His Bayreuth "Tannhäuser" turned Wagner's minnesinger into a prankster whose anarchist pals include a dwarf and a drag queen; his Berlin "Zwerg" read between the lines of the libretto to construct a portrait of the tortured composer.
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Minnesinger and Meistersinger could be considered parallels of French troubadours and trouvère. Among the Minnesinger, Hermann, a monk from Salzburg, deserves special note. He incorporated folk styles from the Alpine regions in his compositions. He made some primitive forays into polyphony as well.
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The beginning of what is now considered German music could be traced back to the 12th-century compositions of mystic abbess Hildegard of Bingen, who wrote a variety of hymns and other kinds of Christian music. After Latin-language religious music had dominated for centuries, in the 12th century to the 14th centuries, Minnesinger (love poets), singing in German, spread across Germany. Minnesinger were aristocrats, traveling from court to court, who had become musicians, and their work left behind a vast body of literature, Minnelieder. The following two centuries saw the Minnesinger replaced by middle-class Meistersinger, who were often master craftsmen in their main profession, whose music was much more formalized and rule-based than that of the Minnesinger.
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Neidhart is very well known for being rather sarcastic and comical. More melodies survive by him than from any other minnesinger.
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Duke Barnim died at the town of Dąbie (Altdamm), today part of Szczecin. The Minnesinger Meister Rumelant wrote a dirge in his honour.
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The minnesinger Michael Beheim wrote a song based on the story of Hans Mergest who spent 16 years in Ottoman captivity after the battle.
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Miniature of Heinrich von Morungen from the Codex Manesse. Heinrich von Morungen or Henry of Morungen (died c. 1220 or 1222) was a German Minnesinger.
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The possibility that the compiler was the Minnesinger Johannes Hadlaub provided the subject of a poetic novella, "Hadlaub" (in the Züricher Novellen, 1878), by Gottfried Keller.
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It was said that the Goddess would lure the Wartburg minnesinger-knights to her lair where her beauty would captivate them. The minnesinger-knight Heinrich von Ofterdingen, known as Tannhäuser, left the court of the Landgrave of Thuringia a year ago after a disagreement with his fellow knights. Since then he has been held as a willing captive through his love for Venus, in her grotto in the Venusberg.
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The family were ministeriales in the Upper Palatinate in the service of the bishops of Regensburg. They took their name from Brennberg. There were altogether four people with the name "Reinmar von Brennberg." Which of these four was the minnesinger is not altogether clear; however, it is generally believed that the minnesinger refers to Reinmar II von Brennberg, who was documented in 1224-1236 and died between 1271 and 1275.
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Illustration of Reinmar von Brennenberg from the Codex Manesse (Folio 188r). Reinmar von Brennenberg (or Reinmar der Brennenberger) was a minnesinger and ministerialis to the Bishop of Regensburg in the 13th century.
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A fresco of the last court minnesinger, Hugo von Montfort, from Pfannberg Castle Montfort coat of arms, 1414 codex Hugo von Montfort (1357 - 4 April 1423) was an Austrian minstrel of the Late Middle Ages.
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Portrait of Wolfram from the alt= Wolfram von Eschenbach (; – ) was a German knight, poet and composer, regarded as one of the greatest epic poets of medieval German literature. As a Minnesinger, he also wrote lyric poetry.
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In his poem on King Philip's Magdeburg Christmas celebrations, the minnesinger Walther von der Vogelweide described Irene as rose ane dorn, ein tube sunder gallen (Middle High German for "rose without a thorn, a dove without gall").
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Dietmar von Aist pictured as a peddler in the Codex Manesse, f. 64r Dietmar von Aist (c. 1115 – c. 1171) was a Minnesinger from a baronial family in the Duchy of Austria, whose work is representative of the lyric poetry in the Danube region.
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Cutting from the Codex Manesse depicting the minnesinger Konrad von Altstetten with his lover, often identified with Frederick and Bianca Bianca Lancia d'Agliano (also called Beatrice and Blanca; c. 1210 – c. 1246) was an Italian noblewoman.Frederick II (Holy Roman Emperor), De Arte Venardi Cum Avibus, transl.
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1201), and by Breton Petrus Blesensis (died c. 1203). Additionally, the attached folio contains German stanzas that mention specific authors, so they can be ascribed to German Minnesinger Dietmar von Aist (died c. 1170), to Heinrich von Morungen (died c. 1222), to Walther von der Vogelweide (died c.
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199, 201 Among his many readers and admirers were Thomas à Kempis and John Fisher. Wolfgang Wackernagel and others have called Suso a "Minnesinger in prose and in the spiritual order" or a "Minnesinger of the Love of God" both for his use of images and themes from secular, courtly, romantic poetry and for his rich musical vocabulary. The mutual love of God and man which is his principal theme gives warmth and color to his style. He used the full and flexible Alemannic idiom with rare skill, and contributed much to the formation of good German prose, especially by giving new shades of meaning to words employed to describe inner sensations.
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The Third and Fourth Crusades generated many songs in Occitan, French, and German. Occitan troubadours dealt especially with the Albigensian campaigns in the early thirteenth century, but their decline thereafter left the later Crusades--Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth --to be covered primarily by the German Minnesinger and French trouvères.
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Tannhäuser, from the Codex Manesse (about 1300). Tannhäuser (; Middle High German: Tanhûser) was a German Minnesinger and poet. Historically, his biography is obscure beyond the poetry, which dates between 1245 and 1265. His name becomes associated with a "fairy queen"-type folk ballad in German folklore of the 16th century.
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His son Rudolph II (d. 1261) was a leading minnesinger, featured in Codex Manesse. Another son of Rudolph I, Hartnid I, was active in the party of Rudolph I of Germany in the feud against Ottokar I of Bohemia. The male line of the family died out with Johann of Stadeck in 1399.
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In the 19th century he was identified with the Tyrolean knight Hawart von Antholz., pp. 291–293. More recently he has been identified with Johannes Hawart the Elder of Strasbourg, who is mentioned in texts of 1289 and 1292 and died in 1302 in old age. Where in Germany the Minnesinger was active is also unknown.
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Portrait of Ulrich from the Codex Manesse Ulrich von Liechtenstein (ca. 1200 – 26 January 1275) was a German minnesinger and poet of the Middle Ages. He wrote poetry in Middle High German and was author of noted works about how knights and nobles may lead more virtuous lives. Ulrich was a member of a wealthy and influential ministerialis family from Liechtenstein in Styria.
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The Counts of Gorizia were moreover the Bailiffs of Aquileja. They are famous in numismatics as publishers of the first German golden coin, the "Zwainziger". The renowned diplomat and minnesinger Oswald von Wolkenstein was a subject of the Counts of Gorizia. The Gorizia branch of the dynasty became extinct in the year 1500, when the last male family member Count Leonhard of Gorizia died without issue.
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Wolframs-Eschenbach is a town in the district of Ansbach, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated 14 km southeast of Ansbach, and 36 km southwest of Nuremberg. Wolframs-Eschenbach is a small town, founded in the Middle Ages, which still today preserves architecture about 500 years old. The town is named after its most famous son, the Minnesinger Wolfram von Eschenbach, who was a medieval poet.
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Tannhausen was first documented in 1100. At this time the local Nobility, the Lords of Thannhausen had already resided in their castle and are still present there today. It is assumed that the famous mediaeval minnesinger and poet Tannhäuser was an offspring of this family. Tannhausen castle Next to the local Nobilility, Tannhausen had also several clerical and worldly dignitaries, which had the use of some authority in the village.
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The famous minnesinger Ulrich von Liechtenstein (d. 1275) from nearby Frauenburg had a castle erected at Murau which was again demolished when the Bohemian king Ottokar II occupied the Styrian lands upon his victory at Kressenbrunn in 1260. Ulrich had to cede his estates to the king and was temporarily arrested in Moravia. The Liechtenstein estates were restored, when Ottokar was finally defeated in the 1278 Battle on the Marchfeld.
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The idea represented in the title—that thoughts are free—was expressed in antiquityCicero: (...) , ("Free are our thoughts") Pro Milone, XXIX. 79., 52 BC and became prominent again in the Middle Ages, when Walther von der Vogelweide (c.1170–1230) wrote: ("yet still thoughts are free")."Der Keiser als Spileman", Walther von der Vogelweide In the 12th century, it is thought that Austrian minnesinger Dietmar von Aist composed the song "" ("only thoughts are free").
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Vitslav III (1265/8-1325), variously called Vislav, Vizlav, Wislaw, Wizlaw and Witslaw in English sources, was the last Slavic ruler of the Danish Principality of Rugia. He is often identified with the author of the Minnesinger Vitslav of the Jenaer Liederhandschrift. He was the son and successor of Vitslav II, and as such one of the Wizlawids descended from Kruto of Wagria. Born in either 1263 or 1268, he is attested in a document of 1283.
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Even while the double eagle became the symbol of the Holy Roman Empire and the emperor, the single-headed eagle became the symbol of the German king.Volborth (1981), p.71. The emperor even granted certain princes and free cities in the empire the right to use the imperial eagle as supporter. Notably, the minnesinger Reinmar von Zweter formed the Klee-Stengeln ("Clover-Stems", the heraldic Eagle's stylized wing- bones) of his heraldic eagle into a second and third head.
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The settlement in the Duchy of Styria was first documented in 1227. The minnesinger Ulrich von Liechtenstein in his 1265 poem Frauendienst mentioned Murzuslage, which he passed on his journey from Venice to Vienna. In 1360 the Habsburg duke Rudolf IV confirmed the inhabitants' privilege of iron production, competing with the town of Leoben. In 1854 the Semmering railway opened, by which the Austrian Southern Railway company provided direct access to Vienna, largely promoting the local economy.
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Hermann I of Thuringia, his consort Sophia and the contending Minnesingers, Klingesor von Ungerlant, Codex Manesse, c. 1305–15 Heinrich von Ofterdingen is a fabled, quasi-fictional Middle High German lyric poet and Minnesinger mentioned in the 13th century epic of the Sängerkrieg (minstrel contest) on the Wartburg. The legend was perpetuated by Novalis in his eponymous fragment novel written in 1800 and by E. T. A. Hoffmann in his 1818 novella Der Kampf der Sänger.
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In 1177, Henry the Elder, son of Henry II Jasomirgott, became landlord in an area reaching from Liesing to Piesting and Bruck an der Leitha. You can read this in old documents kept in the nearby monastery of Heiligenkreuz. In Henry's days arts and culture dominated in the castle of Mödling; the famous minnesinger Walther von der Vogelweide stayed there more than once. The Spitalkirche and today's St. Othmar were built in the 15th century, the Karner (charnel house) in the 12th.
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The minnesinger Neidhart von Reuental, who lived in the first half of the 13th century wrote several songs for dancing, some of which use the term "reigen". Fresco at Runkelstein Castle, South Tyrol, Italy In southern Tyrol, at Runkelstein Castle, a series of frescos was executed in the last years of the 14th century. One of the frescos depicts Elisabeth of Poland, Queen of Hungary leading a chain dance. Circle dances were also found in the area that is today the Czech Republic.
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Exceptionally, a three-headed eagle (or rather, an eagle with two additional heads mounted on the tips of its wings) is shown as the coat of arms of minnesinger Reinmar von Zweter (c. 1200–1248) in the Codex Manesse (c. 1300). An unrelated depiction of the Reichsadler with three heads is found in the Wappenbuch of Conrad Grünenberg (1483). A three-headed bird (not necessarily an eagle) is also found in the Middle Low German illustrated manuscript Splendor Solis, dated to the 1530s.
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The castle was home of the minnesinger and crusader Otto von Botenlauben and his wife Beatrix de Courtenay (founders of the Frauenroth cloister), who both stayed from 1220 to 1242. The exact year the castle was built is unknown, but it is generally accepted to be from around 1180. The name probably comes from the words ‘Boto’(name of the architect) and ‘Laube’ (meaning residence). In 1234, the castle came under the control of the Bishopric of Würzburg, under Bishop Hermann I von Lobdeburg.
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Countess Hodierna is said to have come down from her castle on hearing the news, and Rudel died in her arms. This romantic but unlikely story seems to have been derived from the enigmatic nature of Rudel's verse and his presumed death on the Crusade. Seven of Rudel's poems have survived to the present day, four of them with music. His composition Lanquan li jorn is thought to be the model for the Minnesinger Walther von der Vogelweide's crusade song Allerest lebe ich mir werde (Palästinalied).
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The tune of Adir Hu has gone through several variations over the years, but its origin is from the German minnesinger period. The earliest existing music for Adir Hu is found in the 1644 "Rittangel Hagada". The second form is found in the 1677 "Hagada Zevach Pesach", and the third and closest form can be found in the 1769 "Selig Hagada". In the 1769 version of the haggadah, the song was also known in German as the "Baugesang" (the song of the rebuilding of the Temple).
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Neidhart portrayed in the Codex Manesse, about 1300 Neidhart von Reuental (Middle High German: Nîthart von Riuwental; also Her Nîthart; possibly born c. 1190 – died after 1236 or 1237)Dates given in New Grove was one of the most famous German minnesingers. He was probably active in the Duchy of Bavaria and then is known to have been a singer at the court of Duke Frederick II of Austria in Vienna. As a minnesinger he was most active from 1210 to at least 1236.
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In the fact, the name 'A Lichtenstein' was synonymous with one who then sought absolute independence form the archduke's sovereignty. Accordingly, in 1409, Frederick laid siege to Karneid with a powerful army, captured it finally by storm, and dragged its owners into captivity. Nor were they set at liberty until Oswald von Wolkenstein - Minnesinger, warrior and the soul of the rebellion - secured their freedom by a heavy ransom. In 1760 Count Anton von Lichtenstein, the last of his race, died in his ancient stronghold, which then came into possession of the city of Botzen.
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In 1217, The Minnesinger, or troubadour (see Minnesang), Heinrich von Morungen bequeathed to the church a relic of St. Thomas as he entered the order of canons after a trip to India. In 1355, the Romanesque choir was changed to Gothic style. Following an inflow of wealth into Leipzig from the discovery of silver in the Erzgebirge, the Romanesque nave was demolished and replaced in 1482-96 by the current late-Gothic hall church. The current building was consecrated by Thilo of Trotha, the Bishop of Merseburg, on 10 April 1496.
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The Neidhart frescoes are in a 14th-century building in Tuchlauben and are the oldest surviving secular wall paintings in Vienna. The cycle of paintings were executed in 1398 on the walls of a then banqueting room on a commission from the wealthy merchant Michel Menschein. For the most part they show scenes from the life of the minnesinger Neidhart von Reuental. They were discovered in 1979 under a layer of plaster when the building was being renovated, and have been on view to the public since 1982.
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The minnesinger Wolfram von Eschenbach based his Willehalm on a French original which must have differed from the versions we have. The variations in the story of the defeat of Aliscans or the Archant, and the numerous inconsistencies of the narratives even when considered separately have occupied many critics. Aliscans (Aleschans, Alyscamps, Elysii Campi) was, however, generally taken to represent the battle of Villedaigne, and to take its name from the famous cemetery outside Arles. Wolfram von Eschenbach even mentions the tombs which studded the field of battle.
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The family's descendance dates back to the Carolingian dynasty, when their Frankish ancestors settled the Nördlinger Ries area in northeastern Alamannia. Their residence Tannhausen (not to be confused with Thannhausen near Günzburg or Thannhausen, Styria) was first mentioned in an 1100 deed. In the Duchy of Swabia, the Thannhausens held large estates and important offices, as it was documented under the rule of the Hohenstaufen duke Frederick II in 1112 and 1115. Following the writings of Felix Fabri (1438/39–1502), it is also assumed that the medieval minnesinger and poet Tannhäuser (d.
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Most of the more than two thousand surviving trouvère songs include music, and show a sophistication as great as that of the poetry it accompanies. The Minnesinger tradition was the Germanic counterpart to the activity of the troubadours and trouvères to the west. Unfortunately, few sources survive from the time; the sources of Minnesang are mostly from two or three centuries after the peak of the movement, leading to some controversy over the accuracy of these sources. Among the Minnesingers with surviving music are Wolfram von Eschenbach, Walther von der Vogelweide, and Niedhart von Reuenthal.
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His tomb, probably erected at the behest of Duke Rudolf IV of Austria (1339–1365), is preserved on the south side of St. Stephen's Cathedral. Neidhart's poetry was handed down by the Codex Buranus and other medieval song manuscripts (Liederhandschriften) such as the Codex Manesse. His songs about the dreary rural life often stand in harsh contrast to the normal minnesinger topic, courtly or romantic love. His style has been referred to as Höfische Dorfpoesie (courtly village-poetry) by philologist Karl Lachmann (1793–1851) and was often imitated by composers called pseudo-Neidharts.
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The legend of the love of the Châtelain de Coucy and the Lady of Fayel, in which there figures a jealous husband who makes his wife eat the heart of her lover, has no historical basis, and dates from a late 13th century romance by Jakemon Sakesep. The story, which seems to be Breton in origin, has been also told of a Provençal troubadour, Guilhem de Cabestaing, and of the minnesinger Reinmar von Brennenberg. Pierre de Belloy, who wrote some account of the family of Couci, made the story the subject of his tragedy Gabrielle de Vergy.
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After Wizlaw II died during a visit to Norway in 1302, his sons, Vitslav III and Sambor III, became joint princes of Rügen. Sambor died, however, in 1304. At the instigation of his mother's relatives, Vitslav III had received a courtly, aristocratic education and was a minnesinger. Since his first marriage turned out to be childless, in 1310 his liege lord, the King of Denmark Erik Menved, agreed a contract of inheritance with Vitslav III, whereby the collateral branches of the princely houses of Putbus and Gristow renounced their succession in favour of the Danish crown.
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Bligger II (1152–1210) was a poet of the Minnesang and fief lord of Steinach. He was also a companion to two Staufer and contemporary of the Minnesinger Gottfried von Strassburg. Bligger's poems mention Damascus and Saladin and Bligger's homesickness, which some scholars take as an indication that Bligger either accompanied his father and uncle to Constantinople in 1171 or Bligger went on a crusade with Frederick I. Bligger was certainly a trustworthy companion to Henry IV and not just an entertainer. Bligger's signature appears on four imperial documents from 1193 to 1196 as Blikerus de Steinaha.
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The settlement arose beneath the castle, which was built from about 1240 onwards by a local branch of the noble Vítkovci family, descendants of Witiko of Prčice. The fortress was first mentioned in a 1253 deed as Chrumbenowe. It was also mentioned in the 1255 Frauendienst poem by minnesinger Ulrich von Liechtenstein. Located at a ford of an important trade route in the Kingdom of Bohemia, a settlement arose soon afterwards below the castle. The Czech name Krumlov is documented as early as in 1259. In 1302 the Vítkovci line became extinct and King Wenceslaus II ceded the town and castle to the Rosenberg family.
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Rochus von Liliencron Rochus Wilhelm Traugott Heinrich Ferdinand Freiherr von Liliencron (born 8 December 1820 in Plön, d. 5 March 1912 in Koblenz) was a Germanist and historian, known for his collection of German Volkslieder (folk songs), published in five volumes in 1865-1869, and as the editor of the biographical reference work Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB), published 1875-1912. He studied theology and oriental languages at the University of Kiel, law and history at the University of Berlin, then returned to the Kiel, where he studied German philology under Karl Müllenhoff. In 1846 he received his PhD with a thesis on minnesinger Niedhart von Reuenthal's Höfische Dorfpoesie.
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Otto in the Codex Manesse Otto von Botenlauben or Botenlouben (1177, Henneberg - before 1245, near Bad Kissingen), the Count of Henneberg from 1206, was a German minnesinger, Crusader and monastic founder. Otto von Botenlauben was the fourth son of Count Poppo VI von Henneberg and his wife Sophia, countess of Andechs and margravine of Istria. In the oldest records (from 1196 and 1197), he still called himself Count von Henneberg. In 1206, he pronounced himself Count von Botenlauben, after Botenlauben Castle near Bad Kissingen, the ruins of which remain to this day. Otto’s existence is first recorded at the court of Emperor Henry VI in 1197, when he took part in the Emperors' campaign to Italy.
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The Battle of the Leitha River was fought on 15 June 1246 near the banks of the Leitha river between the forces of the King Béla IV of Hungary and Duke Frederick II of Austria. The Hungarian army was routed, but Duke Frederick was killed, ending Austrian claims to the western counties of Hungary. Its exact location is unknown, according to the description delivered by contemporary minnesinger Ulrich von Liechtenstein the battlefield may have been between the towns of Ebenfurth and Neufeld. After their defeat at the 955 Battle of Lechfeld, the Magyars had discontinued their attacks on Germany and settled in the former Roman province of Pannonia, where they established the Kingdom of Hungary.
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The Holy Sinner (in German, Der Erwählte) is a German novel written by Thomas Mann. Published in 1951, it is based on the medieval verse epic Gregorius written by the German Minnesinger Hartmann von Aue (c. 1165–1210). The book explores a subject that fascinated Thomas Mann to the end of his life – the origins of evil and evil's connection with magic. Here Mann uses a medieval legend about "the exceeding mercy of God and the birth of the blessed Pope Gregory" as he used the biblical account of Joseph as the basis for Joseph and His Brothers, illuminating with his ironic sensibility the notion of original sin and transcendence of evil.
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Beethoven, who was moved by the theme of the Enlightenment, then composed the Cantata on the Death of Emperor Joseph II. The text of the ' was also probably written by Averdonk.Elliot Forbes (edit.), Thayer's Life of Beethoven, Part I, Princeton University Press 1992, , Averdonk was displeased by the Elector- Archbishop Max Franz, who in 1791 called him a monk qualifying for pastoral care, but who had become a "Minnesinger". Averdonk was also among the poets who wrote contributions in 1813 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the reading society.Alexander Wheelok Thayer, Ludwig van Beethoven After the French Revolution, whose ideals he shared, Averdonk emigrated to Alsace and was priest in Uffholtz and president of the Société des Amis de la Liberté et de l'Égalité there.
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According to his autobiography, he was inspired by finding the story in "a Volksbuch (popular book) about the Venusberg", which he claimed "fell into his hands", although he admits knowing of the story from the Phantasus of Ludwig Tieck and E. T. A. Hoffmann's story, Der Kampf der Sänger (The Singers' Contest). Tieck's tale, which names the hero "Tannenhäuser", tells of the minnesinger-knight's amorous adventures in the Venusberg, his travels to Rome as a Pilgrim, and his repudiation by the pope. To this Wagner added material from Hoffmann's story, from Serapions- Brüder (1819), describing a song contest at the Wartburg castle, a castle which featured prominently in Thuringian history. Heinrich Heine had provided Wagner with the inspiration for Der fliegende Holländer and Wagner again drew on Heine for Tannhäuser.
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In Heine's sardonic essay Elementargeister (Elemental spirits), there appears a poem about Tannhäuser and the lure of the grotto of Venus, published in 1837 in the third volume of Der Salon. Other possible sources include Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué's play Der Sängerkrieg auf der Wartburg and Eichendorff's Das Marmorbild (The Marble Statue, 1819). The legend of Tannhäuser, the amorous crusading Franconian knight, and that of the song contest on the Wartburg (which did not involve Tannhäuser, but the semi- mythical minnesinger Heinrich von Ofterdingen), came from quite separate traditions. Ludwig Bechstein wove together the two legends in the first volume of his collection of Thuringian legends, Der Sagenschatz und die Sagenkreise des Thüringerlandes (A treasury of the tales of Thuringian legends and legend cycles, 1835), which was probably the Volksbuch to which Wagner refers to in his autobiography.
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The Thuringian acquisition significantly increased the Wettin territorial possessions, which now reached from the Silesian border at the Bóbr river in the east up to the Werra in the west, and from the border with Bohemia along the Erzgebirge in the south to the Harz range in the north. From 1273 Henry was an important support to the newly elected Rex Romanorum Rudolph of Habsburg in his struggle against rivaling King Ottokar II of Bohemia. Against Bohemia he won, among other places, Sayda and Purschenstein Castle near Neuhausen, He was known throughout the whole empire as a glittering prince, famous as a patron of the arts and a model knight, and as a significant minnesinger (not to be confused with Heinrich Frauenlob), poet and composer. Henry was patron of many tournaments and singing competitions, in which he also took part himself, and commissioned the famous Christherre-Chronik.
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