Deutschlandlied coins. The music is the hymn "Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser", written in 1797 by the Austrian composer Joseph Haydn as an anthem for the birthday of Francis II, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and later of Austria. In 1841, the German linguist and poet August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben wrote the lyrics of "" as a new text for that music, counterposing the national unification of Germany to the eulogy of a monarch, lyrics that were considered revolutionary at the time. Along with the flag of Germany, which first appeared in its essentially "modern" form in 1778; it
National Anthem Project National Anthem Project The National Anthem Project was a public awareness campaign launched in 2005 as a major initiative of . At the time of its launch, the National Anthem Project website declared "MENC is sponsoring The National Anthem Project to revive America's patriotism by educating Americans about the importance of The Star-Spangled Banner-both the flag and the song." Sponsored by MENC with major support from the Jeep brand, and other sponsors such as NAMM, Bank of America, and the Gibson Foundation, this campaign, which later used the slogan "to restore America's voice through music education" was MENC's most ambitious