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Diatonic scale

In music theory, a diatonic scale is any heptatonic scale that includes five whole steps (whole tones) and two half steps (semitones) in each octave, in which the two half steps are separated from each other by either two or three whole steps, depending on their position in the scale. This pattern ensures that, in a diatonic scale spanning more than one octave, all the half steps are maximally separated from each other (i.e. separated by at least two whole steps).

The seven pitches of any diatonic scale can also be obtained by using a chain of six perfect fifths. For instance, the seven natural pitch classes that form the C-major scale can be obtained from a stack of perfect fifths starting from F:
 * F–C–G–D–A–E–B

Any sequence of seven successive natural notes, such as C–D–E–F–G–A–B, and any transposition thereof, is a diatonic scale. Modern musical keyboards are designed so that the white-key notes form a diatonic scale, though transpositions of this diatonic scale require one or more black keys. A diatonic scale can be also described as two tetrachords separated by a whole tone. In musical set theory, Allen Forte classifies diatonic scales as set form 7–35.

The term diatonic originally referred to the diatonic genus, one of the three genera of the ancient Greeks, and comes from διατονικός, of uncertain etymology. Most likely, it refers to the intervals being "stretched out" in that tuning, in contrast to the other two genera (chromatic and enharmonic).

This article does not concern alternative seven-note scales such as the harmonic minor or the melodic minor which, although sometimes called "diatonic", do not fulfill the condition of maximal separation of the semitones indicated above.

History
Western music from the Middle Ages until the late 19th century (see common practice period) is based on the diatonic scale and the unique hierarchical relationships created by this system of organizing seven notes.

Antiquity
Evidence that the Sumerians and Babylonians used a version of the diatonic scale is found in cuneiform inscriptions that contain both musical compositions and a tuning system. Despite the conjectural nature of reconstructions of the Hurrian songs, the diatonic nature of the tuning system is demonstrated by the fact that it involves a series of six perfect fifths, which is a recipe for the construction of a diatonic scale.

The 9,000-year-old flutes found in Jiahu, China, indicate the evolution over 1,200 years of flutes having 4, 5 and 6 holes to having 7 and 8 holes, the latter exhibiting striking similarity to diatonic hole spacings and sounds.

Middle Ages
The scales corresponding to the medieval church modes were diatonic. Depending on which of the seven notes of the diatonic scale you use as the beginning, the positions of the intervals fall at different distances from the starting tone (the "reference note"), producing seven different scales. One of these, the one starting on B, has no pure fifth above its reference note (B–F is a diminished fifth): it is probably for this reason that it was not used. Of the six remaining scales, two were described as corresponding to two others with a B♭ instead of a B♮:

 * 1) A–B–C–D–E–F–G–A was described as D–E–F–G–A–B♭–C–D (the modern Aeolian modes whose reference notes are A and D, respectively, corresponding to the Aeolian modes of C major and F major, respectively)
 * 2) C–D–E–F–G–A–B–C was described as F–G–A–B♭–C–D–E–F (the modern Ionian modes whose reference notes are C and F, respectively, corresponding to the Ionian modes of C major and F major, respectively).

As a result, medieval theory described the church modes as corresponding to four diatonic scales only (two of which had the variable B♮/♭). They were the modern Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, and Mixolydian modes of C major, plus the Aeolian and Ionian modes of F major when B♭ was substituted into the Dorian and Lydian modes of C major, respectively.

Renaissance
Heinrich Glarean considered that the modal scales including a B♭ had to be the result of a transposition. In his Dodecachordon, he not only described six "natural" diatonic scales (still neglecting the seventh one with a diminished fifth above the reference note), but also six "transposed" ones, each including a B♭, resulting in the total of twelve scales that justified the title of his treatise. These were the 6 non-Locrian modes of C major and F major.

Modern
By the beginning of the Baroque period, the notion of the musical key was established, describing additional possible transpositions of the diatonic scale. Major and minor scales came to dominate until at least the start of the 20th century, partly because their intervallic patterns are suited to the reinforcement of a central triad. Some church modes survived into the early 18th century, as well as appearing in classical and 20th-century music, and jazz (see chord-scale system).

Theory
Of Glarean's six natural scales, three have a major third/first triad: (Ionian, Lydian, and Mixolydian), and three have a minor one: Dorian, Phrygian, and Aeolian). To these may be added the seventh diatonic scale, with a diminished fifth above the reference note, the Locrian scale. These could be transposed not only to include one flat in the signature (as described by Glarean), but to all twelve notes of the chromatic scale, resulting in a total of eighty-four diatonic scales.

The modern musical keyboard originated as a diatonic keyboard with only white keys. The black keys were progressively added for several purposes:

 * improving the consonances, mainly the thirds, by providing a major third on each degree;
 * allowing all twelve transpositions described above;
 * and helping musicians to find their bearings on the keyboard.

The pattern of elementary intervals forming the diatonic scale can be represented either by the letters T (tone) and S (semitone) respectively. With this abbreviation, a major scale, for instance, can be represented as

 * T–T–S–T–T–T–S

Major scale
The major scale or Ionian mode is one of the diatonic scales. It is made up of seven distinct notes, plus an eighth that duplicates the first an octave higher. The pattern of seven intervals separating the eight notes is T–T–S–T–T–T–S. In solfège, the syllables used to name each degree of the scale are Do–Re–Mi–Fa–Sol–La–Ti–Do. A sequence of successive natural notes starting from C is an example of major scale, called C-major scale.

The eight degrees of the scale are also known by traditional names, especially when used in a tonal context:
 * 1st – Tonic (key note)
 * 2nd – Supertonic
 * 3rd – Mediant
 * 4th – Subdominant
 * 5th – Dominant
 * 6th – Submediant
 * 7th – Leading tone
 * 8th – Tonic (Octave)

Natural minor scale
For each major scale, there is a corresponding natural minor scale, sometimes called its relative minor. It uses the same sequence of notes as the corresponding major scale but starts from a different note. That is, it begins on the sixth degree of the major scale and proceeds step-by-step to the first octave of the sixth degree. A sequence of successive natural notes starting from A is an example of a natural minor scale, called the A natural minor scale.

The degrees of the natural minor scale, especially in a tonal context, have the same names as those of the major scale, except the seventh degree, which is known as the subtonic because it is a whole step below the tonic. The term leading tone is generally reserved for seventh degrees that are a half step (semitone) below the tonic, as is the case in the major scale.

Besides the natural minor scale, five other kinds of scales can be obtained from the notes of a major scale, by simply choosing a different note as the starting note. All these scales meet the definition of diatonic scale.

Modes
The whole collection of diatonic scales as defined above can be divided into seven different scales.

As explained above, all major scales use the same interval sequence T–T–S–T–T–T–S. This interval sequence was called the Ionian mode by Glarean. It is one of the seven modern modes. From any major scale, a new scale is obtained by taking a different degree as the tonic. With this method it is possible to generate six other scales or modes from each major scale. Another way to describe the same result would be to consider that, behind the diatonic scales, there exists an underlying diatonic system which is the series of diatonic notes without a reference note; assigning the reference note in turn to each of the seven notes in each octave of the system produces seven diatonic scales, each characterized by a different interval sequence:

The first column examples shown above are formed by natural notes (i.e. neither sharps nor flats, also called "white-notes", as they can be played using the white keys of a piano keyboard). However, any transposition of each of these scales (or of the system underlying them) is a valid example of the corresponding mode. In other words, transposition preserves mode. This is shown in the second column, with each mode transposed to start on C.

The whole set of diatonic scales is commonly defined as the set composed of these seven natural-note scales, together with all of their possible transpositions. As discussed elsewhere, different definitions of this set are sometimes adopted in the literature.

Diatonic scales and tetrachords
A diatonic scale can be also described as two tetrachords separated by a whole tone. For example, under this view the two tetrachord structures of C major would be:
 * [C–D–E–F] – [G–A–B–C]

each tetrachord being formed of two tones and a semitone, T–T–S,

and the natural minor of A would be:
 * [A–B–C–D] – [E–F–G–A]

formed two different tetrachords, the first consisting in a semitone between two tones, T–S–T, and the second of a semitone and two tones, S–T–T.

The medieval conception of the tetrachordal structure, however, was based on one single tetrachord, that of the D scale,
 * [D–E–F–G] – [A–B–C–D]

each formed of a semitone between tones, T–S–T. It viewed other diatonic scales as differently overlapping disjunct and conjunct tetrachords:
 * E scale: E–F–G | A–B–C–D = D–E
 * F scale: F–G | A–B–C–D = D–E–F
 * G scale: G | A–B–C–D = D–E–F–G
 * A scale: A–B–C–D = D–E–F–G | A
 * B scale: B–C–D = D–E–F–G | A–B
 * C scale: C–D = D–E–F–G | A–B–C

(where G | A indicates the disjunction of tetrachords, always between G and A, and D = D indicates their conjunction, always on the common note D).

Tuning
Diatonic scales can be tuned variously, either by iteration of a perfect or tempered fifth, or by a combination of perfect fifths and perfect thirds (Just intonation), or possibly by a combination of fifths and thirds of various sizes, as in well temperament.

Iteration of the fifth
If the scale is produced by the iteration of six perfect fifths, for instance F–C–G–D–A–E–B, the result is Pythagorean tuning:

This tuning dates to Ancient Mesopotamia (see ), and was done by alternating ascending fifths with descending fourths (equal to an ascending fifth followed by a descending octave), resulting in the notes of a pentatonic or heptatonic scale falling within an octave.

Six of the "fifth" intervals (C–G, D–A, E–B, F–C', G–D', A–E') are all $2/3$ = 1.5 (701.955 cents), but B–F' is the discordant tritone, here $1/1$ = 1.423828125 (611.73 cents). Tones are each $3/2$ = 1.125 (203.91 cents) and diatonic semitones are $9/4$ ≈ 1.0535 (90.225 cents).

Extending the series of fifths to eleven fifths would result into the Pythagorean chromatic scale.

Equal temperament
Equal temperament is the division of the octave in twelve equal semitones. The frequency ratio of the semitone then becomes the twelfth root of two ($27/8$ ≈ 1.059463, 100 cents). The tone is the sum of two semitone. Its ratio is the sixth root of two ($81/16$ ≈ 1.122462, 200 cents). Equal temperament can be produced by a succession of tempered fifths, each of them with the ratio of 2$243/32$ ≈ 1.498307, 700 cents.

Meantone temperament
The fifths could be tempered more than in equal temperament, in order to produce better thirds. See quarter-comma meantone for a meantone temperament commonly used in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and sometimes after, which produces perfect major thirds.

Just intonation
Just intonation often is represented using Leonhard Euler's Tonnetz, with the horizontal axis showing the perfect fifths and the vertical axis the perfect major thirds. In the Tonnetz, the diatonic scale in just intonation appears as follows:

F–A, C–E and G–B, aligned vertically, are perfect major thirds; A–E–B and F–C–G–D are two series of perfect fifths. The notes of the top line, A, E and B, are lowered by the syntonic comma, $4/3$, and the "wolf" fifth D–A is too narrow by the same amount. The tritone F–B is $1/1$ ≈ 1.40625.

This tuning has been first described by Ptolemy and is known as Ptolemy's intense diatonic scale. It was also mentioned by Zarlino in the 16th century and has been described by theorists in the 17th and 18th centuries as the "natural" scale.

Since the frequency ratios are based on simple powers of the prime numbers 2, 3, and 5, this is also known as five-limit tuning.

title: Diatonic scale


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Deutschlandlied

The "Deutschlandlied" ("Song of Germany"), officially titled "Das Lied der Deutschen" ("The Song of the Germans"), has been the national anthem of Germany either wholly or in part since 1922, except for a seven-year gap following World War II in West Germany. In East Germany, the national anthem was "Auferstanden aus Ruinen" ("Risen from Ruins") between 1949 and 1990.

Since World War II and the fall of Nazi Germany, only the third stanza has been used as the national anthem. Its phrase "Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit" ("Unity and Justice and Freedom") is considered the unofficial national motto of Germany, and is inscribed on modern German Army belt buckles and the rims of some German 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 "Das Lied der Deutschen" 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.

The "Deutschlandlied" was adopted as the national anthem of Germany in 1922, during the Weimar Republic, to which all three stanzas were used. West Germany retained it as its official national anthem in 1952, with only the third stanza sung on official occasions. After German reunification in 1990, in 1991 only the third stanza was reconfirmed as the national anthem. It is discouraged, although not illegal, to perform the first stanza (or to some degree, the second), due to association with the Nazi regime.

Title
The "Deutschlandlied" is also well known by the incipit and refrain of the first stanza, "Deutschland, Deutschland über alles" ("Germany, Germany above all"), but this has never been its title. This line originally meant that the most important aim of 19th-century German liberal revolutionaries should be a unified Germany which would overcome loyalties to the local kingdoms, principalities, duchies and palatines (Kleinstaaterei) of then-fragmented Germany, essentially that the idea of a unified Germany should be above all else. Later, and especially in Nazi Germany, did these words more strongly expressed German superiority over and domination of other countries.

Melody

The melody of the "Deutschlandlied", also known as "the Austria tune", was written by Joseph Haydn in 1797 to provide music to the poem "Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser" ("God save Francis the Emperor") by Lorenz Leopold Haschka. The song was a birthday anthem honouring Francis II, Habsburg emperor, and was intended as a parallel to Great Britain's "God Save the King". Haydn's work is sometimes called the "Emperor's Hymn" (Kaiserhymne). It was the music of the National Anthem of Austria-Hungary until the abolition of the Habsburg monarchy in 1918. It is often used as the musical basis for the hymn "Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken".

It has been conjectured that Haydn took the first four measures of the melody from a Croatian folk song. This hypothesis has never achieved unanimous agreement; an alternative theory reverses the direction of transmission, positing that Haydn's melody was adapted as a folk tune. For further discussion, see Haydn and folk music.

Haydn later used the hymn as the basis for the second movement (Poco adagio cantabile) of his String Quartet No. 62 in C major, Opus 76 No. 3, often called the "Emperor" or "Kaiser" quartet.

Historical background
The Holy Roman Empire, stemming from the Middle Ages, was already disintegrating when the French Revolution and the ensuing Napoleonic Wars altered the political map of Central Europe. However, hopes for human rights and republican government after Napoleon's defeat in 1815 were dashed when the Congress of Vienna reinstated many small German principalities. In addition, with the Carlsbad Decrees of 1819, Austrian Chancellor Klemens von Metternich and his secret police enforced censorship, mainly in universities, to keep a watch on the activities of teachers and students, whom he held responsible for the spread of radical liberalist ideas. Since reactionaries among the monarchs were the main adversaries, demands for freedom of the press and other liberal rights were most often uttered in connection with the demand for a united Germany, even though many revolutionaries-to-be held differing opinions over whether a republic or a constitutional monarchy would be the best solution for Germany.

The German Confederation (Deutscher Bund, 1815–1866) was a federation of 35 monarchical states and four republican free cities, with a Federal Assembly in Frankfurt. The federation was essentially a military alliance, but it was also abused by the larger powers to oppress liberal and national movements. Another federation, the German Customs Union (Zollverein) was formed among the majority of the states in 1834. In 1840 Hoffmann wrote a song about the Zollverein, also to Haydn's melody, in which he ironically praised the free trade of German goods which brought Germans and Germany closer.

After the 1848 March Revolution, the German Confederation handed over its authority to the Frankfurt Parliament. For a short period in the late 1840s, Germany was united with the borders described in the anthem, and a democratic constitution was being drafted, and with the black-red-gold flag representing it. However, after 1849, the two largest German monarchies, Prussia and Austria, put an end to this liberal movement towards national unification.

Hoffmann's lyrics
August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben wrote the text in 1841 while on holiday on the North Sea island Heligoland, then a possession of the United Kingdom (now part of Germany).

Hoffmann von Fallersleben intended "Das Lied der Deutschen" to be sung to Haydn's tune; the first publication of the poem included the music. The first line, "Deutschland, Deutschland über alles, über alles in der Welt" (usually translated into English as "Germany, Germany above all, above all in the world"), was an appeal to the various German monarchs to give the creation of a united Germany a higher priority than the independence of their small states. In the third stanza, with a call for "Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit" (unity and justice and freedom), Hoffmann expressed his desire for a united and free Germany where the rule of law, not arbitrary monarchy, would prevail.

In the era after the Congress of Vienna, influenced by Metternich and his secret police, Hoffmann's text had a distinctly revolutionary and at the same time liberal connotation, since the appeal for a united Germany was most often made in connection with demands for freedom of the press and other civil rights. Its implication that loyalty to a larger Germany should replace loyalty to one's local sovereign was then a revolutionary idea.

The year after he wrote "Das Deutschlandlied", Hoffmann lost his job as a librarian and professor in Breslau, Prussia (now Wrocław, Poland) because of this and other revolutionary works, and was forced into hiding until he was pardoned following the revolutions of 1848 in the German states.

Lyrics
Only the third stanza, in bold, is used as the modern German national anthem.

Use before 1922
The melody of the "Deutschlandlied" was originally written by Joseph Haydn in 1797 to provide music to the poem "Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser" ("God save Franz the Emperor") by Lorenz Leopold Haschka. The song was a birthday anthem to Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor of the House of Habsburg, and was intended to rival in merit the British "God Save the King".

After the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, "Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser" became the official anthem of the emperor of the Austrian Empire. After the death of Francis II new lyrics were composed in 1854, Gott erhalte, Gott beschütze, that mentioned the Emperor, but not by name. With those new lyrics, the song continued to be the anthem of Imperial Austria and later of Austria-Hungary. Austrian monarchists continued to use this anthem after 1918 in the hope of restoring the monarchy. The adoption of the Austrian anthem's melody by Germany in 1922 was not opposed by Austria.

"Das Lied der Deutschen" was not played at an official ceremony until Germany and the United Kingdom had agreed on the Heligoland–Zanzibar Treaty in 1890, when it appeared only appropriate to sing it at the ceremony on the now officially German island of Heligoland. During the time of the German Empire, it became one of the most widely known patriotic songs.

The song became very popular after the 1914 Battle of Langemarck during World War I, when, supposedly, several German regiments, consisting mostly of students no older than 20, attacked the British lines on the Western front while singing the song, suffering heavy casualties. They are buried in the Langemark German war cemetery in Belgium.

By December 1914, according to George Haven Putnam, Deutschland über alles had "come to express the . . . war spirit of the Fatherland" and "the supremacy of Germans over all other peoples", despite being, in past years, "an expression simply of patriotic devotion". Morris Jastrow Jr., then an American apologist for Germany, maintained that it meant only "that Germany is dearer to Germans than anything else". J. William White wrote into the Public Ledger to confirm Putnam's view.

Official adoption
The melody used by the "Deutschlandlied" was still in use as the anthem of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until its demise in 1918. On 11 August 1922, German President Friedrich Ebert, a Social Democrat, made the "Deutschlandlied" the official German national anthem. In 1919 the black, red and gold tricolour, the colours of the 19th century liberal revolutionaries advocated by the political left and centre, was adopted (rather than the previous black, white and red of Imperial Germany). Thus, in a political trade-off, the conservative right was granted a nationalistic composition, although Ebert continued to advocate the use of the third stanza only (as after World War II).

During the Nazi era, only the first stanza was used, followed by the SA song "Horst-Wessel-Lied". It was played at occasions of great national significance, such as the opening of the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, when Hitler and his entourage, along with Olympic officials, walked into the stadium amid a chorus of three thousand Germans singing "Deutschland, Deutschland über alles". In this way, the first stanza became closely identified with the Nazi regime.

Use after World War II
After its founding in 1949, West Germany did not have a national anthem for official events for some years, despite a growing need for one for the purpose of diplomatic procedures. In lieu of an official national anthem, popular German songs such as the "Trizonesien-Song", a self-deprecating carnival song, were used at some sporting events. A variety of musical compositions was used or discussed, such as the finale of Ludwig van Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, which is a musical setting of Friedrich Schiller's poem "An die Freude" ("Ode to Joy"). Though the black, red and gold colours of the national flag had been incorporated into Article 22 of the (West) German constitution, no national anthem had been specified. On 29 April 1952, Chancellor Konrad Adenauer asked President Theodor Heuss in a letter to accept "Das Lied der Deutschen" as the national anthem, with only the third stanza to be sung on official occasions. However, the first and second stanzas were not outlawed, contrary to popular belief. President Heuss agreed to this on 2 May 1952. This exchange of letters was published in the Bulletin of the Federal Government. Since it was viewed as the traditional right of the President as head of state to set the symbols of the state, the "Deutschlandlied" thus became the national anthem.

Meanwhile, East Germany had adopted its own national anthem, "Auferstanden aus Ruinen" ("Risen from Ruins"). As the lyrics of this anthem called for "Germany, united Fatherland", they were no longer officially used from approximately 1972 onwards, when East Germany abandoned its goal of uniting Germany under communism. By design, with slight adaptations, the lyrics of "Auferstanden aus Ruinen" can be sung to the melody of the "Deutschlandlied" and vice versa.

In the 1970s and 1980s, efforts were made by conservatives in Germany to reclaim all three stanzas for the national anthem. The Christian Democratic Union of Baden-Württemberg, for instance, attempted twice (in 1985 and 1986) to require German high school students to study all three stanzas, and in 1989, CDU politician Christean Wagner decreed that all high school students in Hesse were to memorise the three stanzas.

On 7 March 1990, months before reunification, the Federal Constitutional Court declared only the third stanza of Hoffmann's poem to be legally protected as a national anthem under German criminal law; Section 90a of the Criminal Code (Strafgesetzbuch) makes defamation of the national anthem a crime, but does not specify what the national anthem is. This did not mean that stanzas one and two were no longer part of the national anthem, but that their peculiar status as "part of the [national] anthem but unsung" disqualified them for penal law protection, since the penal law must be interpreted in the narrowest manner possible.

In November 1991, President Richard von Weizsäcker and Chancellor Helmut Kohl agreed in an exchange of letters to declare the third stanza alone to be the national anthem of the reunified republic. Hence, as of then, the national anthem of Germany is unmistakably the third stanza of the "Deutschlandlied", and only this stanza, set to Haydn's music.

The incipit of the third stanza, "Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit" ("Unity and Justice and Freedom"), is widely considered to be the national motto of Germany, although it has never been officially proclaimed as such. It appears on Bundeswehr soldiers' belt buckles (replacing the earlier "Gott mit uns" ("God with Us") of the Imperial German Army and the Nazi-era Wehrmacht) and on 2 euro coins minted in Germany, and on the edges of the obsolete 2 and 5 Deutsche Mark coins.

Geographical

The first stanza, which is no longer part of the national anthem and is not sung on official occasions, names three rivers and one strait – the Meuse (Maas in German), Adige (Etsch) and Neman (Memel) Rivers and the Little Belt strait. The song was written before German unification, and there was no intention to delineate borders of Germany as a nation-state. Nevertheless, these geographical references have been variously criticised as irredentist or misleading. Today, no part of any of these four natural boundaries lies in Germany. The Meuse and the Adige were parts of the German Confederation when the song was composed, and were no longer part of the German Reich as of 1871; the Little Belt strait and the Neman became German boundaries later (the Belt until 1920, and the Neman between 1920 and 1939).

None of these natural boundaries formed a distinct ethnic border. The Duchy of Schleswig (to which the Belt refers) was inhabited by both Germans and Danes, with the Danes forming a clear majority near the strait. Around the Adige there was a mix of German, Venetian and Gallo-Italian speakers, and the area around the Neman was not homogeneously German, but also accommodated Prussian Lithuanians. The Meuse (if taken as referencing the Duchy of Limburg, nominally part of the German Confederation for 28 years due to the political consequences of the Belgian Revolution) was ethnically Dutch, with few Germans.

Nevertheless, such nationalistic rhetoric was relatively common in 19th-century public discourse. For example, Georg Herwegh in his poem "The German Fleet" (1841) gives the Germans as the people "between the Po and the Sound, and in 1832 Philipp Jakob Siebenpfeiffer, a noted journalist, declared at the Hambach Festival that he considered all "between the Alps and the North Sea" to be Deutschtum (the ethnic and spiritual German community).

Textual
The anthem has frequently been criticised for its generally nationalistic tone, the immodest geographic definition of Germany given in the first stanza, and an alleged male-chauvinistic attitude in the second stanza. A relatively early critic was Friedrich Nietzsche, who called the grandiose claim in the first stanza "die blödsinnigste Parole der Welt" (the most idiotic slogan in the world), and in Thus Spoke Zarathustra said, "Deutschland, Deutschland über alles – I fear that was the end of German philosophy." The pacifist Kurt Tucholsky was another critic, who published in 1929 a photo book sarcastically titled Deutschland, Deutschland über alles, criticising right-wing groups in Germany.

German grammar distinguishes between über alles, i.e. above all else, and über alle[n], meaning "above everyone else". However, for propaganda purposes, the latter translation was endorsed by the Allies during World War I.

Modern use of the first stanza
As the first stanza of the "Deutschlandlied" is historically associated with the Nazi regime and its crimes, the singing of the first stanza is considered taboo within modern German society. Although the first stanza is not forbidden within Germany based on the German legal system, any mention of the first stanza is considered to be incorrect, inaccurate, and improper during official settings and functions, within Germany or abroad.

In 1974, the singer Nico released a recording of all three verses as the last track on her album The End.... In 1977, the German pop singer Heino produced a record of the song which included all three stanzas for use in primary schools in Baden-Württemberg. The inclusion of the first two stanzas was met with criticism at the time.

In 2009, the English rock musician Pete Doherty sang "Deutschlandlied" live on radio at Bayerischer Rundfunk in Munich with all three stanzas. As he sang the first stanza, he was booed by the audience. Three days later, Doherty's spokesperson declared that the singer was "not aware of the historical background and regrets the misunderstanding". A spokesperson for Bayerischer Rundfunk welcomed the apology, noting that further cooperation with Doherty would not have been possible otherwise.

When the first stanza was played as the German national anthem at the canoe sprint world championships in Hungary in August 2011, German athletes were reportedly "appalled". Eurosport, under the headline of "Nazi anthem", erroneously reported that "the first stanza of the piece [had been] banned in 1952."

Similarly, in 2017, the first stanza was mistakenly sung by Will Kimble, an American soloist, during the welcome ceremony of the Fed Cup tennis match between Andrea Petkovic (Germany) and Alison Riske (U.S.) at the Center Court in Lahaina, Hawaii. In an attempt to drown out the soloist, German tennis players and fans began to sing the third stanza instead.

Additional or alternative stanzas
Hoffmann von Fallersleben also intended the text to be used as a drinking song; the second stanza's toast to German wine, women and song is typical of this genre. The original Heligoland manuscript included a variant ending of the third stanza for such occasions:

An alternative version called "Kinderhymne" (Children's Hymn) was written by Bertolt Brecht shortly after his return from exile in the U.S. to a war-ravaged, bankrupt and geographically shrunken Germany at the end of World War II, and set to music by Hanns Eisler in the same year. It gained some currency after the 1990 unification of Germany, with a number of prominent Germans calling for his "antihymn" to be made official:

In the English version of this "antihymn", the second stanza refers ambiguously to "people" and "other folk", but the German version is more specific: the author encourages Germans to find ways to relieve the people of other nations from needing to flinch at the memory of things Germans have done in the past, so that people of other nations can feel ready to shake hands with a German again as they would with anyone else.

Notable performances and recordings
The German musician Nico sometimes performed the national anthem at concerts and dedicated it to militant Andreas Baader, leader of the Red Army Faction. She included a version of "Das Lied der Deutschen" on her 1974 album The End.... In 2006, the Slovenian industrial band Laibach incorporated Hoffmann's lyrics in a song titled "Germania", on the album Volk, which contains fourteen songs with adaptations of national anthems.

Influences
The German composer Max Reger quotes the "Deutschlandlied" in the final section of his collection of organ pieces Sieben Stücke, Op. 145, composed in 1915–16 when it was a patriotic song but not yet the national anthem.

An Afrikaans patriotic song, "Afrikaners Landgenote", has been written with an identical melody and similarly structured lyrics to the "Deutschlandlied". The lyrics of this song consist of three stanzas, the first of which sets the boundaries of the Afrikaans homeland with the means of geographical areas, the second of which states the importance of "Afrikaans mothers, daughters, sun, and field", recalling the "German women, loyalty, wine, and song", and the third of which describes the importance of unity, justice, and freedom, along with love.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Deutschlandlied


text:
December 31

It is known by a collection of names including: Saint Sylvester's Day, New Year's Eve or Old Year’s Day/Night, as the following day is New Year's Day. It is the last day of the year; the following day is January 1, the first day of the following year.

Pre-1600

 * 406 – Vandals, Alans and Suebians cross the Rhine, beginning an invasion of Gaul.
 * 535 – Byzantine general Belisarius completes the conquest of Sicily, defeating the Gothic garrison of Palermo (Panormos), and ending his consulship for the year.
 * 870 – Battle of Englefield: The Vikings clash with ealdorman Æthelwulf of Berkshire. The invaders are driven back to Reading (East Anglia); many Danes are killed.
 * 1105 – Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV is forced to abdicate in favor of his son, Henry V, in Ingelheim.
 * 1225 – The Lý dynasty of Vietnam ends after 216 years by the enthronement of the boy emperor Trần Thái Tông, husband of the last Lý monarch, Lý Chiêu Hoàng, starting the Trần dynasty.
 * 1229 – James I the Conqueror, King of Aragon, enters Medina Mayurqa (now known as Palma, Spain), thus consummating the Christian reconquest of the island of Majorca.
 * 1501 – The First Battle of Cannanore commences, seeing the first use of the naval line of battle.
 * 1600 – The British East India Company is chartered.

1601–1900

 * 1660 – James II of England is named Duke of Normandy by Louis XIV of France.
 * 1670 – The expedition of John Narborough leaves Corral Bay, having surveyed the coast and lost four hostages to the Spanish.
 * 1687 – The first Huguenots set sail from France to the Cape of Good Hope.
 * 1757 – Empress Elizabeth I of Russia issues her ukase incorporating Königsberg into Russia.
 * 1759 – Arthur Guinness signs a 9,000-year lease at £45 per annum and starts brewing Guinness.
 * 1775 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Quebec: British forces repulse an attack by Continental Army General Richard Montgomery.
 * 1790 – Efimeris, the oldest Greek newspaper of which issues have survived till today, is published for the first time.
 * 1796 – The incorporation of Baltimore as a city.
 * 1831 – Gramercy Park is deeded to New York City.
 * 1844 – The Philippines skipped this date in order to align the country with the rest of Asia, as the trading interest switched to China, Dutch East Indies and neighboring territories after Mexico gained independence from Spain on 27 September 1821. In the islands, Monday, 30 December 1844 was immediately followed by Wednesday, 1 January 1845.
 * 1853 – A dinner party is held inside a life-size model of an iguanodon created by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins and Sir Richard Owen in south London, England.
 * 1857 – Queen Victoria chooses Ottawa, then a small logging town, as the capital of the Province of Canada.
 * 1862 – American Civil War: Abraham Lincoln signs an act that admits West Virginia to the Union, thus dividing Virginia in two.
 * 1862  – American Civil War: The Battle of Stones River begins near Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
 * 1878 – Karl Benz, working in Mannheim, Germany, files for a patent on his first reliable two-stroke gas engine. He was granted the patent in 1879.
 * 1879 – Thomas Edison demonstrates incandescent lighting to the public for the first time, in Menlo Park, New Jersey.

1901–present

 * 1906 – Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar signs the Persian Constitution of 1906.
 * 1907 – The first ever ball drop in Times Square.
 * 1942 – USS Essex, first aircraft carrier of a 24-ship class, is commissioned.
 * 1942  – World War II: The Royal Navy defeats the Kriegsmarine at the Battle of the Barents Sea. This leads to the resignation of Grand Admiral Erich Raeder a month later.
 * 1944 – World War II: Operation Nordwind, the last major Wehrmacht offensive on the Western Front, begins.
 * 1946 – President Harry S. Truman officially proclaims the end of hostilities in World War II.
 * 1951 – Cold War: The Marshall Plan expires after distributing more than US$13.3 billion in foreign aid to rebuild Western Europe.
 * 1955 – General Motors becomes the first U.S. corporation to make over US$1 billion in a year.
 * 1956 – The Romanian Television network begins its first broadcast in Bucharest.
 * 1961 – RTÉ, Ireland's state broadcaster, launches its first national television service.
 * 1963 – The Central African Federation officially collapses, subsequently becoming Zambia, Malawi and Rhodesia.
 * 1965 – Jean-Bédel Bokassa, leader of the Central African Republic army, and his military officers begin a coup d'état against the government of President David Dacko.
 * 1968 – The first flight of the Tupolev Tu-144, the first civilian supersonic transport in the world.
 * 1968  – MacRobertson Miller Airlines Flight 1750 crashes near Port Hedland, Western Australia, killing all 26 people on board.
 * 1981 – A coup d'état in Ghana removes President Hilla Limann's PNP government and replaces it with the Provisional National Defence Council led by Flight lieutenant Jerry Rawlings.
 * 1983 – The AT&T Bell System is broken up by the United States Government.
 * 1983  – Benjamin Ward is appointed New York City Police Department's first ever African American police commissioner.
 * 1983  – In Nigeria, a coup d'état led by Major General Muhammadu Buhari ends the Second Nigerian Republic.
 * 1991 – All official Soviet Union institutions have ceased operations by this date, five days after the Soviet Union is officially dissolved.
 * 1992 – Czechoslovakia is peacefully dissolved in what is dubbed by media as the Velvet Divorce, resulting in the creation of the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic.
 * 1994 – This date is skipped altogether in Kiribati as the Phoenix Islands and Line Islands change time zones from UTC−11:00 to UTC+13:00 and UTC−10:00 to UTC+14:00, respectively.
 * 1994  – The First Chechen War: The Russian Ground Forces begin a New Year's storming of Grozny.
 * 1995 – The final comic of Calvin and Hobbes is published.
 * 1998 – The European Exchange Rate Mechanism freezes the values of the legacy currencies in the Eurozone, and establishes the value of the euro currency.
 * 1999 – The first President of Russia, Boris Yeltsin, resigns from office, leaving Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as the acting President and successor.
 * 1999  – The U.S. government hands control of the Panama Canal (as well all the adjacent land to the canal known as the Panama Canal Zone) to Panama. This act complied with the signing of the 1977 Torrijos–Carter Treaties.
 * 1999  – Indian Airlines Flight 814 hijacking ends after seven days with the release of 190 survivors at Kandahar Airport, Afghanistan.
 * 2000 – The last day of the 20th Century and 2nd Millennium.
 * 2004 – The official opening of Taipei 101, the tallest skyscraper at that time in the world, standing at a height of 509 m.
 * 2009 – Both a blue moon and a lunar eclipse occur.
 * 2010 – Tornadoes touch down in midwestern and southern United States, including Washington County, Arkansas; Greater St. Louis, Sunset Hills, Missouri, Illinois, and Oklahoma, with a few tornadoes in the early hours. A total of 36 tornadoes touched down, resulting in the deaths of nine people and $113 million in damages.
 * 2011 – NASA succeeds in putting the first of two Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory satellites in orbit around the Moon.
 * 2014 – A New Year's Eve celebration stampede in Shanghai kills at least 36 people and injures 49 others.
 * 2015 – A fire breaks out at the Downtown Address Hotel in Downtown Dubai, United Arab Emirates, located near the Burj Khalifa, two hours before the fireworks display is due to commence. Sixteen injuries were reported; one had a heart attack, another suffered a major injury, and fourteen others with minor injuries.
 * 2018 – Thirty-nine people are killed after a ten-story building collapses in the industrial city of Magnitogorsk, Russia.
 * 2019 – The World Health Organization is informed of cases of pneumonia with an unknown cause, detected in Wuhan. This later turned out to be COVID-19, the cause of the COVID-19 pandemic.
 * 2020 – The World Health Organization issues its first emergency use validation for a COVID-19 vaccine.

Pre-1600

 * 695 – Muhammad ibn al-Qasim, Umayyad general (d. 715)
 * 1378 – Pope Callixtus III (d. 1458)
 * 1491 – Jacques Cartier, French navigator and explorer (d. 1557)
 * 1493 – Eleonora Gonzaga, Duchess of Urbino (d. 1570)
 * 1504 – Beatrice of Portugal, Duchess of Savoy (d. 1538)
 * 1514 – Andreas Vesalius, Belgian anatomist, physician, and author (d. 1564)
 * 1539 – John Radcliffe, English politician (d. 1568)
 * 1550 – Henry I, Duke of Guise (d. 1588)
 * 1552 – Simon Forman, English occultist and astrologer (d. 1611)
 * 1572 – Emperor Go-Yōzei of Japan, (d. 1617)
 * 1585 – Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, Spanish general and politician, 24th Governor of the Duchy of Milan (d. 1645)

1601–1900

 * 1668 – Herman Boerhaave, Dutch botanist and physician (d. 1738)
 * 1714 – Arima Yoriyuki, Japanese mathematician and educator (d. 1783)
 * 1720 – Charles Edward Stuart, Scottish claimant to the throne of England (d. 1788)
 * 1738 – Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis, English general and politician, 3rd Governor-General of India (d. 1805)
 * 1741 – Gottfried August Bürger, German poet and academic (d. 1794)
 * 1763 – Pierre-Charles Villeneuve, French admiral (d. 1806)
 * 1776 – Johann Spurzheim, German-American physician and phrenologist (d. 1832)
 * 1798 – Friedrich Robert Faehlmann, Estonian physician, philologist, and academic (d. 1850)
 * 1805 – Marie d'Agoult, German-French historian and author (d. 1876)
 * 1815 – George Meade, American general and engineer (d. 1872)
 * 1830 – Isma'il Pasha, Egyptian ruler (d. 1895)
 * 1830  – Alexander Smith, Scottish poet and critic (d. 1867)
 * 1833 – Hugh Nelson Scottish-Australian politician, 11th Premier of Queensland (d. 1906)
 * 1834 – Queen Kapiolani of Hawaii (d. 1899)
 * 1838 – Émile Loubet, French lawyer and politician, 7th President of France (d. 1929)
 * 1842 – Giovanni Boldini, Italian painter (d. 1931)
 * 1851 – Henry Carter Adams, American economist and academic (d. 1921)
 * 1855 – Giovanni Pascoli, Italian poet and scholar (d. 1912)
 * 1857 – King Kelly, American baseball player and manager (d. 1894)
 * 1860 – Joseph S. Cullinan, American businessman, co-founded Texaco (d. 1937)
 * 1864 – Robert Grant Aitken, American astronomer and academic (d. 1951)
 * 1869 – Henri Matisse, French painter and sculptor (d. 1954)
 * 1872 – Fred Marriott, American race car driver (d. 1956)
 * 1873 – Konstantin Konik, Estonian surgeon and politician, 19th Estonian Minister of Education (d. 1936)
 * 1874 – Julius Meier, American businessman and politician, 20th Governor of Oregon (d. 1937)
 * 1877 – Lawrence Beesley, English journalist and author (d. 1967)
 * 1878 – Elizabeth Arden, Canadian businesswoman, founded Elizabeth Arden, Inc. (d. 1966)
 * 1878  – Horacio Quiroga, Uruguayan-Argentinian author, poet, and playwright (d. 1937)
 * 1880 – Fred Beebe, American baseball player and coach (d. 1957)
 * 1880  – George Marshall, American general and politician, 50th United States Secretary of State, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1959)
 * 1881 – Max Pechstein, German painter and academic (d. 1955)
 * 1884 – Bobby Byrne, American baseball and soccer player (d. 1964)
 * 1884  – Mihály Fekete, Hungarian actor, screenwriter, and film director (d. 1960)
 * 1885 – Princess Victoria Adelaide of Schleswig-Holstein (d. 1970)
 * 1899 – Silvestre Revueltas, Mexican violinist, composer, and conductor (d. 1940)

1901–present

 * 1901 – Karl-August Fagerholm, Finnish politician, valtioneuvos, the Speaker of the Parliament and the Prime Minister of Finland (d. 1984)
 * 1901  – Nikos Ploumpidis, Greek educator and politician (d. 1954)
 * 1902 – Lionel Daunais, Canadian singer-songwriter (d. 1982)
 * 1902  – Roy Goodall, English footballer (d. 1982)
 * 1903 – William Heynes, English engineer (d. 1989)
 * 1905 – Helen Dodson Prince, American astronomer and academic (d. 2002)
 * 1908 – Simon Wiesenthal, Ukrainian-Austrian Nazi hunter and author (d. 2005)
 * 1909 – Jonah Jones, American trumpet player and saxophonist (d. 2000)
 * 1910 – Carl Dudley, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1973)
 * 1910  – Enrique Maier, Spanish tennis player (d. 1981)
 * 1911 – Dal Stivens, Australian soldier and author (d. 1997)
 * 1912 – John Frost, Indian-English general (d. 1993)
 * 1914 – Mary Logan Reddick, American neuroembryologist (d. 1966)
 * 1915 – Sam Ragan, American journalist, author, and poet (d. 1996)
 * 1917 – Evelyn Knight, American singer (d. 2007)
 * 1917  – Wilfrid Noyce, English mountaineer and author (d. 1962)
 * 1918 – Ray Graves, American football player and coach (d. 2015)
 * 1919 – Tommy Byrne, American baseball player, coach, and politician (d. 2007)
 * 1919  – Carmen Contreras-Bozak, Puerto Rican-American soldier (d. 2017)
 * 1920 – Rex Allen, American actor and singer-songwriter (d. 1999)
 * 1922 – Tomás Balduino, Brazilian bishop (d. 2014)
 * 1922  – Halina Czerny-Stefańska, Polish pianist and educator (d. 2001)
 * 1922  – Luis Zuloaga, Venezuelan baseball player (d. 2013)
 * 1923 – Giannis Dalianidis, Greek actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2010)
 * 1924 – Taylor Mead, American actor and poet (d. 2013)
 * 1925 – Irina Korschunow, German author and screenwriter (d. 2013)
 * 1925  – Sri Lal Sukla, Indian author (d. 2011)
 * 1925  – Daphne Oram, British composer and electronic musician (d. 2003)
 * 1926 – Valerie Pearl, English historian and academic (d. 2016)
 * 1926  – Billy Snedden, Australian lawyer and politician, 17th Attorney-General for Australia (d. 1987)
 * 1928 – Ross Barbour, American pop singer (d. 2011)
 * 1928  – Hugh McElhenny, American football player (d. 2022)
 * 1928  – Veijo Meri, Finnish author and translator (d. 2015)
 * 1928  – Tatyana Shmyga, Russian actress and singer (d. 2011)
 * 1928  – Siné, French cartoonist (d. 2016)
 * 1929 – Mies Bouwman, Dutch television host (d. 2018)
 * 1929  – Peter May, English cricketer (d. 1994)
 * 1930 – Jaime Escalante, Bolivian-American educator (d. 2010)
 * 1930  – Odetta, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actress (d. 2008)
 * 1931 – Bob Shaw, Northern Irish journalist and author (d. 1996)
 * 1932 – Don James, American football player and coach (d. 2013)
 * 1932  – Felix Rexhausen, German journalist and author (d. 1992)
 * 1933 – Edward Bunker, American author, screenwriter, and actor (d. 2005)
 * 1934 – Ameer Muhammad Akram Awan, Indian author, poet, and scholar (d. 2017)
 * 1937 – Avram Hershko, Hungarian-Israeli biochemist and physician, Nobel Prize laureate
 * 1937  – Barry Hughes, Welsh footballer and manager (d. 2019)
 * 1937  – Tess Jaray, Austrian-English painter and educator
 * 1938 – Rosalind Cash, American singer and actress (d. 1995)
 * 1938  – Atje Keulen-Deelstra, Dutch speed skater (d. 2013)
 * 1939 – Willye White, American sprinter and long jumper (d. 2007)
 * 1940 – Mani Neumeier, German drummer
 * 1941  – Sir Alex Ferguson, Scottish footballer and manager
 * 1944 – Taylor Hackford, American director, producer, and screenwriter
 * 1945 – Connie Willis, American author
 * 1946 – Roy Greenslade, English journalist and academic
 * 1946  – Bryan Hamilton, Northern Irish footballer and coach
 * 1946  – Raphael Kaplinsky, South African international development academic
 * 1946  – Pius Ncube, Zimbabwean archbishop
 * 1946  – Lyudmila Pakhomova, Russian ice dancer (d. 1986)
 * 1946  – Cliff Richey, American tennis player
 * 1946  – Eric Robson, Scottish journalist and author
 * 1946  – Nigel Rudd, English businessman, founded Williams Holdings
 * 1946  – Tim Stevens, English bishop
 * 1948 – Sandy Jardine, Scottish footballer and manager (d. 2014)
 * 1949 – Ellen Datlow, American anthologist and author
 * 1949  – Flora Gomes, Bissau-Guinean filmmaker
 * 1949  – Susan Shwartz, American author
 * 1950 – Bob Gilder, American golfer
 * 1950  – Inge Helten, German sprinter
 * 1950  – Cheryl Womack, American businesswoman
 * 1951 – Kenny Roberts, American motorcycle racer
 * 1952 – Vaughan Jones, New Zealand mathematician and academic (d. 2020)
 * 1952  – Jean-Pierre Rives, French rugby player, painter, and sculptor
 * 1953 – Jane Badler, American actress
 * 1954 – Alex Salmond, Scottish economist and politician, First Minister of Scotland
 * 1954  – Hermann Tilke, German racing driver, architect and engineer
 * 1956 – Robert Goodwill, English farmer and politician
 * 1956  – Helma Knorscheidt, German shot putter
 * 1956  – Steve Rude, American author and illustrator
 * 1958 – Geoff Marsh, Australian cricketer and coach
 * 1959 – Liveris Andritsos, Greek basketball player
 * 1959  – Phill Kline, American lawyer and politician, Kansas Attorney General
 * 1959  – Baron Waqa, Nauruan composer and politician, 14th President of Nauru
 * 1960 – Steve Bruce, English footballer and manager
 * 1961 – Rick Aguilera, American baseball player and coach
 * 1961  – Jeremy Heywood, English economist and civil servant (d. 2018)
 * 1961  – Nina Li Chi, Hong Kong actress
 * 1962 – Tyrone Corbin, American basketball player and coach
 * 1962  – Chris Hallam, English-Welsh swimmer and wheelchair racer (d. 2013)
 * 1962  – Jennifer Higdon, American composer
 * 1964 – Winston Benjamin, Antiguan cricketer
 * 1964  – Michael McDonald, American comedian, actor, and director
 * 1965 – Tony Dorigo, Australian-English footballer and sportscaster
 * 1965  – Julie Doucet, Canadian cartoonist and author
 * 1965  – Laxman Sivaramakrishnan, Indian cricketer
 * 1967 – Paul McGregor, Australian rugby league player and coach
 * 1968 – Gerry Dee, Canadian comedian, actor, and screenwriter
 * 1968  – Junot Diaz, Dominican-born American novelist, short story writer, and essayist
 * 1970 – Jorjão, Brazilian footballer
 * 1970  – Danny McNamara, English singer-songwriter
 * 1970  – Carlos Morales Quintana, Spanish-Danish architect and sailor
 * 1970  – Bryon Russell, American basketball player
 * 1971 – Brent Barry, American basketball player and sportscaster
 * 1971  – Esteban Loaiza, Mexican baseball player
 * 1971  – Heath Shuler, American football player and politician
 * 1972 – Grégory Coupet, French footballer
 * 1972  – Scott Manley, Scottish YouTube personality
 * 1973 – Shandon Anderson, American basketball player
 * 1973  – Malcolm Middleton, Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist
 * 1973  – Curtis Myden, Canadian swimmer
 * 1974 – Joe Abercrombie, English author
 * 1974  – Mario Aerts, Belgian cyclist
 * 1974  – Tony Kanaan, Brazilian race car driver
 * 1974  – Ryan Sakoda, Japanese-American wrestler and trainer
 * 1975 – Rami Alanko, Finnish ice hockey player
 * 1975  – Toni Kuivasto, Finnish footballer and coach
 * 1975  – Rob Penders, Dutch footballer
 * 1975  – Sander Schutgens, Dutch runner
 * 1976 – Luís Carreira, Portuguese motorcycle racer (d. 2012)
 * 1976  – Matthew Hoggard, English cricketer
 * 1977 – Wardy Alfaro, Costa Rican footballer and coach
 * 1979 – Paul O'Neill, English racing driver
 * 1979  – Jeff Waldstreicher, American lawyer and politician
 * 1980 – Jesse Carlson, American baseball player
 * 1980  – Matt Cross, American wrestler
 * 1980  – Richie McCaw, New Zealand rugby player
 * 1980  – Carsten Schlangen, German runner
 * 1981 – Jason Campbell, American football player
 * 1981  – Francisco García, Dominican basketball player
 * 1981  – Matthew Pavlich, Australian footballer
 * 1981  – Margaret Simpson, Ghanaian heptathlete
 * 1981  – Ricky Whittle, English actor
 * 1982 – Julio DePaula, Dominican baseball player
 * 1982  – Craig Gordon, Scottish footballer
 * 1982  – Luke Schenscher, Australian basketball player
 * 1982  – The Rocket Summer, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
 * 1983 – Jana Veselá, Czech basketball player
 * 1984 – Corey Crawford, Canadian ice hockey player
 * 1984  – Ben Hannant, Australian rugby league player
 * 1984  – Édgar Lugo, Mexican footballer
 * 1984  – Calvin Zola, Congolese footballer
 * 1985 – Jonathan Horton, American gymnast
 * 1985  – Jan Smit, Dutch singer and television host
 * 1986 – Nate Freiman, American baseball player
 * 1986  – Kade Snowden, Australian rugby league player
 * 1987 – Javaris Crittenton, American basketball player
 * 1987  – Danny Holla, Dutch footballer
 * 1987  – Nemanja Nikolić, Hungarian footballer
 * 1988 – Michal Řepík, Czech ice hockey player
 * 1989 – Ryo Aitaka, Japanese kickboxer and professional wrestler
 * 1989  – Kelvin Herrera, Dominican baseball player
 * 1991 – Dennis Everberg, Swedish ice hockey player
 * 1991  – ND Stevenson, American cartoonist
 * 1992 – Amy Cure, Australian track cyclist
 * 1992  – Karl Kruuda, Estonian racing driver
 * 1995 – Gabby Douglas, American gymnast
 * 1995  – Edmond Sumner, American basketball player
 * 1996 – J. J. Arcega-Whiteside, Spanish-American football player
 * 1997 – Cameron Carter-Vickers, English-American soccer player
 * 2000 – Alycia Parks, American tennis player
 * 2001 – Katie Volynets, American tennis player
 * 2002 – Joe Scally, American soccer player

Pre-1600

 * 45 BC – Quintus Fabius Maximus, consul suffectus
 * 192 – Commodus, Roman emperor (b. 161)
 * 335 – Pope Sylvester I
 * 669 – Li Shiji, Chinese general (b. 594)
 * 914 – Ibn Hawshab, founder of the Isma'ili community in Yemen
 * 1032 – Ahmad Maymandi, Persian statesman, vizier of the Ghaznavid Empire
 * 1164 – Ottokar III of Styria (b. 1124)
 * 1194 – Leopold V, Duke of Austria (b. 1157)
 * 1298 – Humphrey de Bohun, 3rd Earl of Hereford, English politician, Lord High Constable of England (b. 1249)
 * 1299 – Margaret, Countess of Anjou (b. 1273)
 * 1302 – Frederick III, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1238)
 * 1384 – John Wycliffe, English philosopher, theologian, and translator (b. 1331)
 * 1386 – Johanna of Bavaria, Queen of Bohemia (b. c. 1362)
 * 1426 – Thomas Beaufort, Duke of Exeter (b. 1377)
 * 1439 – Margaret Holland, English noblewoman (b. 1385)
 * 1460 – Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury, English politician, Lord Chancellor of the United Kingdom (b. 1400)
 * 1510 – Bianca Maria Sforza, Holy Roman Empress (b. 1472)
 * 1535 – William Skeffington, English-Irish politician, Lord Deputy of Ireland (b. 1465)
 * 1568 – Shimazu Tadayoshi, Japanese daimyō (b. 1493)
 * 1575 – Pierino Belli, Italian commander and jurist (b. 1502)
 * 1583 – Thomas Erastus, Swiss physician and theologian (b. 1524)

1601–1900

 * 1610 – Ludolph van Ceulen, German-Dutch mathematician and academic (b. 1540)
 * 1637 – Christian, Count of Waldeck-Wildungen, German count (b. 1585)
 * 1650 – Dorgon, Chinese emperor (b. 1612)
 * 1655 – Janusz Radziwiłł, Polish–Lithuanian politician (b. 1612)
 * 1655  – Sir John Wray, 2nd Baronet, English politicians and Roundheads supporter (b. 1586)
 * 1673 – Oliver St John, English judge and politician, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas (b. 1598)
 * 1679 – Giovanni Alfonso Borelli, Italian physiologist and physicist (b. 1608)
 * 1691 – Robert Boyle, Anglo-Irish chemist and physicist (b. 1627)
 * 1691  – Dudley North, English merchant and economist (b. 1641)
 * 1705 – Catherine of Braganza (b. 1638)
 * 1719 – John Flamsteed, English astronomer and academic (b. 1646)
 * 1730 – Carlo Gimach, Maltese architect, engineer and poet (b. 1651)
 * 1742 – Charles III Philip, Elector Palatine (b. 1661)
 * 1775 – Richard Montgomery, American general (b. 1738)
 * 1799 – Jean-François Marmontel, French historian and author (b. 1723)
 * 1818 – Jean-Pierre Duport, French cellist (b. 1741)
 * 1872 – Aleksis Kivi, Finnish author and playwright (b. 1834)
 * 1876 – Catherine Labouré, French nun and saint (b. 1806)
 * 1877 – Gustave Courbet, French-Swiss painter and sculptor (b. 1819)
 * 1888 – Samson Raphael Hirsch, German rabbi and scholar (b. 1808)
 * 1889 – Ion Creangă, Romanian author and educator (b. 1837)
 * 1889  – George Kerferd, English-Australian politician, 10th Premier of Victoria (b. 1831)
 * 1890 – Pancha Carrasco, Costa Rican soldier (b. 1826)
 * 1891 – Samuel Ajayi Crowther, Nigerian bishop and linguist (b. 1809)
 * 1894 – Thomas Joannes Stieltjes, Dutch mathematician and academic (b. 1856)

1901–present

 * 1909 – Spencer Trask, American financier and philanthropist (b. 1844)
 * 1910 – Archibald Hoxsey, American pilot (b. 1884)
 * 1910  – John Moisant, American pilot and engineer (b. 1868)
 * 1921 – Boies Penrose, American lawyer and politician (b. 1860)
 * 1934 – Cornelia Clapp, American marine biologist (b. 1849)
 * 1936 – Miguel de Unamuno, Spanish philosopher, author, and poet (b. 1864)
 * 1948 – Malcolm Campbell, English racing driver and journalist (b. 1885)
 * 1949 – Rıza Tevfik Bölükbaşı, Turkish philosopher, poet, and politician (b. 1869)
 * 1949  – Raimond Valgre, Estonian pianist and composer (b. 1913)
 * 1950 – Charles Koechlin, French composer and educator (b. 1867)
 * 1951 – Murtaza Hasan Chandpuri, Indian Muslim scholar (b. 1868)
 * 1953 – Albert Plesman, Dutch businessman, founded KLM (b. 1889)
 * 1964 – Bobby Byrne, American baseball and soccer player (b. 1884)
 * 1964  – Ólafur Thors, Icelandic lawyer and politician, 8th Prime Minister of Iceland (b. 1892)
 * 1964  – Henry Maitland Wilson, English field marshal (b. 1881)
 * 1968 – George Lewis, American clarinet player and composer (b. 1900)
 * 1970 – Cyril Scott, English composer, writer, and poet (b. 1879)
 * 1972 – Roberto Clemente, Puerto Rican-American baseball player and Marine (b. 1934)
 * 1972  – Henry Gerber, German-American activist, founded the Society for Human Rights (b. 1892)
 * 1978 – Basil Wolverton, American illustrator (b. 1909)
 * 1980 – Marshall McLuhan, Canadian philosopher and theorist (b. 1911)
 * 1980  – Raoul Walsh, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1887)
 * 1983 – Sevim Burak, Turkish author and playwright (b. 1931)
 * 1985 – Ricky Nelson, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (b. 1940)
 * 1987 – Jerry Turner, American journalist (b. 1929)
 * 1988 – Nicolas Calas, Greek-American poet and critic (b. 1907)
 * 1990 – George Allen, American football player and coach (b. 1918)
 * 1990  – Vasily Lazarev, Russian physician, colonel, and astronaut (b. 1928)
 * 1990  – Giovanni Michelucci, Italian architect and urban planner, designed the Firenze Santa Maria Novella railway station (b. 1891)
 * 1993 – Zviad Gamsakhurdia, Georgian anthropologist and politician, 1st President of Georgia (b. 1939)
 * 1993  – Brandon Teena, American murder victim (b. 1972)
 * 1993  – Big Bertha, Irish cattle and twice Guinness World Record holder (oldest cow, cow with most offspring) (b. 1945)
 * 1994 – Woody Strode, American football player, wrestler, and actor (b. 1914)
 * 1996 – Wesley Addy, American actor (b. 1913)
 * 1997 – Floyd Cramer, American singer-songwriter and pianist (b. 1933)
 * 1997  – Billie Dove, American actress (b. 1903)
 * 1998 – Ted Glossop, Australian rugby league player and coach (b. 1934)
 * 1999 – Elliot Richardson, American lawyer and politician, 69th United States Attorney General (b. 1920)
 * 1999  – Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi, Indian Muslim scholar and author (b. 1914)
 * 2000 – Alan Cranston, American journalist and politician (b. 1914)
 * 2000  – José Greco, Italian-American dancer and choreographer (b. 1918)
 * 2000  – Binyamin Ze'ev Kahane, American-Israeli rabbi and scholar (b. 1966)
 * 2001 – Eileen Heckart, American actress (b. 1919)
 * 2002 – Kevin MacMichael, Canadian guitarist, songwriter, and producer (b. 1951)
 * 2003 – Arthur R. von Hippel German-American physicist and author (b. 1898)
 * 2004 – Gérard Debreu, French economist and mathematician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1921)
 * 2005 – Enrico Di Giuseppe, American tenor and educator (b. 1932)
 * 2005  – Phillip Whitehead, English screenwriter, producer, and politician (b. 1937)
 * 2006 – Ya'akov Hodorov, Israeli footballer (b. 1927)
 * 2006  – Seymour Martin Lipset, American sociologist, author, and academic (b. 1922)
 * 2006  – George Sisler, Jr., American businessman (b. 1917)
 * 2007 – Roy Amara, American scientific researcher (b. 1925)
 * 2007  – Michael Goldberg, American painter and educator (b. 1924)
 * 2007  – Bill Idelson, American actor, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1919)
 * 2007  – Milton L. Klein, Canadian lawyer and politician (b. 1910)
 * 2007  – Ettore Sottsass, Austrian-Italian architect and designer (b. 1917)
 * 2008 – Donald E. Westlake, American author and screenwriter (b. 1933)
 * 2009 – Cahal Daly, Irish cardinal and philosopher (b. 1917)
 * 2009  – Justin Keating, Irish surgeon, journalist, and politician, Minister for Industry and Commerce (b. 1930)
 * 2010 – Raymond Impanis, Belgian cyclist (b. 1925)
 * 2010  – Per Oscarsson, Swedish actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1927)
 * 2012 – Peter Ebert, English director and producer (b. 1918)
 * 2012  – Tarak Mekki, Tunisian businessman and politician (b. 1958)
 * 2012  – Jovette Marchessault, Canadian author and playwright (b. 1938)
 * 2012  – Günter Rössler, German photographer and journalist (b. 1926)
 * 2013 – James Avery, American actor (b. 1945)
 * 2013  – Roberto Ciotti, Italian guitarist and composer (b. 1953)
 * 2013  – Bob Grant, American radio host (b. 1929)
 * 2013  – Irina Korschunow, German author and screenwriter (b. 1925)
 * 2014 – Edward Herrmann, American actor (b. 1943)
 * 2014  – Abdullah Hussain, Malaysian author (b. 1920)
 * 2014  – Norm Phelps, American author and activist (b. 1939)
 * 2014  – S. Arthur Spiegel, American captain, lawyer, and judge (b. 1920)
 * 2014  – Valerian Wellesley, 8th Duke of Wellington, British soldier and politician (b. 1915)
 * 2015 – Natalie Cole, American singer-songwriter and actress (b. 1950)
 * 2015  – Wayne Rogers, American actor and investor (b. 1933)
 * 2016 – William Christopher, American actor (b. 1932)
 * 2018 – Kader Khan, Indian actor (b. 1937)
 * 2021 – Betty White, American actress, comedian and producer (b. 1922)
 * 2022 – Pope Benedict XVI, German Roman Catholic cardinal and theologian, pope (2005–2013) and archbishop of Munich and Freising (1977–1982) (b. 1927)
 * 2022  – Barry Lane, English golfer (b. 1960)
 * 2023 – Cale Yarborough, American Hall of Fame racing driver and founder of Cale Yarborough Motorsports, NASCAR Cup Series champion (1976, 1977, 1978) (b. 1939)

Holidays and observances

 * Christian feast day:
 * Pope Sylvester I (Catholic Church)
 * December 31 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
 * International Solidarity Day of Azerbaijanis (Azerbaijan)
 * New Year's Eve (International observance), and its related observances:
 * First Night (United States)
 * Last Day of the Year or Bisperás ng Bagong Taón, special holiday between Rizal Day and New Year's Day (Philippines)
 * Novy God Eve (Russia)
 * Ōmisoka (Japan)
 * The first day of Hogmanay or "Auld Year's Night" (Scotland)
 * The seventh of the Twelve Days of Christmas (Western Christianity)
 * The sixth and penultimate day of Kwanzaa (United States)

title: December 31