National anthem of Austria

„**Land der Berge, Land am Strome**“ (, meaning "Land of the Mountains, Land by the River") is the national anthem of Austria. It became the country's national anthem in 1946. The music of the song was originally thought to be composed by Mozart, but nowadays, different composers disagree. The words of the song were written by Paula von Preradović.

## History

Nineteen days before Mozart's his death on 5 December 1791, he composed his last complete work, the „Freimaurerkantate“, to which the melody of the Austrian national anthem is sung. But nowadays, many people do not believe that Mozart composed the tune for „Land der Berge, Land am Strome“; instead, many people think that it was composed by  or Paul Wranitzky.

Before the Second World War, Austria's state anthem was „Sei gesegnet ohne Ende“, set to the tune of Joseph Haydn's „Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser“, which was the state anthem of Austria-Hungary. The German national anthem „Deutschlandlied“ uses the same tune, but with different words. The Nazis also used that tune, so to avoid being associated with them, singing that song was banned for some time after the war. Thus, a new anthem was created. The words of the new anthem were written by Paula von Preradović, who was one of the few women to have written words for a national anthem. On 22 October 1946, the song became Austria's national anthem officially, but at the time, it did not have words. Her words were added shortly in February 1947. On 1 January 2012, parts of the words were changed to make the song more gender-neutral (in a similar manner to "O Canada" in 2018).

### Attempts at gender-neutral language

Since the 1990s, there have been many times to change the words so that the anthem sound more gender-neutral. In 2005, Women's Minister Maria Rauch-Kallat of the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) did not like the words _sons_, _fraternal_ and _fatherland_, so she demanded that these be changed. Austria's largest newspaper did not like this idea.

In January 2010, a female pop singer named Christina Stürmer presented a pop version of the sont „Heimat bist du großer Söhne _und Töchter_“ ("You are home to great sons _and daughters_") as part of a campaign by the Austrian federal ministry of education. She was sued for copyright violations by the estate of Paula von Preradović, but she was later cleared by the Austrian Supreme Court of Justice who called it "a mere modernisation" and allowed the version to stand.

Since 1 January 2012, a few words in the anthem are different from before. The text and notes of the anthem were officially put into writing in the „Bundesgesetz über die Bundeshymne der Republik Österreich“ ().

### German original

|Words of the song in German|Pronunciation of these words using the IPA|Words of the song in English|
| --- | --- | --- |
|<poem></poem>|<poem>[lant dɐ ˈbɛɐ̯.gə lant am ˈʃtrɔ.mə] [lant dɐ ˈɛ.kɐ lant dɐ ˈdɔ.mə] [lant dɐ ˈhɛ.mɐ ˈt͡sʰʊ.kʊnft͡s.raɪ̯ç] [ˈhaɪ̯.mat ˈgrɔ.sɐ ˈtʰœx.tɐ ʊnt zøː.nə] [fɔlk ˈbɛg.na.dət fyːr das ˈʃøː.nə] 𝄆 [ˈfiːl.gɐ.yːm.təs ˈøːs.tɐ.raɪ̯ç] 𝄇 [haɪ̯s ˈuɱ.feː.dɛt vɪlt ˈum.striː.tn̩] [ˈliːkst deːm ˈeːɐ̯.taɪ̯l dʊ ˈiːn.mɪ.tn̩] [ˈaɪ̯.nəm ˈʃtar.kn̩ ˈhɛɐ̯.t͡sn̩ ˈglaɪ̯ç] [hast zaɪ̯t ˈfryː.ən ˈaː.nən.ta.gən] [ˈhoː.ɛɐ̯ ˈzɛn.dʊŋ last ˈgɛ.tra.gən] 𝄆 [ˈfiːl.gə.pryːf.təs ˈøː.stɐ.raɪ̯ç] 𝄇 [ˈmʊ.tɪç iːn diː ˈnoʏ̯.ən ˈt͡sʰaɪ̯.tn̩] [fraɪ̯ ʊnt ˈgloʏ̯.bɪç ziː ʊns ˈʃraɪ̯.tn̩] [ˈar.baɪ̯t͡s.froː ʊnt ˈhɔf.nuːŋs.raɪ̯ç] [ˈaɪ̯.nɪç las iːn ˈjʊ.bəl.køː.rən] [ˈfaː.tɐ.lant diːr ˈtroʏ̯.ə ˈʃvøː.rən] 𝄆 [ˈfiːl.gə.liːp.təs ˈøː.stɐ.raɪ̯ç] 𝄇</poem>|<poem>Land of peaks, oh, land of rivers, Land of fields, oh, land of steeples Land of labors, future-bound! Home thou art to prodigious kin, Shining brighter than ever been 𝄆 Austria, of high praise! 𝄇 Bold if battered, ne'er torn nor tattered Stands thou strong midst Europe fettered For thee art pledges saith! Since days long past, verily thou hast Trials of heated temper pas't 𝄆 Austria, of true faith. 𝄇 Joyfully jaunting, future-bound, As one nation, safe and sound, In high spirits newly found! All together now, in jubilation To thee, we pledge with animation 𝄆 Austria, dearly loved! 𝄇</poem>|

### Slovene version

The last stanza was also translated into the Slovene language for the Carinthian Slovenes.

- Hrabro w nowie tschaß stopimo,
- prosto, werno, glei, hodimo;
- upa polnie, delawnie.
- Bratzkie sbor prißega hkratie,
- domowinie swestobo datie.
- Ljubljena nam Austria!

## Parody

The same evening after von Preradović learned that the words she had written were chosen for the national anthem, her sons, Otto and , made a parody of them.
<poem style="float:left;"></poem>
<poem style="margin-left:1em; float:left;">Land of the peas, land of the beans,
Land of the four zones of occupation,
we sell thee on the black market!
And up there over the Hermannskogel
gladly the federal bird flutters.
Much beloved Austria!</poem>

According to media researcher , the first two lines were popular in the schools of Vienna in 1955.

## Infobox (anthem)

- **title**: Bundeshymne der Republik Österreich
- **alt title**: „Land der Berge, Land am Strome“
- **en alt title**: "Land of the mountains, land by the river"
- **english title**: National Anthem of the Republic of Austria
- **image**: Land der Berge, Land am Strome.jpg
- **caption**: Sheet music of the Austrian national anthem.
- **prefix**: National
- **composer**: Disputed
- **lyrics date**: 1947
- **music date**: 1791
- **author**: Paula von Preradović
- **adopted**: 1946
1947
- **predecessor**: „Sei gesegnet ohne Ende“
„Deutschlandlied“ and „Horst-Wessel-Lied“
- **sound**: Land der Berge Land am Strome instrumental.ogg
- **sound title**: Instrumental, single-verse rendition