The poet had taken part in the German War of Liberation as a lieutenant in the Lützow Free Corps and fell on August 26, 1813 near Gadebusch.
The poems, some of them based on German folk-tunes,[note 1] were originally sung to the guitar or recited by the poet to his fellow soldiers.
[2] Carl Maria von Weber used the title Lyre and Sword for a collection of four-part settings for men's chorus of several of the poems, Op.
[3] Other poems such as "My Fatherland", the "Hunters' Song", and "Prayer During the Battle" were set by such composers as Franz Schubert.
Denn was berauscht die Leyer vorgesungen, Das hat des Schwertes freie That errungen.