The National Anthem of Austria (), also known by its incipit "" (; 'Land of the Peaks, Land by the Stream'), was adopted without lyrics in 1946. The melody, which at that time was incorrectly attributed to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, was matched with a text by Paula von PreradoviÃÂ the following year.
The melody's origin is not definitively known, and over time several possible composers have been suggested; today it is usually attributed to either or Paul Wranitzky.
Nineteen days before his death on 5 December 1791, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed his last complete work, the Freimaurerkantate, K. 623. In parts of the printed edition of this cantata there appeared the song K. 623a "" ("Let us with joined hands"). To this melody the Austrian national anthem is sung. Today, claims of Mozart's authorship are regarded as dubious among scholars and the song is attributed to (either solely or co-authored with Mozart) or Paul Wranitzky.
Before the World War II Anschluss, Austria's state anthem was "", set to the tune of Haydn's "", the state anthem of imperial Austria since 1797. The current German national anthem "" uses the same tune, but with different words (it was also the co-national anthem of Germany during National Socialist rule). To avoid the association, and because singing it was banned for a time after the war, a new state anthem was created. The lyrics were written by Paula von PreradoviÃÂ. On 22 October 1946, the song was officially declared Austria's national anthem, albeit without words. Lyrics were added in February 1947. On 1 January 2012, parts of the lyrics were changed to make the composition gender-neutral.
Since the 1990s, several attempts have been made to modify the lyrics to use more gender-neutral language. In 2005, Women's Minister Maria Rauch-Kallat of the Austrian People's Party (ÃÂVP) stated her objection to the words sons, fraternal and fatherland in the lyrics and proposed changes. Her proposal met strong resistance by Austria's largest newspaper, the Kronen Zeitung, and failed to gain support from the then coalition partner, the Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZÃÂ).
In January 2010, Austrian pop singer Christina Stürmer presented a pop rock version of the hymn "Heimat bist du groÃÂer Söhne " ('Thou art home to great sons ') as part of a campaign by the Austrian federal ministry of education. She was sued for violation of copyright by the estate of Paula von Preradoviàbut subsequently cleared by the Austrian Supreme Court of Justice who called it "a mere modernisation" and allowed the version to stand.
Since 1 January 2012, a few words in the state anthem are different from before. The text and notes of the state anthem were officially codified in the Federal Act of the National Anthem of the Republic of Austria.
Only the first verse is considered official and performed during official events.
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A Slovene-language version of the third verse was written for the Carinthian Slovenes of Carinthia. It was translated from the pre-2012 German version of the third verse.
The same evening after von PreradoviÃÂ learned that her lyrics were chosen for the national anthem, her sons Otto and composed a satirical version of them.
According to media researcher , the first two of these lines were popular in the schools of Vienna in 1955.
In 1979, the music group released their parody of "Land der Berge, Land am Strone", titled "Kaiserhymne / Pink Punk Shirt". The following text is modeled after von PreradoviÃÂ's lyrics and sung to the same tune.
In 2012, the Viennese band Rotzpipn won the 9th protest song contest with their "Hymne 2.0". The jury included Ernst Molden, grandson of Paula von PreradoviÃÂ, who gave the group the highest score.