In Kümmernis und Dunkelheit

"In Kümmernis und Dunkelheit" or "Schwarz-Rot-Gold" was a revolutionary poem by Ferdinand Freiligrath written on 17 March 1848 in London and later set to music by Robert Schumann.

History

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In 1848, the German revolution began. Liberal pressure spread through many of the German states, each of which experienced the revolutions in its own way. The street demonstrations of workers and artisans in Paris, France, from February 22 through 24, 1848, resulted in the abdication of King Louis Philippe and his departure from France to live in Britain, was the immediate spur to revolt in Germany.[1] The revolution spread across Europe and started in Germany with the large demonstrations on March 13, 1848, in Vienna, Austria, which resulted in the resignation of Prince von Metternich as chief minister to Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria and his departure from Austria to live in Britain.[1] Because of the date of these demonstrations, the revolutions in Germany are usually called the March Revolution (German: Märzrevolution).

On 17 March 1848, Ferdinand Freiligrath wrote a poem dedicated to these events. It incites all Germans to take up arms in order to liberate Germany from its princes and create a united German republic under the black, red and golden flag. The poem was set to music by Robert Schumann on 4 April 1848.[2]

Lyrics

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See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ a b See the Foreword written by S. Z. Leviova to the book called The Revolution of 1848: Articles from the Neue Rheinische Zeitung by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels (International Publishers: New York, 1972) p. 7.
  2. ^ Gniffke, Erich W. Jahre mit Ulbricht. Köln: Verl. Wissenschaft und Politik, 1966. Page 304.
  3. ^ Editional remarks: On 11 March 1848, the city of Hanau sent some deputies to Kassel in order to inform the Elector Friedrich Wilhelm that the southern part of his state was willing to secede and join the Grand Duchy of Hesse instead if he did not accept political reforms.
  4. ^ Editional remarks: On 4 March 1848 Munich's armoury was attacked by a crowd that captured several arms and subsequently marched towards the residence of king Ludwig I of Bavaria but was finally convinced to eschew further confrontation and to hand the arms back to the authorities.
  5. ^ Editional remarks: On 3 March 1848 a crowd gathered in front of the respective houses of the Leipzig-based bookseller ("Sosius") and municipal deputy Heinrich Brockhaus, denouncing his anti-revolutionary stance. Freiligrath says that they had better attacked the Saxony Hofburg, the residence of the king.
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