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Posted

This might be a bit of an oddly specific request, but I’m wondering if anyone here is knowledgeable in German folk music? I’m currently working on something on my Anglo concertina that has me looking into some German songs, more specifically folk songs that were popular during WW1 time period. I have tried finding some sheet music online but since I don’t know much about the music during that time period, I’m having a bit of a hard time finding anything I feel confident in learning on concertina with my current skill level. Any suggestions are appreciated! :)

Posted (edited)

How about that good old (and easy) standby, “Ach Du Lieber Augustin”? A piano arrangement (in F) is here, and I link to it only because it has the words as I remember them from 60 years ago. A setting in G (and more easily readable on the anglo) is here on Wikipedia, but they seem to think it is called “O Du Lieber Augustin.”

 

Here’s the music as it appears on Wikipedia:

 

580px-Ach!_due_lieber_Augustin_repetitio

 

It would fit both my memory and the cadence of the words better if the last measure of the 2nd line were a 3-beat G, like in the last measure.

 

Edited to add:

 

1) Yes, I know it’s actually Viennese, not German.

2) And, of course, it’s the same tune as “Did You Ever See a Lassie” and “Horsey, Put Your Tail Up."

Edited by David Barnert
  • Like 1
Posted (edited)

Another possibility may be the (Bavarian?) 'Zwiefacher' dance tradition?

 

I can't comment on it's popularity or otherwise during WWI, but if you are ABC-savvy, you will find a few examples on Seymour Shlien's web site - look at the International Dance file. There are 5-6 examples of the Zweifacher form there. With an ABC reader/editor such as EasyABC you should be able to generate simple printable scores (PDF).

 

Otherwise, you can find examples of this folk (dance) form on YouTube.

 

I can't comment on the appropriateness of this style of music for the 'tina because I haven't tried it (yet...). One of it's 'features' apparently, is that the tunes tend to have changes in rhythm, so that may affect it's 'suitability'...

Edited by Roger Hare
  • Like 1
Posted

@David Barnert Thank you for the suggestion and sheet music! This seems like a perfect tune to start with, it’s such a good simple song. I actually am familiar with it from childhood from “the More We Get Together”. That song was stuck in my head often haha. And thank you for your notes about the second bar, I will keep that in mind!

Posted

@Roger Hare Thanks for your reply! Unfortunately I don’t have any experience with ABC, I will have to do some looking into it for future use though. I will definitely look through YouTube for some examples of  Zwiefacher music, it seems like a very lively genre! I am a bit worried that it is out of my skill level currently but I might give any simple songs I come across a go.

Posted (edited)
20 minutes ago, SliverOfSand said:

[1] Thanks for your reply!

 

[2] Unfortunately I don’t have any experience with ABC

 

[3] I am a bit worried that it is out of my skill level currently but I might give any simple songs I come across a go.

[1] My pleasure!

 

[2] Well worth a look...

 

[3] Yup! That's why I accompanied my post with a heads-up about the possible difficulties of coping with changes in rhythm. I just did a quick-and-dirty extraction of Zwiefacher tunes from my tune book - I came up with 10 tunes - all of them had changes in rhythm, and I know that I would find it awkward coping with this...

Edited by Roger Hare
  • Like 1
Posted (edited)

There are quite a few here that might be of interest: Swiss & German Folksongs for Anglo Concertina, by Barbara Steinger from the Akkordeonschule in Aarau, available on Amazon and elsewhere. All are arranged for harmonic style Anglo with the same button numbers and tablature that are in all the other Rollston Press books, plus QR codes of members of the school playing the tunes.

 

Here's the complete list:

Volkslieder aus der Schweiz                   Songs from Switzerland
01 Anneli wo bisch geschter gsi                                     Annie – where were you yesterday
02 A Moléson                                                                Moléson (a place)
03 Aveva gli occhi neri                                                 she/he had dark eyes
04 Aprite le porte                                                           open the doors
05 Baselbieterlied                                                           song from Baselbiet (area around Basle)
06 Bionda Bella Bionda                                                Blonde – beautiful blonde
07 Chumm mier wei go Chrieseli gwünne                      come along – let’s go pick cherries
08 Dei obe uf em Bärgli                                                 up there – on the mountain/hill
09 Det äne am Bärgli                                                   up there – on the mountain/hill
10 Donna donna ve a chà!                                               Please please come home!
11 Es Buurebüebli                                                       farmer laddie/boy
12 Es wott es Fraueli z`Märit gah                                 a woman (the wife) was off to the market
13 Fontaunas clar resunan                                           fountains clearly resonate
14 Gang rüef de Bruune                                               go get the brown one (name for cows)
15 Gemsjäger                                                               the chamois hunter
16 Im Aargau sind zwoi Liebi                                       two love-birds at Aargau
17 Il cucù                                                                     the cuckoo
18 Is Mueters Stübeli                                                   in mama’s/granny’s nook
19 Le vieux chalet                                                        the old house
20 Luegid vo Bärg und Tal                                           look there – from the mountain and the valley
21 Meiteli wend go witt go tanze                                   sweetie/girl – if you want to go dancing
22 Mier Senne hei`s luschtig                                         we – the mountain folks have a lots of fun
23 Mier verchaufed a der Tante ihres Hüüsli                 we’re selling Auntie’s little house
24 Morge früeh wenn d`Sunne lacht                              in the morning when the sun is shining bright
25 Mues allewil `s ploogete Hansli si                             my destiny: forever troubled Hansli
26 O du liebs Ängeli                                                     oh my dear angel
27 S`Brienzerbürli                                                        the country-lad from Brienz
28 Schuemächerli                                                         shoemaker
29 Simelibärg                                                               «Simelibärg» - the name of a mountain
30 S`Blüemli                                                                the little flower
31 S`isch mer alles eis Ding                                           what do I care . . .
32 S`Ramseyers wie go grase                                        Ramseyer’s are wanting to go cut the grass
33 S`Schwyzerländli isch no chli                                   the swiss country is small indeed
34 s`trommt em Babeli                                                 Babeli (girl’s name) is dreaming
35 Täär i nöd es bitzeli                                                 May I? – just a little bit
36 Vieni sulla barchetta                                                come – join me on my boat
37 Vo Luzärn gäge Weggis zue / Version 1                    enroute/on the way from Lucerne to Weggis

38 Vo Luzärn gäge Weggis zue / Version 2                    enroute/on the way from Lucerne to Weggis

39 Wenn i nume wüsst                                                 if only I knew
40 Wie mached`s denn die Zimmerlüüt                         just how are they managing these carpenters

41 Z`Basel a mim Rhi                                                   Basle on «my Rhine»
42 Zoogä-n-am Booge                                                   get out your fiddle

Volkslieder aus Deutschland                   Songs from Germany
01 Alles neu macht der Mai                  a fresh start – come May
02 An der Saale hellem Strande            at the bright shore of the «Saale»
03 Ännchen von Tharau                       little Annie from «Tharau»
04 Alle Vögel sind schon da                  all the birds are back again
05 Als wir jüngst in Regensburg waren             newly/recently when we were in “Regensburg”
06 Auf de schwäb`sche Eisebahne                     on board the «Schwäbsche Eisebahn»
07 Bald gras`ich am Nekar                   shortly I’ll be grazing at the «Nekar»
08 Beim Kronenwirt                at the «Kronenwirt»
09 Bier her, Bier her                 keep the beer coming
10 Bunt sind schon die Wälder             the forests are in colour yet
11 Das Lieben bringt grosse Freud                   loving/to love brings happiness/joy
12 Das Wandern ist des Müller`s Lust              roaming is the miller’s joy
13 Dat du min Leevsten büst               that you are my true love
14 Der treue Husar                  the faithful hussar
15 Dreimal oms Städele                        three times around town
16 Du, du liegst mir im Herzen             you, you capture my heart
17 Eine Seefahrt die ist lustig               cruising is fun
18 Ein Jäger längs dem Weiher ging                 along the pound the hunter went
19 Ein Männlein steht im Walde                      little man in the forest/wood)
20 Ein Vogel wollte Hochzeit machen               a bird wanting to celebrate his wedding
21 Freut euch des Lebens                     enjoy life
22 Hab oft im Kreise der Lieben                       many a time in the bosom of my family
23 Hoch soll er leben                may he stay high up – let’s give him a cheer
24 Horch was kommt von Draussen rein                      listen – what’s this – coming from out there
25 Im Frühtau zu Berge wir gehen                   off to the mountains early in spring
26 Im Märzen der Bauer                       in the month of March: the farmer
27 In einem kühlen Grunde                  at a nice fresh spot
28 Jetzt fängt das schöne Frühjahr an              now – the beautiful springtime is coming
29 Jetzt gang i ans Brünnele                now I’m heading for the fountain
30 Jetzt kommen die lustigen Tage                   happy days are here again
31 Kein schöner Land              there’s no country more beautiful
32 Kommt ein Vogel geflogen               a bird comes flying
33 Kuckuck, Kuckuck ruft`s aus dem Wald                  cuckoo, cuckoo coming from the wood
34 Lustig ist das Zigeunerleben            so merry is the gipsy life
35 Mein Hut der hat drei Ecken                       my hat has got three corners/edges
36 Mein Mädel hat einen Rosenmund               my girl with her rosy lips
37 Muss i denn, muss i denn zum Städtele hinaus         I need to leave my small town
38 Nun will der Lenz uns grüssen                     now Lenz wants to greet us
39 Sah ein Knab`ein Röslein stehn                   a boy saw a little rose
40 Trario, der Sommer, der ist do                     Trario, summer is here
41 Wenn alle Brünnlein fliessen                        when all the fountains flow
42 Weisst du wieviel Sternlein stehen?             do you know how many little stars there are
43 Wie schön blüht uns der Maien                    May is blooming beautifully for us
44 Wo e kleins Hüttle steht                  where a small hut stands

Edited by gcoover
  • Like 1
Posted (edited)
8 hours ago, SliverOfSand said:

Unfortunately I don’t have any experience with ABC...

 

You can make use of abc even before learning how it works, thanks to concertina.net member, @Michael Eskin. When you find an example of abc notation, select everything from the initial X: to the end (or just before the first blank line). Copy it and paste it into the window here: https://michaeleskin.com/abctools/abctools.html (after hitting [OK] in the Welcome window). Then hit the arrows in the upper right to see the standard notation or the play button in the lower right to hear it.

 

Here, for instance, is the abc for a Zweifacher:

 

X:1
T:Unser Alte Kath
R:Zweifacher
M:3/4
K:D
|:        "D"A3 G FG |"D"A4 d2   |[M:2/4] "A"c2 e2|"D"d2 f2|
  [M:3/4] "D"A3 G FG |"D"A4 d2   |[M:2/4] "A"c2 e2|"D"d4  :|
|:[M:3/4] "G"B2 gf g2|"D"A2 fe f2|[M:2/4] "A"c2 e2|"D"d2 f2|
  [M:3/4] "G"B2 gf g2|"D"A2 fe f2|[M:2/4] "A"c2 e2|"D"d4  :|

 

Go nuts!

Edited by David Barnert
cleaned up the abc, added chords
  • Like 1
Posted
10 hours ago, SliverOfSand said:

has me looking into some German songs, more specifically folk songs that were popular during WW1 time period

That seems like an odd description. Do you have examples of what you refer to here?

 

I happen to play concertina for (among others) Swabian traditional dance groups. The tunes we play there are frequently dance tunes roughly compatible with dance tunes from other regions, such as Polkas or Rheinlanders. There are also a few songs with rather local color. In Germany, there are many different regional traditions (as in France, England...). I am not aware of any tradition having produced "Germany wide popular folk songs during a specific time." Thus, if you have one or two examples, that would help to narrow down what you are looking for.

 

Posted

Here's a secret in plain sight I have found really valuable for sheet music reference recently.. and it is FREE!

An online library of music of every kind and country type and variety you could ever want..

Imslp.org (seems to be part of a library of free music reference. Part of Wikimedia foundation apparently.

I looked and there is some German folk music already on it.

It really is free to use. You can opt to pay for membership.  ( Voluntarily) but you do NOT have to.

You can download great quality sheet music that has been scanned into the library  

Look  for  Imslp.org  ( and you will be amazed how much is on that site paying not a penny ( or dime!)..for the access.🌝🌝

 

 

  • Like 1
Posted
13 hours ago, Roger Hare said:

[1] My pleasure!

 

[2] Well worth a look...

 

[3] Yup! That's why I accompanied my post with a heads-up about the possible difficulties of coping with changes in rhythm. I just did a quick-and-dirty extraction of Zwiefacher tunes from my tune book - I came up with 10 tunes - all of them had changes in rhythm, and I know that I would find it awkward coping with this...

Well I really appreciate the suggestion! I will probably be looking through quite a few zwiefacher tunes just with how abundant they seem to be and maybe even attempt a few 😅

Posted

@gcoover Oh wow, thank you so much for that list! I am really considering the purchase, since I love learning from books. The links to videos are always appreciated. And the books I already own use the same notation system so this book would be really useful to me. :)

Posted
8 hours ago, David Barnert said:

You can make use of abc even before learning how it works, thanks to concertina.net member, @Michael Eskin. When you find an example of abc notation, select everything from the initial X: to the end (or just before the first blank line). Copy it and paste it into the window here: https://michaeleskin.com/abctools/abctools.html (after hitting [OK] in the Welcome window). Then hit the arrows in the upper right to see the standard notation or the play button in the lower right to hear it.


Wow, that website is amazing! Thank you so much for that link! It makes it so simple to use, I will definitely make use of this in the future. 😁

Posted
6 hours ago, RAc said:

That seems like an odd description. Do you have examples of what you refer to here?

 

I happen to play concertina for (among others) Swabian traditional dance groups. The tunes we play there are frequently dance tunes roughly compatible with dance tunes from other regions, such as Polkas or Rheinlanders. There are also a few songs with rather local color. In Germany, there are many different regional traditions (as in France, England...). I am not aware of any tradition having produced "Germany wide popular folk songs during a specific time." Thus, if you have one or two examples, that would help to narrow down what you are looking for.

 


Yes sorry it is quite an odd request.
 

The reason I phrased it like that is in case anyone has a knowledge of what tunes might have been a popular choice to play among soldiers during WW1. The project I would be working on is for a historical experience that takes place during that time period so I asked about it just in case anyone was knowledgeable about specific tunes that may have been played then. I wish I could give specific examples of what I’m looking for but I am not knowledgeable enough on war history or German music to come up with anything. 😅

 

But I am not picky at all if there are no specifics, I am open to any suggestions.

Posted
3 hours ago, SIMON GABRIELOW said:

Here's a secret in plain sight I have found really valuable for sheet music reference recently.. and it is FREE!

An online library of music of every kind and country type and variety you could ever want..

Imslp.org (seems to be part of a library of free music reference. Part of Wikimedia foundation apparently.

I looked and there is some German folk music already on it.

It really is free to use. You can opt to pay for membership.  ( Voluntarily) but you do NOT have to.

You can download great quality sheet music that has been scanned into the library  

Look  for  Imslp.org  ( and you will be amazed how much is on that site paying not a penny ( or dime!)..for the access.🌝🌝

 

 


This is great! Thank you for the suggestion! I will definitely be spending some time looking through this site, there is so much to choose from! 😁

Posted
1 hour ago, SliverOfSand said:

Wow, that website is amazing! Thank you so much for that link! It makes it so simple to use, I will definitely make use of this in the future. 😁

 

Don’t thank me, thank Michael. And hopefully by using the site you will find your way to becoming more familiar with how to use abc. See https://abcnotation.com for the whole scoop when you feel you’re ready.

  • Like 1
Posted
7 hours ago, David Barnert said:

 

Don’t thank me, thank Michael. And hopefully by using the site you will find your way to becoming more familiar with how to use abc. See https://abcnotation.com for the whole scoop when you feel you’re ready.


Very interesting system, thank you for the link!

Posted (edited)
20 hours ago, David Barnert said:

Here, for instance, is the abc for a Zweifacher:

I got a little more 'interested' in this style, so I did a little cleaning up of the tunes in my Tune Book. Here are 5 more tunes (in 'friendly' keys) in ABC format and as a score (PDF). I can't speak for the 'authenticity' of the tunes, but apart from a little cosmetic editing, the ABC code is 'as found' (the original sources are cited in the code). They all sound quite jolly - I think I may give one or two of them a try...

____________________________

Edit a few minutes later: I just cut-and-pasted the ABC code for the whole batch into ME's program and they all worked fine - you can play around with this, even if you are not familiar with ABC. Try changing the tempi (which may be a little slow)...

Zweifacher.abc Zweifacher.pdf

Edited by Roger Hare
  • Like 1

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