Nineteen days before his death on 5 December 1791,
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed his last complete work, the
Freimaurerkantate,
K. 623. In parts of the printed edition of this
cantata there appeared the song K. 623a "" ("Let us with joined hands"). To this melody the Austrian national anthem is sung. Today, claims of Mozart's authorship are regarded as dubious among scholars and the song is attributed to (either solely or co-authored with Mozart) or
Paul Wranitzky. Before the World War II
Anschluss, Austria's state anthem was "", set to the tune of
Haydn's "", the state anthem of imperial Austria since 1797. The current German national anthem "" uses the same tune, but with different words (it was also the co-national anthem of
Germany during National Socialist rule). To avoid the association, and because singing it was banned for a time after the war, a new state anthem was created. The lyrics were written by
Paula von Preradović. On 22 October 1946, the song was officially declared Austria's national anthem, albeit without words. Lyrics were added in February 1947. On 1 January 2012, parts of the lyrics were changed to make the composition gender-neutral.
Attempts at gender-neutral language Since the 1990s, several attempts have been made to modify the lyrics to use more
gender-neutral language. In 2005, Women's Minister
Maria Rauch-Kallat of the
Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) stated her objection to the words
sons,
fraternal and
fatherland in the lyrics and proposed changes. Her proposal met strong resistance by Austria's largest newspaper, the
Kronen Zeitung, and failed to gain support from the then coalition partner, the
Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZÖ). In January 2010, Austrian pop singer
Christina Stürmer presented a
pop rock version of the hymn "Heimat bist du großer Söhne " ('Thou art home to great sons ') as part of a campaign by the Austrian federal ministry of education. She was sued for violation of copyright by the estate of
Paula von Preradović but subsequently cleared by the
Austrian Supreme Court of Justice who called it "a mere modernisation" and allowed the version to stand. Since 1 January 2012, a few words in the state anthem are different from before. The text and notes of the state anthem were officially codified in the Federal Act of the National Anthem of the Republic of Austria. ==Lyrics==