Tag Archives: Music
Did You Know This About Mozart? Posted by Constanze on Nov 3, 2021
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is one of the most famous classical composers of all time. Mozart lived a short life (1756 – 1791), dying at the age of 35. However, he composed more than 600 musical works during his lifetime, with Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute) and Eine Kleine Nachtmusik (A Little Serenade- often called A…
The Petersglocke: Germany’s Massive Cathedral Bell Posted by Sten on Apr 19, 2021
The Petersglocke (f, St. Peter’s Bell) is one of the largest swinging bells in the world. It has its home in the Kölner Dom (m, Cologne Cathedral), a breath-taking cathedral with a long history and many records of its own. Known locally also as Dicker Pitter (Big Peter), the Glocke weighs about 24.000 kilograms (53.000 pounds) and measures 3.22 meters (10.5 feet) across…
My Top German Songs of the Decade! Posted by Constanze on Dec 4, 2019
Guten Tag! Not only is the year drawing to a close, but so is the decade! To celebrate the end of the ’10s in style, Transparent Language is putting together a big, multilingual playlist of the best tunes of the decade – and we need your help in selecting some good German ones! For example…
How Germans Trick Or Treat Quite Differently Posted by Sten on Nov 14, 2019
Last Sunday, I was having dinner with my brothers and sisters. Since winter nears, it was already pitch black outside – and suddenly the doorbell rang. Who’s that? My brother opened the Tür (door), young, high Stimmen (voices) began to sing, and we looked at each other in horror – we forgot the Süßigkeiten (candy)!…
3 Words About Former East Germany Posted by Constanze on Jul 22, 2019
Guten Tag! I recently read a book about the history of Germany. It contained many words I hadn’t heard of before, that described specific aspects of eras in German history. The section on the post-war/Cold War period (1945-1991), in particular, mentioned several German words when discussing the topic of East and West Germany. We all…
The Swiss Silvesterklaus Posted by Constanze on Jan 3, 2018
Guten Tag und Prosit Neujahr! Hope you’ve all had a good rest and had a fantastic start to 2018! In my last post I talked about the origins of the German word for New Year’s Eve: Silvester. I also mentioned the Swiss character known as Silvesterklaus. Today I’d like to tell you a little more…
6 German Language Christmas Songs Posted by Constanze on Dec 13, 2017
Guten Tag! It’s 13. Dezember and almost time to say Frohe Weihnachten. To get into the spirit, today I wanted to share some German Weihnachtslieder (Christmas songs) with you. Not only is it fun for language learners to learn songs in other languages, but songs are actually a brilliant way to improve language proficiency; because…