Song View

On February 12, 1797, “Das Kaiserlied” was sung for the first time in all Viennese theaters on the occasion of the birthday of the last emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, Emperor Franz II. It remained, with changing lyrics, the anthem of Austria-Hungary until 1918. Haydn used the piece in the same year in the "Kaiserquartett" (op. 76, no. 3), published in 1799. In 1841, Hoffmann von Fallersleben wrote a text entitled "Lied der Deutschen" ("Song of the Germans")—the third verse of which is now the lyrics of the German national anthem.