The music for the German national anthem was composed by Austrian composer Joseph Haydn in 1796-1797. The melody was originally created as an anthem titled "Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser" ("God save Emperor Francis") for the birthday of Holy Roman Emperor Francis II. This tune later became the melody for the "Deutschlandlied," the German national anthem, with lyrics written by the poet August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben in 1841. Only the third stanza of Hoffmann's lyrics is used as the official German national anthem today.
