Ein Jäger aus Kurpfalz

It celebrates a hunter freely riding across the land and hunting, and is traditionally associated with the Soonwald forest and the Hunsrück uplands of the Palatinate (Kurpfalz).

The base melody has been used and remixed in a variety of ways, from military marches to pleasant public event themes.

Ludwig Erk suggested the song was created in 1763; Franz Magnus Böhme speculated it came from even earlier, at the dawn of the 18th century during the cultural height of German hunting.

The modern form of the melody was written by Leo von Seckendorf [de] in the 1808 book Musenalmanach für das Jahr 1808.

One common guess is Friedrich Wilhelm Utsch [de], head-forester for the Bishop of Mainz in the Soonwald in the 18th century.

In the tradition that suggests Utsch was the subject, the original creator of the lyrics was Martinus Klein, a Carmelite friar.

Other prospects include Johann Adam Melsheimer [de], who served as forester of the Soonwald from 1719 to 1757 before Utsch, and Charles Theodore, Elector of Bavaria (German: Karl Theodor), who was Count Palatine of the Rhine from 1777–1799 and was known to both enjoy hunting and to have fathered a number of extramarital children.

Ein Jäger aus Kurpfalz, Der reitet durch den grünen Wald, Er schießt das Wild daher, Gleich wie es ihm gefällt.

Refrain: A hunter of Kurpfalz Is riding through the green woods; He shoots the wild game, Just the way he likes it best.