O Tannenbaum
Looking back, it seems I made several posts on Christmas trees, Christmas tree Art, Christmas Tree fences and Christmas tree decorations last year. Surprisingly, this year we went back to nature. A real tree!
About three weeks ago, I heard the roar of the tree trimmer’s grinding machines coming up the hill. I panicked and then started making calls and sending e-mails letting Ameren UE know that I did not wish to have my trees trimmed. I argued that they were not yet a threat to the above ground power lines in the likely hood of an ice storm. They did not agree . . .
Here is the last one of three White Pines that I planted twenty two years ago just before it got the axe, rather the chainsaw.
The good news – The topped towering pine, became our Christmas tree this year. Not your typical winter evergreen but, it’s tall (aprox 12′-14′), it’s real and it is perfect for our not so typical Christmas.
“O Tannenbaum“, or, in its English version, “O Christmas Tree“, is a Christmas Carol of German origin.
A Tannenbaum is a fir tree (German: die Tanne) or Christmas Tree (der Weihnachtsbaum). Its evergreen qualities have long inspired musicians to write “Tannenbaum” songs in German.
The best known version was written in 1824 by the Leipzig organist, teacher and composer Ernst Anschütz. The melody is an old folk tune (Lauriger Horatius). The first known “Tannenbaum” song lyrics date back to 1550. A similar 1615 song by Melchior Franck (1573–1639) begins:
- Ach Tannenbaum, ach Tannenbaum, du bist ein edler Zweig! Du grünest uns den Winter, die liebe Sommerzeit.