Schlager is a style of European popular music characterized by catchy instrumental accompaniments to vocal pop songs with simple, accessible, and often sentimental lyrics. The term derives from the German word schlagen, meaning “to hit,” and originally referred to a hit or strike. In musical contexts, it came to denote a popular “hit” song. The word has been adopted into several other languages, including Bulgarian, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Dutch, Czech, Croatian, Finnish, Hungarian, Lithuanian, Latvian, Estonian, Serbian, Turkish, Russian, Hebrew, and Romanian, generally retaining the meaning of a musical hit.
Schlager songs are typically light pop tunes or sentimental ballads featuring straightforward, memorable melodies. Their lyrics often focus on themes such as love, relationships, and emotions. In northern Europe, particularly in Finland, schlager developed regional variations that incorporated elements from Finnic, Nordic, Slavic, and Eastern European folk music, often with more melancholic or elegiac lyrical themes. Musically, schlager shares similarities with easy listening. The style was prominent in the early years of the Eurovision Song Contest, although it has since been largely supplanted there by other pop genres.
The earliest documented musical use of the term appeared in an 1867 review in the Wiener Fremden-Blatt of "The Blue Danube" by Johann Strauss II. As a musical style, schlager evolved in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with operetta considered one of its precursors. In the 1920s and 1930s, performers such as the Comedian Harmonists and Rudi Schuricke contributed to the development of the genre. Prominent schlager singers of the 1940s, 1950s, and early 1960s included Lale Andersen, Freddy Quinn, Ivo Robić, Gerhard Wendland, Caterina Valente, Margot Eskens, and Conny Froboess. The genre reached a peak of popularity in Germany and Austria during the 1960s, with artists such as Peter Alexander and Roy Black, and continued into the early 1970s.
Between 1975 and 1981, German-style schlager increasingly incorporated disco elements, at times merging with mainstream disco and Euro-disco. Artists such as Marianne Rosenberg recorded both schlager and disco-oriented material. The song "Moskau" by Dschinghis Khan exemplified this fusion of dance rhythms and schlager elements. From the mid-1990s to the early 2000s, schlager experienced a revival in Germany, associated with artists including Guildo Horn, Dieter Thomas Kuhn, Michelle, and Petra Perle. This resurgence led to the formation of new bands specializing in 1970s schlager cover versions as well as contemporary material.
Some commentators have compared schlager’s cultural role in Germany to that of country music in the United States, and American country and Tex-Mex music have influenced aspects of schlager culture. In contemporary Germany, schlager continues to shape forms of “party pop” or “party-schlager,” exemplified by songs such as "Layla" (2022), commonly played in après-ski venues and large dance clubs in Mallorca. Contemporary schlager is often blended with Volkstümliche Musik, and both styles are associated with social venues such as folk-style pubs, funfairs, and community events.
Notable schlager performers have included Michael Holm, Roland Kaiser, Hansi Hinterseer, Jürgen Drews, Andrea Berg, Heintje Simons, Helene Fischer, Nicole, Claudia Jung, Andrea Jürgens, Michelle, Kristina Bach, Marianne Rosenberg, Simone Stelzer, Daniela Alfinito, Semino Rossi, Vicky Leandros, Leonard, DJ Ötzi, Andreas Gabalier, Beatrice Egli, and Thomas Anders. In Hamburg during the 2010s, large annual street parades known as “Schlager Move” attracted hundreds of thousands of participants, often dressed in 1970s-inspired clothing. The name is also used for smaller schlager-themed events in other German cities. Schlager has also returned to private radio broadcasting in Germany, including through stations such as Schlager Radio. In the English-speaking world, the Swedish group ABBA incorporated elements of schlager, alongside traditional Swedish music and pop-rock, into their sound.
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