Pachelbel's Canon becomes Nation Anthem

Just listening to this amazing piece of music, and wondering how come the Germans passed up the chance to make it their national anthem. So, how could Pachelbel's canon become the german national anthem?
 
Probably something about the democratic states in Europe striving to be secular in the 20th century, and a Canon being a very religious-oriented piece of music and all.

So...maybe have an outwardly religious German state, probably a monarchy in the late 19th century that survives. Possibly a "restored" (read: new and very different) "HRE" if Austria comes to dominate the German Confederation and some nostalgia-high Emperor decides "I'm Roman Emperor now, lol wut".
 
It doesn't quite fit the mood - lovely, lovely music, but seriously, can you imagine what the Musikkapelle des kgl. Preußischen Gardefüsilierregiments would do to it?

"Achtung! Ve vill now play Pachelbel's Canon in honour of His All-Highest Majesty ze Kaiser! One, two thre..."

German nationalism after the 1860s doesn't do 'quiet' very well. That said, the one they did pick is - kinda dull.
 
One weird thing about the German National Anthem is that it was originally Austrian! (Or, the tune was, rather.) Most people are so used to the tune being 'Deutschland ueber alles' that they forget the origin.

Couple of other trivial points
- tune was written by Hayden (probably the only national anthem tune written by a major composer)
- used in one of his operas, IIRC, but I don't remember which came first
- tune used (under the name AUSTRIA) for several hymns, including "Glorious things of thee are spoken, Zion City of our God". Of course, I still remember the look on the face of our choir master's dad (a Dutchman who'd survived WWII, and knew only the militaristic Nazi version!) when we launched into that one!
 
Probably something about the democratic states in Europe striving to be secular in the 20th century, and a Canon being a very religious-oriented piece of music and all.

So...maybe have an outwardly religious German state, probably a monarchy in the late 19th century that survives. Possibly a "restored" (read: new and very different) "HRE" if Austria comes to dominate the German Confederation and some nostalgia-high Emperor decides "I'm Roman Emperor now, lol wut".

A canon isn't a religious piece - it's purely secular. Pachelbel's Canon is basically just a very basic chord progression repeated over and over again with an increasingly decorative upper line.

I know it's a popular piece, but it's pretty simple and any first-year music student could write it. Pachelbel would probably be dismayed that it's the only thing he's known for.

Anyway, it would be a poor national anthem, because it has no words, it's slow, and anthems are supposed to inspire, not put you to sleep.

Also, Pachelbel was Bavarian.

I think where Germany missed their chance was in not grabbing Beethoven's Ode to Joy before Europe got it. Now THAT'S an anthem. And what better for Germany than a beer-drinking song?
 
One weird thing about the German National Anthem is that it was originally Austrian! (Or, the tune was, rather.) Most people are so used to the tune being 'Deutschland ueber alles' that they forget the origin.
The song was never, ever called "Deutschland über alles", that's just the first words of the first stanza.
It's "Deutschlandlied" or "Lied der Deutschen".

It was, btw. a wine-drinking song.:D
 

Hendryk

Banned
I think where Germany missed their chance was in not grabbing Beethoven's Ode to Joy before Europe got it. Now THAT'S an anthem.
Seconded. The French national anthem makes me cringe, but the Ode to Joy fills me with the nearest thing to patriotic pride I'm able to experience.
 
The song was never, ever called "Deutschland über alles", that's just the first words of the first stanza.
It's "Deutschlandlied" or "Lied der Deutschen".

It was, btw. a wine-drinking song.:D
It mentions German wine in the second verse doesn't it? Now that's odd, a country that produces so much good beer having its anthem mention its decidedly average wine...
As far as anthems by major composers, Russia used a tune by Glinka from 1991 to 2000.
 
A canon isn't a religious piece - it's purely secular. Pachelbel's Canon is basically just a very basic chord progression repeated over and over again with an increasingly decorative upper line.

I know it's a popular piece, but it's pretty simple and any first-year music student could write it. Pachelbel would probably be dismayed that it's the only thing he's known for.

Anyway, it would be a poor national anthem, because it has no words, it's slow, and anthems are supposed to inspire, not put you to sleep.

Also, Pachelbel was Bavarian.

I think where Germany missed their chance was in not grabbing Beethoven's Ode to Joy before Europe got it. Now THAT'S an anthem. And what better for Germany than a beer-drinking song?

You stole my thunder about the Pachelbel. Nice music to go to sleep by but not raise one's patriotic hackles.

Plus, you could sing "Ode to Joy" with a first line starting with "Deutschland, Deutschland uber alles" and not skip a beat. Then tack on "...daughter of Elysium" at the end and you've got a really wierd mix of classical, nationalistic, and romantic sentiments just right for a Germany forged in the 1848 revolutions.
 

Vivisfugue

Banned
Speaking of alternate national anthems, I've always thought Gustav Holst's Mars, the Bringer of War would make a kick ass national anthem for some sort of althist V for Vendetta-style fascist Britain.
 
You know, ever since that scene in 'Waterloo' I wondered whether anyone ever used Tochter Zions for that purpose.

Or 'Jerusalem', nicely elegic and dreamy, but pretty scary when you get right down to it. I used that as the unofficial anthem of the humanist (non-assimilationist) movement among the human minority in a sci-fi setting. I had fun with those.
 
Hrmm. But what could replace it? Watch on the Rhine seems a bit, well, specific...

You can always rewrite the lines (they did with this score - several times - after all).

Personally, I always thought the Fehrbelliner Marsch made a nice, jaunty jingo tune. A bit late, but many countries didn't really settle on an anthem until the early 20th century.
 

Vivisfugue

Banned
Still, probably nothing could say "resistance is futile" more than Holst blasting out of a loudspeakers accompanying a tank column crushing the ruins of Cork or Calais beneath its treads...
 
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