FREUT EUCH DES LEBENS

Created on 16/12/2008
Latest update on 17/12/2023

Artist: Orchester mit Gesang
Author: Johann Martin Usteri/Hans Georg Nägeli
Label: Jumbola
Year: 1908

Originally a Swiss song Aufmunterung zur Freude (1791). The "Marseillaise des Biedermeiers", one of the most parodied German songs. The melody surfaced in the Sonate Caractéristique in B-Flat (Andantino Espressivo) by Ignaz Moscheles (1794-1870). In Holland and Belgium better known as Sinterklaas-song O, Kom Er Eens Kijken, written in 1898 (as Zes December) by Katharina Leopold in songbook Sint Nikolaas - Twaalf Versjes Met Melodieen. Translated in English as Life Let Us Cherish.

Covers:

1934:

Lou Bandy [as Schep Vreugde In Het Leve]

1937:

Kinderkoor olv Jacob Hamel [as O, Kom Er Eens Kijken, apparantly as a commercial for Dutch department store De Bijenkorf; Hamel translated it in 1933 as a Sinterklaas children song]

1939:

Otto Kermbach Orchester

1948:

Willem Hespe's Kinderkoor [as O, Kom Er Eens Kijken]

1950s:

Willy Schneider

1953:

Vico Torriani

1955:

Bob Davidse [as Kom Toch Eens Kijken]

1960:

Donald Jones & Adèle Bloemendaal

1966:

Willy Alberti [as Schep Vreugde In Het Leven]

1970s:

Freddy Quinn

1976:

James Last [title track lp]

1980s:

Leidse Sleuteltjes [as Oh, Kom Er Eens Kijken]

1990:

Marianne und Michael

1990s:

André Rieu

2003:

Bennie Huisman [as Schep Vreugde In 't Naaien, bawdy lyrics dating back to 1830]

2007:

Vivian Williams [as Life Let Us Cherish on cd Fiddle Tunes Of The Lewis & Clark Era]

2015:

VOF de Kunst [as Kom Er Eens Kijken]

The melody was inspired by a flute concerto by Friedrich Hartmann Graf (1727-1795) and a violin concerto by Borghi, who borrowed it from a Rondo by Pleyel. The lyrics of Aufmunterung zur Freude are by Johann Gaudenz von Salis (1762-1834) and were published in 1781 in the collection Schweizerische Blumenlese. Freut euch des Lebens was a poem by Usteri (1763-1827).

Contact


If you noticed blunt omissions, mis-interpretations or even out-and-out errors,
please let me know:

Arnold Rypens
Rozenlaan 65
B-2840 Reet (Rumst)

info@originals.be

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