his is my tribute page to the great Medieval German bards and minstrels known as the Minnesingers. Because modern history has shrouded them in relative obscurity, and becaue their music is incredibly hard to find in good, reliable performance, I have made this page.
The music here is traditional, and is performed the way the Minnesingers wrote it - history was kind to their songs, and many survived to this day. The performers of the songs featured here are different Medieval ensembles and consorts, most of whose CDs are out of print (you will find the complete info in the blogs).
About the featured Minnesingers:
alther von der Vogelweide lived from 1170 to 1230. Belonging to the lower ranks of the nobility known as the ministerialis (etymological source of the word "minstrel"), he owned neither land nor title and traveled across the German lands, performing his songs for a living. In the middle of a civil war when Germany was torn into antagonistic states and factions, Walther dreamed of a united German realm under one Emperor, and many of his songs convey his vision of political harmony and idealism. But he was also a "people's poet", and his many years on the road gave him the taste of the true folk spirit and tradition. He composed many folk songs himself, they were widely remembered, sung, and copied in manuscript form. Walther's greatness lies in the fact that he did not allow himself to be limited to the form of a typical Minnesang. Abandoning the stilted formulas, he went beyond the conventional theme of pure love - a disconnected ideal which no one could relate to - and wrote instead of his own feelings, thoughts, and concerns, at the same time reviving the lyrical quality of the German language itself. His poems are thus very individual and come from the heart, whether they are meditations on the global issues of humanity or naughty little folk songs. The song featured on this profile is, perhaps, his most famous - "Palastinalied" ("Alrerst lebe ich mir verde..."), written in 1228 in honor of -and about- the Crusades.
eidhart von Reuenthal (1190-1245), was a Bavarian knight and minstrel in the service of Otto II. Not much is known about his life, which is a pity, as he was one of the most individual and out-standing personalities in the entire Minnesinger 'pantheon'. What is known is that his sharp wit and ruthless sense of humor made him many enemies both in and out of court, and he struck back by writing them into his songs - names and all - and having the last laugh at their expense. Veering, like Walther, from the courtly tradition of idealized love, Neidhart gave his songs a common village setting and wrote about common burgher life (he was the first to "lower" the "high" poetry into the middle classes). He was the master of satire, and his songs are full of dialogues, fights, and drunken brawls taking place between his enemies and himself - usually at a village festival, where the holiday atmosphere quickly degenerates into a chaos of flying fists until he, of course, emerges victorious (one of his featured songs "Meienzit ohne nit" falls in this category). Never missing an opportunity for self-irony, he composed some songs in the form of arguments between girls and old women - all of them fighting as to which one of them will be his lover. Neidhart wrote more for the common folk than for the court, and his link with the people ensured the popularity and immortality of his compositions - a higher percentage of his songs survives in music notation than those of other Minnesingers.
Page created/maintained by Miriam
