Poetry
Our Homeland
Ons Heemecht
Michel Lentz · 1859
Opening lines
Wou d'Uelzecht durech d'Wisen zéit,
duerch d'Fielsen d'Sauer brécht.
Wou d'Rief laanscht d'Musel dofteg bléit,
den Himmel Wäin ons mécht.
Where the Alzette flows through the meadows,
Where the Sauer breaks through the rocks,
Where the vine blooms fragrant along the Moselle,
Where heaven makes us wine.
Translation by Erostrate
Text quoted from wikisource.org
Synopsis
The poem follows the rivers of the country, the Alzette winding through the meadows, the Sûre forcing a path among the rocks, the Moselle along which the vine flourishes, and says that for this land one would dare anything. It then shows the country in its crown of dark forests, guarded by peace, without pomp or glitter, and calls for the song of the hills and valleys. The last stanza becomes a prayer to God, who leads the nations, to keep Luxembourg from the foreign yoke and let freedom shine there.
Context
Jean-Antoine Zinnen set the poem to music in 1864, and the song was first performed on 5 June of that year at Ettelbruck, at the first festival of the federation of music societies; the newspaper L'Union wrote that it had “caused a furore”. It was long in competition with De Feierwon, a poem Lentz had written the same year for the arrival of the railway and whose refrain gave the country its motto. The government today stresses its peaceful character, far from warlike songs.
Who it is for
For those who want to read, beyond the two sung stanzas, the complete poem that became the anthem of Luxembourg.
Prizes and reception
Sung as an anthem from the end of the nineteenth century, it became one in law by the law of 27 July 1993, which keeps the first and last stanzas.
Sources for this page 4
The pages consulted to check this page.