A Fir Tree in a Renaissance Song
In a German song printed in the 1582 Ambraser Liederbuch, a stable hand hangs his bridle high on a fir tree. The song, Es hieng ein Stallknecht seinen Zaum, goes on to praise the fir for staying green through winter and summer, even when the other trees stand bare.
More than two centuries later, the evergreen fir turns up in O Tannenbaum, literally “O Fir Tree.” This time, its branches remind the singer of a broken promise.
The Faithful Fir Tree
August Zarnack (1777–1827) was a teacher and folk-song collector who directed education at the military orphanage in Potsdam. In 1820, he published a song that opens by praising the fir tree’s treu, or faithful, leaves. Even when it snows, the tree stays green.
The second stanza explains why that matters. The singer’s sweetheart promised to stand by him when things were going well, but she left him when he became poor. The fir tree keeps its promise through summer and winter.
Zarnack set his words to an early version of the tune people sing today as “O Christmas Tree.” It appears in a 1799 companion volume to the Mildheimisches Liederbuch with “Es lebe hoch, es lebe hoch, der Zimmermannsgeselle,” a toast to a journeyman carpenter. Melchior Franck’s name appears in some credits as the composer of “O Tannenbaum.” He quoted part of an older fir-tree song in a choral piece published in the early 1600s. However, the composer of the familiar carol melody we sing today is unknown. It later became the melody of “Maryland, My Maryland,” once Maryland’s official state song. It’s also the tune of Iowa’s state song, “The Song of Iowa.”
From Love Song to Christmas Carol
Ernst Anschütz (1780–1861) taught school in Leipzig and served as organist at the Matthäikirche. He also played and taught the clarinet and wrote the words to the German children’s song “Fuchs, du hast die Gans gestohlen” (“Fox, You Stole the Goose”).
In 1824, Anschütz published his version of “O Tannenbaum” in a school songbook. He lightly revised Zarnack’s first stanza and replaced the other three with two of his own. One recalls the joy a tree brings at Christmastime. The other draws a lesson from its evergreen branches about the comfort and strength that come from hope and steadfastness. Anschütz’s three-stanza version is the basis of the German carol sung today.
Sing or Play “O Christmas Tree”
There are several English translations of O Tannenbaum. The version on ChristmasMusicSongs.com begins with the familiar “How lovely are your branches!” I’ve also added the German words from 1824 so you can compare the two versions and follow along with the performances below.
Seven weeks until Christmas! If you’re starting to pick out carols for the holidays, here are the lyrics and free sheet music for this one.
If you’re playing with friends or family, the woodwind, brass, and string versions are available in the same key so you can play together.
Listen to “O Tannenbaum”
Renée Fleming sings with guitarist Dave Sanders in an intimate performance from her home. She begins in German and then switches to English.
VOCES8 sings Jim Clements’s a cappella arrangement in German. Listen for the word treu in the first verse.