After a whirlwind of hymns

Styrian music legends rewrite the lyrics to the Dachstein song

The text of the national anthem was adapted.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/stock.adobe.com)

The turmoil surrounding the lyrics of the Styrian national anthem recently led to a tangible diplomatic dispute between Graz and Ljubljana. Now two music greats have come up with a new suggestion.

When the Graz bookseller and writer Jakob Dirnböck put the lines of the Dachsteinlied to paper in 1844, he probably never thought that his text, which was declared the national anthem in 1929, would cause such a diplomatic stir 181 years later. Of course, the current state and national borders would certainly have astonished the author. After all, the "Wendenland at the bed of the Sav'" and the vineyards in the Drav' valley are no longer part of "his" Steirerland.