"Ons Heemecht"

Zinnen's music to "Ons Heemecht" performed by the United States Navy Band

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Jean Antoine Zinnen (25 April 1827 – 16 May 1898)^[1] was a Luxembourgish composer, best known for the Luxembourgish national anthem, Ons Heemecht.^[2]

Zinnen was born in Neuerburg, in the Prussian Rhineland, close to the border with Luxembourg. When he was six, his family moved to Luxembourg. After serving as a musician in the army, he naturalised as a Luxembourg citizen in 1849. In 1851, he became the first director of the Diekirch choral society Sangerbond.^[3] In 1852, he was appointed Luxembourg City's director of music, and, soon after, director of the city conservatoire.^[2] In 1863, he was appointed the director of the newly founded Allgemeiner Luxemburger Musikverein (ALM) which, in 1947, was renamed Union Grand-Duc Adolphe, the national umbrella organisation for music societies, bands, choirs and orchestras.^[4]

The following year, at the first celebration of the ALM in Ettlebrück, Ons Hémecht was sung by a choir. Michel Lentz, the national poet who was a member of the ALM's central committee, had written the words, wishing to convey a powerful feeling of patriotism. Zinnen set the poem to music, later transforming it into a solemn hymn. On 25 June 1865, on the occasion of a music festival in Vianden, Ons Hémecht was performed for the first time with an instrumental accompaniment.^[4] Ons Heemecht was adopted as Luxembourg's national anthem in 1895.

Jean-Antoine Zinnen died in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, at the age of 71, and was buried in Limpertsberg, Luxembourg City. Two years after his death, a monument was constructed at the churchyard in which he is buried, paid for by private donations.