With Lyrics in German and English

Both of these songs refer to a flower. But they are otherwise as different as night and day.

One was written in English for an American musical production. The other was written in German as a military marching song. But both songs are often mistakenly believed to be native folk songs.

Edelweiß growing in the French Alps south of Grenoble in the Massif des Ecrins. PHOTO: Wikimedia Commons

Edelweiss: The Flower

Commonly known as Edelweiß (edel/noble + weiß/white) in German, the Alpine flower’s Latin name is Leontopodium nivale (“snowy lion’s paw”). In the French Alps the flower is called “Étoile des Alpes,” while in Italian-speaking regions it is known as “Stella Alpina.” Both names translate as “Alpine star.”

The Edelweiss flower has become a common symbol and an icon in the German-speaking world. The flower is protected in Austria, and it is illegal to pick or disturb the plant. It was featured on the old Austrian one-schilling coin. It can also now be seen on the two-cent euro coin. An Edelweiss image is also worn as a cap emblem by certain Austrian Army units and the German Gebirgsjäger (mountain troopers) stationed in the Austrian or Bavarian Alps.

“Edelweiss”: The Song (1959)

Music: Richard Rogers
Words: Oscar Hammerstein II

“Edelweiss” was the last song that Oscar Hammerstein II wrote before his death in 1960. He died nine months after The Sound of Music opened on Broadway.

A 1975 German postage stamp honoring the Alpine flower Edelweiß. PHOTO: Deutsche Post (Wikimedia Commons)

The Austrian American actor Theodore Bikel (1924-2015) liked to tell the tale of the “Sound of Music” audience member who told him after the show that he enjoyed the song “Edelweiss” sung by Bikel on stage, but adding that he had long known it in the original German. In fact, that was not possible, since the song did not even exist until it was written by Oscar Hammerstein II in English for a 1959 American Broadway musical set in Austria that was adapted as a movie in 1965. The German lyrics weren’t written until later.

Since Bikel played guitar and sang, the song was composed for him to play and sing in the stage production of “The Sound of Music.” He performed the song one time in each performance in his role as Captain von Trapp on Broadway. For the film version the song was featured twice, performed by Christopher Plummer – whose singing voice was dubbed by Bill Lee, who did a lot of hidden singing in other Hollywood films.

Fans of Amazon’s The Man in the High Castle are also familiar with the haunting version of “Edelweiss” used in the opening sequence of that science-fiction production. Performed by the Swedish singer Jeanette Olsson, “Edelweiss” takes on an entirely different character. Her “icy, sparse rendition infuses the song’s sibilants with an extra, telling hiss.” (The Atlantic) The lyrics also have been slightly altered. The second line of the original (“every morning you greet me”) disappears, as does the last line of the first verse (“You look happy to meet me”). A song that was never really German to begin with is used in a film about an alternate universe in which the United States of America has been taken over by the Nazis and Japanese who won the war.

Here are the lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, as sung in The Sound of Music.

“Edelweiss” (English)

1.
Edelweiss, Edelweiss
Every morning you greet me
Small and white
Clean and bright
You look happy to meet me

2.
Blossom of snow may you bloom and grow
Bloom and grow forever
Edelweiss, Edelweiss
Bless my homeland forever

“Edelweiss” (Deutsch)

1.
Schmücke das Heimatland,
Schön und weiß,
Blühest wie die Sterne.
Edelweiß, Edelweiß,
Ach, ich hab dich so gerne.

2.
Edelweiß, Edelweiß,
Du grüßt mich jeden Morgen,
Sehe ich dich,
Freue ich mich,
Und vergess’ meine Sorgen.
Note: If anyone knows the author of the “Edelweiß” German lyrics above, please let us know.

VIDEO: “Edelweiss” – “The Sound of Music” (Official Lyric Video)
Edelweiss – YouTube

VIDEO: “Edelweiss” – “Man in the High Castle” version
by Jeanette Olsson
Edelweiss (“High Castle”) – YouTube

Erika: The Flower

The flowers known in German as Heidekräuter (Erica) are a genus of about 860 species of flowering plants in the family Ericaceae. One variety of heather or heath flowers, Glockenheide (bell heather), has the Latin name Erica tetralix (photo below). Erica is sometimes referred to as “winter (or spring) heather” to distinguish it from Calluna “summer (or autumn) heather.”

Trying not to be too technical here, we’ll simply refer to Erica/Erika in a general way as heather. For purposes of the song below, you only need to know that heather (Erika) is a flower found growing “auf der Heide” (on the heath) or in a moor in Germany and other places.

Glockenheide (Erica tetralix) growing in the Pietzmoor in Lower Saxony. PHOTO: Wikimedia Commons

“Erika”: The Song

Words and Music: Herms Niel

“Erika” (also known as “Auf der Heide,” the song’s first words) is a German marching song about a soldier (or a man) who is longing for his sweetheart back home.

Many people also believe that “Erika” is a traditional folk tune, but it is in fact a more recent military marching song composed after 1930 by a man named Herms Niel (1888-1954), who joined the NSDAP (Nazi party) in early May 1933. Niel wrote the words and music for numerous marches and became a leading Kapellmeister (band master, musical director) as part of the Reichsarbeitdienst (RAD, Reich Labor Service, a government employment agency). Like “Edelweiss,” this song has also been used in several films, including Steven Spielberg’s 1993 epic Schindler’s List.

The song was first published in 1938 by the Louis Oertel music publishing house (founded in 1866) in Großburgwedel in Lower Saxony under the title: “Auf der Heide blüht ein kleines Blümelein” (“Erika”). Between 1933 and 1945 some 15,000 National Socialist musical works were produced. Because of its Nazi-era association, some people consider “Erika” to be politically incorrect. But in fact, other than the march music and drum beats or marching feet, there is nothing in the song and its lyrics remotely warlike or with any Nazi connections at all. The song is a catchy march tune, with a distinct march cadence. I have always liked it since I first heard a recording of it decades ago. It is unfortunate that this and other German Marschlieder have been appropriated by some contemporary far-right groups. The song was also used in Nazi propaganda for domestic consumption, but that really does not change the song itself.

As you can see in the “Erika” lyrics below, the words mention fields of blooming heather (Heidekraut, also known as Erica/Erika) and a girl named Erika. The song’s title thus has a dual meaning: Erika the flower on the heath, and Erika, the name of a maiden (Mägdelein). If there is any “political incorrectness” in the song, it relates more to sexism than militarism. Like many popular German songs of the 1930s and 1940s with women’s names, “Erika” promotes the cliché of the loyal, crying, subservient, adoring woman patiently waiting for her man to return – reflecting the Nazi ideal of womanhood. A more recent example would be the 1969 country hit “Stand by Your Man” made popular by Tammy Wynette.

“Erika” (Deutsch)

Below are the song lyrics in German followed by a literal English translation. Also see the video of the song below.

1.
Auf der Heide blüht ein kleines Blümelein
und das heißt: Erika.
Heiß von hunderttausend kleinen Bienelein
wird umschwärmt: Erika
denn ihr Herz ist voller Süßigkeit,
zarter Duft entströmt dem Blütenkleid.
Auf der Heide blüht ein kleines Blümelein
und das heißt: Erika.

2.
In der Heimat wohnt ein blondes Mägdelein
und das heißt: Erika.
Dieses Mädel ist mein treues Schätzelein
und mein Glück, Erika.
Wenn das Heidekraut rot-lila blüht,
singe ich zum Gruß ihr dieses Lied.
Auf der Heide blüht ein kleines Blümelein
und das heißt: Erika.

3.
In mein’m Kämmerlein blüht auch ein Blümelein
und das heißt: Erika.
Schon beim Morgengrau’n sowie beim Dämmerschein
schaut’s mich an, Erika.
Und dann ist es mir, als spräch’ es laut:
“Denkst du auch an deine kleine Braut?”
In der Heimat weint um dich ein Mägdelein
und das heißt: Erika.

“Erika” (English)

1.
On the heath, there blooms a little flower
and it’s called: Erika.
Eagerly a hundred thousand little bees,
swarm around … Erika.
For her heart is full of sweetness,
a tender scent escapes her blossom-gown.
On the heath, there blooms a little flower
and it’s called: Erika.

2.
Back home, there lives a blonde little maiden
and she’s called … Erika.
That girl is my faithful little darling
and my joy, Erika!
When the heather blooms in a reddish violet,
I sing her this song in greeting.
On the heath, there blooms a little flower
and it’s called … Erika.

3.
In my room, there also blooms a little flower
and it’s called … Erika.
Already in the grey of dawn, as it does at dusk,
It looks at me, Erika!
And then it’s to me as if it’s saying aloud:
“Are you thinking of your fiancée/bride?”
Back at home, a maiden weeps for you
and she’s called … Erika.

VIDEO: “Erika”
Erika – YouTube