Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 3.djvu/627

SONG.

The history of the Song in Germany has been so thoroughly explored by German writers, that its course may be followed from very remote times, when song was scarcely distinguishable from speech, and singen and sagen were convertible terms. But the musician is not concerned vith the Song until it has acquired a certain form in metre and melody. The 'Minnesinger' must, therefore, be our starting-point.

The 'Minnesinger' were the German counterparts of the Troubadours, but they were of rather later date than the Provençal minstrels, and the tone of their compositions was somewhat different. While the Troubadours sang almost exclusively of love and gallantry, the Minnesinger constantly introduced into their songs praises of the varied beauties of nature. And the expressions of homage to the Virgin, or of other devotional feeling, which burst so frequently from their lips, were the outcome of a deeper religious sentiment than any to which the light-hearted Provençals were ever subject. In social rank the Minnesinger were not as a body quite on a level with the Troubadours; there was a larger proportion among them of men whose birth and station were beneath nobility. Nevertheless their art was highly esteemed, and wherever they went they were honoured guests. They always sang and accompanied their own compositions, and took no remuneration for the entertainment which they gave. They were more numerous in Southern than in Northern Germany; Austria was especially prolific of them.

The era of the Minnesinger may be roughly divided into three epochs. The first was a period of growth and development, and ended somewhere about 1190. Its songs were of a popular cast, and its most representative names were von Kürenberc, Dietmar von Aiste, and Meinloh von Sevelingen. The second and best period, which was the stage of maturity, was covered by the last years of the 12th century and at least half of the 13th century. To this period belonged Heinrich von Veldecke, Friedrich von Hausen, Heinrich von Morungen, Reinmar der Alte (the master of Walther von der Vogelweide), Hartmann von Aue (the author of the celebrated poem 'Das arme Heinrich'), and Walther von der Vogelweide himself, whose fine lyrics won for him a place among national poets. Early in the 13th century the 'Sängerkrieg,' or Minstrel-contest, was held on the Wartburg by the Landgrave Hermann of Thuringia, and among the champions who took part in it were Heinrich von Ofterdingen, Tannhäuser, and Wolfram von Eschenbach. Wolfram's Minnelieder had no great success, but high renown was gained for him by his Wächterlieder and his 'Parsifal.' The third period was a time of decline, and of transition to the 'Meistersinger.' The art of the Minnesinger then descended to trivial or unpoetic themes, and a growing carelessness as to the forms of poetry plainly revealed its deterioration. Nithart v. Reuenthal (whose poems were chiefly descriptions of peasant-life), Ulrich v. Lichtenstein, Reinmar v. Zweter, der Marner, and Konrad v. Würzburg were the principal Minnesinger of this period.

Medieval MSS. contain a large number of the poems and melodies of the Minnesinger, and these remains attest the incomparable superiority of their poetry to their music. They bestowed especial pains on the poetic words, and treated the melody as a mere accessory. So finished were their verses as regards metre and rhythm, that in some cases even the music of the present day could hardly support them with an adequate setting. But this perfection was of course only reached by degrees. Beginning with alliterative words, they advanced to regular rhymes, and then rules of composition were laid down prescribing the number of lines of which different kinds of songs (such as the Lied and the Leich) should respectively consist.

The structure of the verses was closely followed by the Minnesinger's melodies, and as there was necessarily a pause wherever the rhyme fell, a certain form was thus imparted to them. Their mode of notation was similar to that then used in the Church, and their melodies were founded on the Church scales; and they exhibited the same monotony and absence of rhythm as the ecclesiastical melodies of that time. The following example will show how unlike their melodies were to the concise and clear rhythmical chansons of the Troubadours: —

In the 14th century feudalism had passed its prime, and power was slipping from the grasp of princes, prelates, and nobles into the hands of burghers and artisans. Out of these middle classes came the 'Meistersinger,' who supplanted the more patrician Minnesinger, while the 'Minnegesang' was succeeded by the 'Meistersang' of