A lot of mistakenly think the “Deutschland Über Alles” was about Germany taking over the world.
When Haydn wrote the lyrics, Germany wasn’t united, it was about the idea of a united Germany above all of the little Germanic kingdoms.
It is also the melody for the hymn “Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken”. (The hymnal tune name is Austrian Hymn).
Once our church musical group did an instrumental rendering of this hymn during the passing of the offering plate. Afterward, a member of the congregation approached us, disgruntled, and asked why we had played a ‘Nazi song’. We explained, but decided not to do that one again, to avoid any further misunderstandings!
It’s still the German National Anthem, but they use a different stanza.
Just as the Russian anthem musically is the old Soviet Anthem. Now they even inserted the word “God” in it.
That’s the hymn I was thinking of last night, thank you!
-SB
It is reclaiming the tune from the Nazis.