Hymn of the Day
God Bless Our Native Land (ELW 891)
Author: Siegfried A. Mahlmann
Siegfried August Mahlmann Germany 1771-1826. Born at Leipzig, Germany, he studied law at the University of Leipzig. He tutored a young nobleman and traveled with him around Europe. In 1799 he became a bookseller, writer, and editor. He bought the Junius bookshop in Leipzig in 1802. From 1806-16 he edited the journal Zeitung fur die elegante Welt (a fashionable publication), and from 1810-18 wrote for the Lipziger Zeitung newspaper. He was briefly imprisoned in 1813 by the French during the Napoleonic Wars in the fortress at Erfurt. He wrote a novel, short stories, poetry (published in 1825 and popular in his day), and a number of songs, still popular with German children.
Translator (first 5 lines): Charles Timothy Brooks
Brooks, Charles Timothy. An American Unitarian Minister, born at Salem, Mass., June 20, 1813, and graduated at Harvard, 1832, and the Divinity School, Cambridge, U.S., 1835. In that year he began his ministry at Nahant, subsequently preaching at Bangor and Augusta (Maine), Windsor (Vermont). In 1837 he became pastor of Newport, Rhode Island, and retained the same charge until 1871, when he resigned through ill-health.
Translator (remaining lines): John Sullivan Dwight
John Sullivan Dwight, born, in Boston, May 13, 1813, was a virtuoso in music, and an enthusiastic student of the art and science of tonal harmony. He joined a Harvard musical club known as "The Pierian Sodality" while a student at the University, and after his graduation became a prolific writer on musical subjects. Six years of his life were passed in the "Brook Farm Community." He was best known by his serial magazine, Dwight's Journal of Music, which was continued from 1852 to 1881. His death occurred in 1893.
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