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by Victor August Eberhard Blüthgen (1844 - 1920)

Wer hat das erste Lied erdacht
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Our translations:  ENG ENG
Wer hat das erste Lied erdacht,
  Das in die Lüfte scholl?
Der Frühling fand's in lauer Nacht,
  Das Herz [von]1 Wonne voll;
Er sang es früh im Fliederbaum
  Und schlug den [Tact]2 dazu:
"O Maienzeit, o Liebestraum,
  Was ist so süß wie Du?"

Da kamen Mück' und Käferlein,
  Waldvöglein [sonder]3 Zahl;
[Die]4 übten [sich die Weise]5 ein,
  Wohl an die tausend Mal.
Sie trugen's durch den Himmelsraum
  Und durch die Waldesruh:
"O Maienzeit, o Liebestraum,
  Was ist so süß wie Du?"

Mir sang's am Bach die Nachtigall,
  Da ward mir wonnig weh;
Nun folgt das Lied mir überall
  Durch [Duft]6 und Blütenschnee.
Ich pflück' den Zweig vom Fliederbaum
  Und sing' es immerzu:
"O Maienzeit, o Liebestraum,
  Was ist so süß wie Du?"

Available sung texts:   ← What is this?

•   F. Abt •   F. Busoni •   H. Weidt 

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Die Gartenlaube. Illustrirtes Familienblatt, Band XXVII, Nr. 23 (1879), page 386.

1 Weidt: "vor"
2 Abt, Busoni: "Takt"
3 Abt: "ohne"
4 Busoni: "Sie"
5 Weidt: "ihre Weisen"
6 Busoni: "Luft"

Text Authorship:

  • by Victor August Eberhard Blüthgen (1844 - 1920), "Das erste Lied" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

  • by Franz Wilhelm Abt (1819 - 1885), "Das erste Lied", op. 536 no. 1 [ voice and piano ], Leipzig: Röder [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Franz Wilhelm Abt (1819 - 1885), "Das erste Lied", op. 593 (Vier Lieder für vierstimmigen Männergesang) no. 1, published 1882 [ four-part men's chorus ], Leipzig, Forberg [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Franz von Blon (1861 - 1945), "Das erste Lied", published 1895 [ high voice and piano ], from [Elf] Lieder und Gesänge für 1 hohe Stimme mit Pianoforte, no. 10, Berlin, Tschentscher [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Hermann Brandt (1840 - 1893), "Maienzeit und Liebestraum", op. 18, published 1882 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Ferruccio Busoni (1866 - 1924), "Wer hat das erste Lied erdacht", op. 31 (Zwei Lieder für 1 Singstimme mit Pianofortebleitung) no. 1 (1880), published 1884 [ mezzo-soprano or tenor and piano ], Triest, (Vicentini.) [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Karl Courvoisier (b. 1846), "Das erste Lied", op. 17 (Drei Lieder für Sopran mit Pianoforte) no. 2, published 1880 [ soprano and piano ], Leipzig, Breitkopf & Härtel  [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Otto Fiebach (1851 - 1937), "Das erste Lied", published 1880 [ voice and piano ], from An Susanne. Lieder der Liebe für 1 Singstimme mit Pianoforte, no. 14, Berlin, (Sulzbach) [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Wilhelm Karl Friedrich Fitzenhagen (1848 - 1890), "Das erste Lied", op. 54 (Zwei Lieder für 1 Singstimme mit Pianofortebegleitung) no. 1, published 1890 [ mezzo-soprano or tenor and piano ], Berlin, Fr. Luckhardt [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Alban Förster (1849 - 1916), "Das erste Lied", op. 83 (Vier Lieder für 1 Singstimme mit Pianoforte) no. 1, published 1883 [ voice and piano ], Leipzig, Kistner [sung text not yet checked]
  • by (Christian Heinrich) Karl Grammann (1842 - 1897), "Das erste Lied", published 1880 [ soprano or alto and piano ], Berlin, Erler [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Ferdinand Gumbert (1818 - 1896), "Das erste Lied", op. 123, published 1880 [ soprano or tenor and piano ], Berlin, Bote & Bock [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Eduard Hermes (1818 - 1905), "Das erste Lied", op. 81 (Vier Männerquartette) no. 2, published 1881 [ vocal quartet for male voices ], Berlin, Erler [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Eduard Lassen (1830 - 1904), "Wer hat das erste Lied erdacht", op. 92 (Sechs Lieder für 1 Singstimme mit Pianofortebegleitung) no. 4, published 1893 [ voice and piano ], Leipzig, Junne [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Emil Link , "Das erste Lied", op. 19 (Zwölf Lieder für 1 Singstimme mit Pianofortebegleitung) no. 4, published 1885 [ voice and piano ], Berlin, Uhse [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Julius Neugebauer , "Das erste, Lied", op. 50 (Sechs Lieder für 1 Singstimme mit Pianofortebegleitung) no. 3, published 1880 [ voice and piano ], Breslau, Hientzsch [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Arnold Nöldeke (1865 - 1945), "Wer hat das erste Lied erdacht?", published 1901 [ voice and piano ], from Drei Lieder für 1 Singstimme mit Pianoforte, no. 3, Offenbach am Main: Johann André [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Ika Peyron (1845 - 1922), "Das erste Lied", published 1899 [ voice and piano ], from Drei Lieder, no. 2, Hamburg, Leichssenring [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Heinrich Reinhardt (1865 - 1922), "Das erste Lied", op. 28, published 1890 [ voice and piano ], Hamburg, Cranz [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Louis Reinhardt , "Das erste Lied", op. 30, published 1889 [ voice and piano ], Basel, Reinhardt [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Wilhelm Rudnick (1850 - 1927), "Das erste Lied", published 1900 [ voice and piano ], from Neue Kompositionen für 1 Singstimme mit Pianofortebegleitung, no. 1, Münster, Tormann [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Otto Schmidt , "O Maienzeit, o Liebestraum", op. 10, published 1881 [ voice and piano ], Berlin, Weinholtz [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Friedrich Siewert , "Das erste Lied", published 1880 [ four-part men's chorus ], from Fünf Lieder für vierstimmigen Männerchor, no. 2, Berlin, Paez [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Max Stange (1856 - 1932), "Das erste Lied", op. 19 (Vier Gesänge für eine Singstimme mit Pianoforte) no. 2, published 1888 [ voice and piano ], Berlin, Raabe & Plothow [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Wilhelm Sturm (1842 - 1922), "Das erste Lied", op. 53 no. 1, published 1886 [ men's chorus ], from Vier volksthümliche Gesänge für Männerchor, no. 1, Leipzig, Kistner [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Heinrich Weidt (1824 - 1901), "Das erste Lied", op. 150, published 1890 [ voice and piano ], Wien, Bösendorfer [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Friedrich von Wickede (1834 - 1904), "Maienzeit und Liebestraum", op. 79, published 1880 [ voice and piano ], Kassel, Voigt [sung text not yet checked]
  • by (Peter) Nicolai von Wilm (1834 - 1911), "Das erste Lied", op. 164, published 1899 [ men's chorus ], Magdeburg, Heinrichshofen's Verlag [sung text not yet checked]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

  • ENG English (John H. Campbell) , "Who invented the first song", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • ENG English (Sharon Krebs) , copyright © 2019, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , John H. Campbell , Sharon Krebs [Guest Editor] , Johann Winkler

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 24
Word count: 128

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This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

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