Musicology Annotation << Back German songs of the year round Petri Elvira K. Traditional European music culture, including German, is little studied in Russian musicology: the researchers ' attention is focused on professional music. Knowledge of the" main stages of development of Western European folklore "and" genres of foreign folk music "is a requirement of the State educational standard of secondary professional education specialty" Theory of music", but there is no textbook on foreign folk music culture. The purpose of this article is to partly eliminate this lacuna and give a brief description of the German songs of the year (the defi nition of "calendar songs" in the anthologies published in Germany, is not found). There is an ancient origin of the songs of the year and their gradual transformation: originally associated with the agricultural cycle, they changed the content. Pagan holidays were superseded by Christian, and the conditions of the urban way of life did not require the attachment of songs to certain agricultural works. Music examples of the most popular songs of the year in Germany (in Russia they were not published) are given, information about their origin is given. Analyzes the intonation of the songs, the conclusion about the special value of the signal tone. Keywords: German songs of the year, time, intonation, genre, signal, city, middle ages, trumpet, bell. DOI: 10.25791/musicology.12.2018.320 Contacts: E-mail: e-peti@mаil.ru Pp. 44-51.