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The Bundeswehr Orchestra at the Great Zapfenstreich for Afghanistan veterans (archive image)
Photo:
Christophe Gateau / picture alliance / dpa
Shrill hits and ironic chansons, however iconic they may be, have apparently not yet been part of the repertoire of the staff music corps of the Bundeswehr.
It seemed all the more confused there when Chancellor Angela Merkel's music requests for the big tattoo were received on Thursday.
As SPIEGEL reported, Merkel had chosen the titles "You forgot the color film" by Nina Hagen and "For me it should rain red roses" by Hildegard Knef for her farewell ceremony.
"The two songs are not in our sheet music archive," said conductor and Lieutenant Colonel Reinhard Kiauka of the daily newspaper "taz".
According to Kiauka, the requests did not reach the staff band until last Tuesday.
For the piece by Nina Hagen there was no brass music version at all.
A clarinetist from the Bundeswehr Music Corps in Siegburg wrote a new arrangement in a very short time.
"He made it within two days, which is fantastic because I was able to try it out in rehearsal on Friday." A music publisher had brass sheet music for the piece by Hildegard Knef.
"But the song first had to be ordered, printed and delivered, so I couldn't rehearse it until Monday," Kiauka said.
However, the conductor does not hold the Chancellor against the short-term musical ideas.
"We want to polish up the music so that it sounds really nice on Thursday evening and the Chancellor can really enjoy her wishes."
sak
