Schnitzelbank

"Schnitzelbank"
Nursery rhyme
PublishedBy 1900 in U.S.
SongwriterUnknown

The "Schnitzelbank" is a simple song, popular primarily with German Americans.

Etymology

Schnitzelbank literally means "scrap bench" or "chip bench" (from Schnitzel "scraps / clips / cuttings (from carving)" or the colloquial verb schnitzeln "to make scraps" or "to carve" and Bank "bench"); like the Bank, it is feminine and takes the article "die". It is a woodworking tool used in Germany prior to the industrial revolution. It was in regular use in colonial New England, and in the Appalachian region until early in the 20th century; it is still in use by specialist artisans today. In American English, it is known as a shaving horse. It uses the mechanical advantage of a foot-operated lever to securely clamp the object to be carved. The shaving horse is used in combination with the drawknife or spokeshave to cut down green or seasoned wood, to accomplish jobs such as handling an ax; creating wooden rakes, hay forks, walking sticks, etc. The shaving horse was used by various trades, from farmer to basketmaker and wheelwright.

A Schnitzelbank is also a short rhyming verse or song with humorous content, often but not always sung with instrumental accompaniment. Each verse in a Schnitzelbank introduces a topic and ends with a comedic twist. This meaning of the word is mainly used in Switzerland and southwestern Germany; it is masculine and takes the article "der". It is a main element of the Fasnacht celebrations in the city of Basel, where it is also written Schnitzelbangg. Schnitzelbänke (pl.) are also sung at weddings and other festivities by the Schnitzelbänkler, a single person or small group. Often the Schnitzelbänkler will display posters called Helgen during some verses that depict the topic but do not give away the joke.[1]

Song

A German-language children's ditty, "The Schnitzelbank Song" is popular among German-Americans with an interest in learning German or teaching German to their children; it is often sung by adults for entertainment and nostalgia. Versions were published in the United States as early as 1900.[2]

The responsive lyrical structure of the verse and refrain are referenced in Moritz Reymond's 1877 book Das neue Laienbrevier des Haeckelismus, which uses German folk and student songs to burlesque ideas regarding organic evolution.[3]

Some of the lyrical ideas and phrases are also included (in a different form) in Volume 9 of Karl Simrock's 13-volume 1856 collection of German stories and poems, Die deutschen Volksbücher. In this volume, the lyrics are included in a book titled Das deutsche Kinderbuch (The German Children's Book), which may have originally been published in 1848. The text includes many ideas common to the modern song, including "kurz und lang" ("short and long"), "hin und her" ("back and forth"), "krumm und grad" ("bent and straight"), and the "ei du schöne Schnitzelbank" refrain.[4]

Performances

See also

References

  1. ^ Page „Schnitzelbank (Bänkelsang)“. In: Wikipedia, Die freie Enzyklopädie. Version from 2010-10-27, 16:13 UTC.
  2. ^ Schnitzelbank, Buffalo, New York: Broadway Publishing Company, 1900, archived from the original (PDF) on 2022-08-15, retrieved 2023-01-30
  3. ^ Reymond, Moritz. Das neue Laienbrevier des Haeckelismus. p. 50.
  4. ^ Simrock, Karl. Die deutschen Volksbücher, Band 9. p. 348.
  5. ^ "Nightingales and Mascots (The Marx Brothers Marxology)".
  6. ^ "IMDB The Yankee Doodler". IMDb.

Further reading

  • William D. Keel: A German-American Cultural Icon: O, du schöne Schnitzelbank, in Yearbook of German-American studies, Society for German American Studies, 38th Ed., 2003, pp. 221–236
  • Stewart Eastman: A Schnitzelbank Stein – about the history, January 2010
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