“Tellenlied 1653“ - Das Entlebucher Tellenlied - Song of William Tell, 1653

On the evening of 14 February, 1653, a delegation sent by the Lucerne Council to pacify their subjects in Entlebuch encountered an unpleasant surprise. In front of their windows, a mob of Swiss country-folk sung of the bailiffs’ tyranny to the well known melody of “Wilhelmus van Nassouwe”, the National Anthem of the Netherlands. Rumored to have been written by Kaspar Unternährer, one of the leaders of the ensuing Swiss peasant revolt, the Tellenlied of 1653 emulates an older song of the same name written in the 1470s, which is one of the oldest existing records of the legendary Swiss national hero William Tell. The lyrics describe the circumstances of the peasant revolt; the devaluation of Bernese silver coins, the “Batzen”. When the population’s demands for fiscal relief were ignored by the authoritities, the peasants threatened to blockade the cities, uniting under the “League of Huttwil”, functioning as its own political entity, with an army and territory. The resistance was brutally suppressed after four months of fighting, Many leaders of the insurrection were captured, tortured, and finally received heavy sentences. In an ironic turn of events, the authorities eventually fulfilled the peasants’ demands, lowering some of the taxes. Arrangement by Urs Hostettler, from the album “Gallis Erbe“, 1980.