“Lili Marlene”: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This sheet music is for the song “Lili Marlene.” The song was written and composed by Phil Park, and the American version was done by Mack David. The sheet music was published by Chappell & Co. Inc. of New York, New York in 1943. The black cover features a yellow lamppost and a yellow rose, with an inset photograph of Hildegarde sitting at a piano. The song notes that it was “introduced and featured by Hildegard” (a misspelling with an “E” at the end) meaning that she had been performing the tune at shows and clubs, and now her image was being used to sell the sheet music.

This version and many others were inspired by the original “Lili Marlene,” a poem written by Hans Leip in 1915 as “Das Mädchen unter der Lanterne” (“The Girl Under the Lantern”) and first published as “Das Lied eines jungen Soldaten auf der Wacht” (“The Song of a Young Soldier On Watch’) in 1937. German composer, Norbert Schultze set “Lili Marlene” to music in 1938.

Materials, dates and provenance

• composer: Park, Phil
• translator; arranger: David, Mack
• publisher: Chappell and Co., Inc.
• Object Name: sheet music
• Physical Description: paper (overall material)
• Physical Description: ink (overall material)
• Measurements: overall: 12 in x 9 in; 30.48 cm x 22.86 cm
• place made: United Kingdom: England, London
• ID Number: 1983.0070.03
• accession number: 1983.0070
• catalog number: 1983.0070.03
• Credit Line: Gift of Don Dellair and Tommy Wonder 123
• Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.