Original Anthem: Gott Erhalte Franz den Kaiser
Country: Austria
Style: Funk/Gospel
“Papa’s Last Song” is a jazz take on the former Austro-Hungarian national anthem, “Gott Erhalte Franz den Kaiser”, the lyrics of which were written by Austrian poet Lorenz Leopold Haschka, and the music composed by Joseph (‘Papa’) Haydn in 1797.
After the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918, the music was adopted for the German anthem “Deutschlandlied”. As the story goes, at a time when Austria was being threatened by Revolutionary France, fired by “La Marseillaise”, Haydn had been on tour in England and heard the British anthem, “God Save the King”, declaring that Austria too must have such an anthem which might be used to induce the masses to loyalty.
And so it was, with a first performance of the song on the birthday of the Kaiser in January 1797, just two years after “La Marseillaise”. Apparently, Haydn was so enamoured with his creation that he arranged it for orchestra, and made it the theme of the second movement of the “Emperor” String Quartet Op 76. In his final days he would apparently play the “Kaiser Lied” three times a day, until just a few days before his death in May 1809.
“Papa’s Last Song” is another respectful funk-jazz gospel interpretation with a hint of “Beethovenian” rock ‘n roll, but which stays quite close to Haydn’s harmonisation.
Instrumentation
Alto sax: Charlie Hearnshaw
Piano: Chris Lee
Electric bass: Neil Todd
Drums: Tony Plato.
