his studies in Berlin and Göttingen. Due to family and health problems, he didn’t start working as a pastor until 1867.
Lyra-Singen, Lyra-Feier, Mai-Singen und Maieinsingen
Lyra’s last post was in Gehrden where he died in 1882. A bench was put up in his honor which has been situated in front of the church Margarethenkirche since the 1990s. Every year, the parish of Gehrden comes together on April 30th to sing and celebrate together. They sing Der Mai ist gekommen in anticipation of May but also other songs composed by Lyra. And of course there is a Maibaum, a decorated pole, something you have to have for any May celebration. In some cities, the meeting to sing the May song is called “Maieinsingen”, similar to Tanz in den Mai – dance into May, but Gehrden normally calls it the Lyra-Feier (Lyra celebration). You can take a look at a couple of photos here and here.
But Gehrden isn’t the only city celebrating Lyra and May. His home town Osnabrück also holds a celebration on April 30, or in the last years on May 1. On April 30, 1905 a memorial stone for Justus Wilhelm Lyra was set up by Rudolf Wulfertange. Traditionally, people met at the stone on the eve of April 30 to sing Der Mai ist gekommen. Though more recently, the Lyra-Singen (Lyra singing) or Maisingen also took place on May 1 and many of Lyra’s composed songs were sung.
Other cities, especially University cities, celebrate the advent of May with the so-called Maieinsingen (singing into May or singing May into existence). It is often combined with Tanz in den Mai celebration that take place in downtown or a market place. It’s more of a folk festival with music, food, drink, and other activities. In the following video you can see the May celebration in Marburg. At minute 1:50 the song Der Mai ist gekommen is sung.
The beating trees
And of course I can’t help sharing this little fun video about “ausschlagende Bäume.” Since Geibel wrote his poem almost 200 years ago, his language is a bit different from ours and certain words that were common aren’t any longer. That’s the case with “ausschlagen”. The word has many different meanings among them ‘to kick’, ‘to reject’, ‘to beat out’, and ‘to spout or bud’.
However, few people use ausschlagen in the sense of sprouting, so while children, me included, learn the text for Der Mai ist gekommen the question arises what it means when trees are hitting out.
