Rancourt German Cemetery |
In August of 2017, the World War One Centennial Commission blog shared Patricia Hammond’s story of a haunting First World War song and the
search that led to the identification of the forgotten composer’s body and his
reburial. Hammond is a British musician who has performed and recorded songs of the Great War with Matt Redman, such as “Pack Up Your Troubles,” “Over There,”
and “Roses of Picardy.”* Wanting to
include German songs on a CD they were preparing, they purchased from a German antiquarian a 1917
collection of forgotten tunes, Weltkrieglieder
(World War Songs), and were immediately struck by the beauty of one tune: “Bald,
allzubalde” (“Soon, all too soon”). The
sheet music provided the information that the melody had been written on April
20, 1916 by Ernst Brockmann, who was killed at the battle of Verdun just weeks
later, on June 7, 1916.
Hammond’s search for the composer’s grave led to the
discovery by the German War Graves Commission (the Volksbund Deutsce
Kriegsgräberfürsorge) that while Ernst Brockmann had no known grave, a soldier
with the same death date and the initials E.B. had been buried outside Verdun. Exhuming the grave led to the positive
identification of the unknown soldier; he was Ernst Brockmann, and in 2016, he
was reburied in a ceremony at which Hammond and Redman sang the tune he had
composed.
Soon, all too soon (Bald Allzubalde)
From Josef Rust's photo album |
Alone in the woods, a flower blooms red
Soon all too soon, I too will be dead.
Flying somewhere is a small piece of lead
Coming to take away all my care
Today or tomorrow, all is the same.
Far down in the valley three spades are digging
A stone-cold grave for a soldier who’s gone.
In the distance of twilight lies a small town
Where a young girl weeps in her lonely room,
Alone in the woods a flower blooms red
Soon all too soon, I too will be dead.†
—music by
Ernst Brockmann,
lyrics by Josef Rust
But what of the song’s lyricist, Josef Rust? I contacted Patricia Hammond, who said that
she had found mention of a Joseph Rust (spelled with a “ph” and not a “f” as on
the sheet music) on the German village of Eissen’s website, where he was
referred to as a “teacher, writer, and poet” who had lived from 1895 – 1981. The dates seemed right, and the village of
Eissen lies in northern Germany, not far from Paderborn, the area where Brockmann
was from and where the 1917 book of war songs was found— but there was no
conclusive evidence linking this man to the song.
Josef Rust |
I began my own search and discovered that the website Europeana Transcribe lists a German
soldier by the name of Josef
Rust and provides 186 images from his photo album, as well as a handwritten copy of
his war-time diary. It was encouraging to
find in the diary’s preface the note, “This is a war diary; my poems, insofar
as they have been published, are intentionally omitted” – but if the poems had
been omitted, so too might be any evidence linking this Josef Rust to the song
“Bald
Allzubalde.” And yet this man was almost definitely the Joseph Rust that
Patricia Hammond had found on the Eissen website: while the names were spelled
differently, the photo album of Josef Rust includes a telegram with several
mentions of “Eissen,” and a typed timeline of his war service gives the dates
of his birth and death: 1895-1981. And
so the outlines of this German soldier-poet began to appear: a studio image of
a stern young soldier, as well as a more relaxed photo of a young man leaning
against a hedgerow, carrying a small book and pen (perhaps his diary). But was this the same man who had written “Bald
Allzubalde”?
The diary records that on August 8, 1915 after
completing three months of training, Rust left Berlin and crossed the Russian
border. His first impression of the war
was of mass graves and transports of the wounded. Over the next two months, he
and his unit fought the Russian army in what is now Poland and Belarus. From August 22nd until the 24th,
Rust and his unit were caught in a fierce battle near the town of Orla: fired
on by both the Russians and their own artillery, Rust records that “bullets
whined like hornets, shells exploded, and every second man was a casualty.” Officers
fell and group leaders were wounded, while Rust attended to a dying officer
from his hometown, transcribing the man’s last words so they could be sent home to his
parents. In the same diary entry, Rust writes, “One year later, I sent to the young recruits of the 2nd
Guards Res. Rgt. 6 a keepsake – a poem about the events of 24 August 1915 that
had been printed in Garde Feldpost: “Einsam im Wald.” The title of Rust's poem is the first line of
the song “Bald Allzubalde.”
Josef Rust |
In September of 1915, Rust and his men endured
a grueling march from the Eastern Front to the trenches of the Western Front. Stationed at Cambrai— if any doubt remains
that this is the Josef Rust who authored the lyrics—he records in his diary, “In
October I wrote, ‘Einsam im Wald’ (‘Lonely in the forest’).†† On April 20, 1916, my well-known colleague
wrote a suitable melody, and afterwards it was sung repeatedly. J. Hatzfeld
took the song in his collection: ‘Tandaradei,’ see page 143.” And in pencil, appearing above the words
“well-known colleague,” is written E.
Brockmann. Here was the lost lyricist.
Echoing the words of the song/poem, Rust’s diary in November
of 1915 describes a solitary walk he took in Cambrai. Alone
in the city, looking through the weak rays of November sun toward the
battlefield, Rust saw rain clouds gathering, a harbinger of the bullets and death
his comrades were facing and which he was convinced would soon find him. He
thought of his home, his loved ones, and the former days of peace and happiness
that had been sacrificed to the bloody war, and he gave himself over to an "All
Soul’s mood" of despair.
Rust’s diary preserves an astonishing and frank account of the
war. He writes of the Somme in October of 1916, “It's raining. Tomorrow is
our third time to the Somme. We sing only songs of dying.”
But Josef Rust, unlike his musical collaborator Ernst
Brockmann, survived the war. Seriously
wounded in early June of 1918 in Belleau Woods near Chateau Thierry, Rust spent
over four months in hospital, returning to military service only to witness
Germany’s surrender. Though he
frequently longs for peace in his diary entries, when he learned of his
country’s defeat, he writes that he cried bitterly: his unit had endured
four years of war; their commander had lost an arm, yet officers were required
to surrender their weapons and remove the insignia that denoted their rank. Rust wrote, “I will not forget the day and this shame,” and commented, “The world,
if it can free herself from the burden of this war, can be redeemed only with
love, but not by force.”
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* Patricia Hammond’s CD recording Songs of the Great War is available on her
website, as well as on Amazon and iTunes.
† Translation by Danita C. Zanré. Here is the original
German:
Einsam im Walde blüht wohl ein Blümlein rot, bald, allzubald
bin ich tot, bald, allzubalde.
Fleugt wo ein Stückchen Blei, nimmt mir mein Sorgen. Mir ist
halt einerlei: heut oder morgen.
Weit, wo das Tal hinab graben drei Spaten, graben ein Kühles
Grab für ein Soldaten. Drüben im Dämmerschein, allwo im Städtchen weint wo im
Kämmerlein irgendein Mädchen. Blüht wohl ein Blümlein rot einsam im Walde,
balde, gar bald bin ich tot, bald, allzubalde.
†† It appears that the song was sometimes referred to by the
poem’s title “Einsam im Walde”: in its 14 September 1934 issue, London’s Wireless
World magazine reports the song “Einsam im Walde” was broadcast from
Hamburg on Sunday, September 9th, 1934 (page ii).
A fascinating and moving story - thanks for sharing it.
ReplyDeleteThis is my favorite post. I love the simplicity of the poem- and the melody is haunting-especially when you learn that the composer died 48 days later in battle. The real sadness is the realization that “the enemy” has the same fears and is just as human as we are. War is soooo unnecessary!!!!
ReplyDeleteIt's one of my favorite songs of the war -- unforgettable. Thanks for reading and commenting, Patty!
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ReplyDeleteWonderful detective work - and a lovely song. The yearnings of young men in war know no national boundaries. These were decent young fellers just like their British and French counterparts. What a tragedy that they were set at each others throats
ReplyDeleteThanks, Ian! It was a fascinating research project!
DeleteA beautiful rendering of this poem and song can be seen on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UUxrrzPVQM.
ReplyDeleteThe content of poem is quite reminiscent of Alfred Lichtenstein's poem Abschied (kurz vor der Abfahrt zum Kriegsschauplatz - für Peter Scher). The promising soldier-poet Lichtenstein died early on in the war. He fell on 25th September near Vermandovillers on the Somme, aged 25.
Thanks, Chris -- it's lovely to have another version of the song in addition to the one shared in my post. And thanks for sharing the Lichtenstein poem; your expertise is appreciated.
DeleteBrilliant detective work Connie - thank you so much.
ReplyDeleteThat means a lot coming from you, Lucy -- your poetry sleuthing is wonderfully impressive!
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