Did Herbert Roth expect this? Even 75 years after he first performed it in public as a composer and singer, the Rennsteiglied is still celebrated. It is often described as the "secret anthem" of Thuringia; it is regarded as a musical declaration of love by Roth (1926-1983) from Suhl to his homeland.
When Roth and his instrumental group played the Rennsteiglied in public for the first time in 1951 in a community hall in Hirschbach near Suhl, it is said to have been met with rapturous applause. The three verses are about the connection to nature and the joy of hiking and, of course, the Rennsteig - the not quite 170-kilometre-long high-altitude hiking trail in the Thuringian Forest.
The line "Am Rennsteig, wo ich wandere" is said to have been written by Roth himself, later his childhood friend Karl "Kaschi" Müller (1925-2011) wrote the lyrics with the well-known opening line "Ich wandre ja so gerne am Rennsteig durch das Land".
