daz herze mîn ist minne wunt
/ Eberhard Kummer
Ulrich von Liechtenstein
minnesang.com
literaturpfade.uni-graz.at
vox medii ævi GER-07-2011
2011
cm
I. In dem walde süeze dœne ... [2:20]
Melodie: anonym im Klosterneuburger Osterspiel : cramer gib die farbe, um 1200
(Hungarian) symphonia
II. Wil iemen nâch êren die zît wol vertrîben ... [7:16]
Melodie: anonymes Chanson d'amour, 12. Jh.
gothic bray harp
III. Sumervar ist nu gar ... [3:05]
Melodie: Pseudo-Neidhart Meie, dîn liehter schîn, anonym in Berliner Neidhart-Handschrift, Mitte 15. Jh
(Hungarian) symphonia
IV. Got willekomen, herre ... [6:20]
Melodie: Moniot d'Arras (1213 — 1239): Chanson de rencontre
gothic lap harp
V. Êren gernde ritter, lât iuch schouwen ... [3:48]
Melodie: anonym, iam dulcis, 10. Jh., Fassung Mantuani 1904
gothic lap harp
VI. Mîn muot der muoz stîgen immer ... [5:36]
Melodie: Walther von der Vogelweide, „Palästinalied" aus dem „Münster'schen Fragment", Mitte 14. Jh.
(Hungarian) symphonia
VII. Ich bin her bî mînen stunden ... [3:33]
Melodie: Pange lingua, CB 20, 10./11. Jh., aus St. Peter in Moissac, altes Französisch
cymbals
VIII. Nu schouwet wie des meien zît ... [3:43]
Melodie: Chansons des Trouveres, Pastourelle quant voi la flor, anonym, 12./13. Jh.
(Hungarian) symphonia
IX. Wizzet alle daz ich kan ... [6:30]
Melodie: Gace Brulé (1160 — 1213): Chanson d'amour, um 1200
gothic lap harp
X. Fliuch, fliuch, trûren, von uns verre ... [4:53]
Melodie: Conon de Bethune (1150 — 1220), Chanson d'amour, um 1200
(Hungarian) symphonia
Introduction1
Ulrich von Liechtenstein (ca. 1205 —
26.1.1275) is known in the history of literature first and foremost as
the author of the earliest first person novel in the German language, Frauendienst
(1255), and then as a lyricist. This is partially due to the fact that
his lyric works are interspersed with the spectacular late-courtly Minne
epos (all about the chivalrous escapades of the first person narrator
in the form of the love goddess Venus or of King Arthur) and that those
then took on a minor role in a sort. This lore as it is told in Frauendienst
has, on the one hand, contributed to saving all of the 58 songs and
provides us with an explanation as to why Ulrich's works of lyric poetry
were later also able to be entered into the famous Manesse manuscript
around 1310. All of the song texts found there are in the chronology
written in Frauendienst, and at the beginning of these entries
there is a miniature of Ulrich as the riding Lady Venus (see the cover
of the CD) inspired by Frauendienst. On the other hand, the
Liechtensteiner walked into a kind of storytelling trap, for even
nowadays, he is known among experts as a lyricist of the late-courtly
period, with its start around 1250. In truth long before Frauendienst,
Ulrich had presumably written truly refreshing, elaborately sensuous
and even experimental lyric poetry. There are indications of composite
texts among the epic and the lyric passages embedded in the works. Even
the language-motif evidence reinforces this impression of the use of
pre-fab lyric modules in the form of already existing song texts.
In order to be able to recognize where a disengagement of Ulrich's lyric poetry from his Frauendienst
texts might lead chronologically, let us make the following art
historical and mentality assumptions: in a time at which life in general
was much shorter, yet perhaps much more emotionally intensive than it
is today, it was probably vital for young, nearly grown-up aristocratic
offspring to distinguish themselves quite quickly to the medieval court
society. The minnesinger glorification of budding readiness to love and
to serve was perfectly suited for this. So a young man with language
talents enough such as Ulrich would appropriately have presented his
artistic calling card as it were, possibly as early as his accolade in
1222 and would thus have been attributed to the high-courtly period, in
which his great artistic idol Walther von der Vogelweide was still alive
and exerting influence. It is conceivable that Ulrich found the
inspiration for his art in a likely face-to-face encounter with Walther
at the Court of the House of Babenberg in Vienna. This splendid center
of medieval knightly culture that in the 13th Century had come to be one
of the administrative hubs for the Styrian duchy, was a place Ulrich,
as the offspring of a wealthy service gentry family residing in Upper
Styria, certainly got to know well quite early. And it was there as is
well known that almost all of the great singers of the time were
constantly coming and going. Encounters with poets might very well have
also taken place in Styria, for enroute to Slovenia, Carinthia and the
Adriatic region, many bards passed through Styria and must have got to
know the area quite well, the possibility of them having made brief, if
not lasting appearances at some of the prominent courts in the Styrian
duchy not to be ruled out.
Consequently, we are able to place
Ulrich, chronologically at the least, in immediate proximity to the
high-courtly golden age. At this time at the latest a great difference
must be pointed out, or rather a great class distinction between him and
his famous idol, Walther von der Vogelweide. Whereas the latter was a
travelling artist, earning his keep by writing poetry and singing, the
former only wrote for the pleasure of art or, as implied above, to gain
attention among his peers. In contrast to the so-called poet for wages,
he was financially independent from birth and at a quite early age
occupied with leading political duties in the region. This is noted in
94 documents still extant that name Ulrich as a judge responsible for
provincial decisions and a Styrian seneschal among others; hence he held
those offices, from which the office of the Governor of Styria emerged
in which form it was then held in the 15th Century by his aristocratic
poet-colleague Hugo von Montfort.
From an artistic point of view,
Ulrich's well-polished language in his ballads is absolutely at the
peak of what was being written at the time and thus it should come as no
surprise that his were considered in later years to be the prototypes
for others. The Liechtensteiner had particular impact on the minnesong
of his young Styrian peers, Herrand von Wildon—his son-in-law, Rudolf
von Stadeck and the Suneckers. Born an entire generation after Ulrich,
they wrote their courtly love songs around 1250. They probably sang both
their ballads and the „oldies" of their idol Ulrich inimitably.
Incidentally, like their idol Ulrich they were considered worthy of
being included in the Manesse manuscript.
The German Minnesongs collected earlier refrain in general from
recording any melodies and differ from those of Oswald von Wolkenstein
or Hugo von Montfort written later.2
Thus it was up to the contemporary artist Eberhard Kummer to select for
himself suitable melodies from different sources throughout the entire
cultural region of Europe to go with the Liechtensteiner's texts chosen
by me as the producer of the CD to be a representative cross section of
Ulrich's artistic artistry. This practice is justified by contrafacture
and by the fact the minnesong was always quite liberal with using
melodies and that many of the texts were used over and over again—the
main point being that the rhythm and the notes suit the structure and
the basic character of the text. And this should spectacularly prove the
case here: listening to the ballads with the melodies chosen by
Eberhard Kummer, most of which are verified to date to the time of
Ulrich, these do go wonderfully with the character of the texts. What
was particularly helpful here were melodies from French-speaking
regions, this being no coincidence for the Liechtensteiner himself
admitted to an affinity to using French melodies as contrafacture in Frauendienst.
To a certain extent Eberhard Kummer just continued doing what his
colleague Ulrich von Liechtenstein had described and begun nearly 750
years ago.
The external initiating factor behind this entire CD project is the Styrian Literature Trails of the Middle Ages (http://literaturpfade.uni-graz.at). This CD shall be a welcome means of advertising for all of the showplaces of historical literature in Styria.
—
1 The following two supplementary anthologies are to be mentioned as
additional sources of literature on Ulrich von Liechtenstein:
· Ich
— Ulrich von Liechtenstein. Literatur und Politik im Mittelalter. Akten
der Akademie Friesach „Stadt und Kultur im Mittelalter" Friesach
(Kärnten), 2. — 6. September 1996. ed. by Franz Viktor Spechtler a.
Barbara Maier. Klagenfurt 1999. (=Schriftenreihe der Akademie Friesach.
5.)
· Ulrich von Liechtenstein. Leben — Zeit — Werk — Forschung.
[L. Peter Johnson zum 80. Geburtstag.] ed. by Sandra Linden und
Christopher Young. Berlin/New York 2010. (=De Gruyter-Lexikon).
An overview on the regional literary historical context of Ulrich's lyrical poetry can be found at: http://www-gewi.kfunigraz.ac.at/stlitma.
2 Both have been recorded by Eberhard Kummer on CD. The works of Hugo
von Montfort were recorded in their entirety for the first time ever on
the double CD: fro welt, ir sint gar húpsch und schón. Die Lieder des Hugo von Montfort. [as sung by] Eberhard Kummer. Vienna 2007. (= ORF Edition Alte Musik. 3011.)
About the Songs
A
brief sketch of the characteristics is given below based on the texts
printed here for the 10 songs selected. The order of the numbers follows
the tried and true principle of inner variance. What is meant by that
is that there is a mixture of text and melody impressions according to
the thematic and the mood. This allows the listener, when playing all of
the songs on the CD back-to-back, to enjoy the expressive contrast
presented while appreciating the harmony of the order of the ballads. A
chronological order would not have been possible in the first place due
to a lack of dating evidence.
To the extent that one exists, the ballads have been supplemented with the appellative title mentioned in Frauendienst
and translated from Middle High German. Only to a limited extent do
these appellations match the familiar generic terms of today and should
not be taken quite so literally. The Arabic numerals of the ballads
numbered I—X on the CD refer to the entire collection of Ulrich's lyric
poetry (KLD, cf. the source citation printed below). On song numbers I,
III, VI, VIII and X Eberhard Kummer is accompanied by a (Hungarian)
symphonia, No. II by a gothic bray harp, Nos. IV, V and IX by a gothic
lap harp and No. VII by cymbals.
Divinely light-hearted and high
spirited, in communion with the natural delights of early summer our
song No. I: A Kind of Dance In dem walde süeze dœne (ballad
no. 4), praises the paramour of the lyrical taleteller: the one he is
longing for surpasses everything, even the charms of the merry month of
May! Dream and reality, singer and his desires all seem to melt into
one.
Watchful and powerfully demanding is No. II (ballad 16 — Wil iemen nâch êren die zit wol vertrîben), A Song for the Journey in Frauendienst
just in the sense that it is meant to uplift the knights on their
journeys to the tournaments and is appropriately moralizing. Using the
motif of the shield as a symbol — recurring in No. V — and a courtly
allegorized secret code for knightly discipline, Ulrich manifests here
his guiding theme of watchful decency with which one is to behave when
faced with those to be conquered: the fiercely reluctant women,
patiently showing themselves capable of suffering.
What is unique about what No. III (ballad 29 — Sumervar ist nu gar)
has to offer in the guise of an unfailingly rousing dancing song —
regardless of how often one listens to it — is the art of the rhyme and
the coquettish joys of love and life. This ballad is carried jovially by
a catchy tune, which is driven by the rhythmic ratcheting of the
symphonia taken from Neidhart's domain of influence most certainly one
of the crooners of the Middle Ages.
No. IV (ballad 36 — Got willekomen, herre)
presents itself to us in full sensuality. Here Ulrich is almost
frivolous playing with the tradition of a dawn song, by having — instead
of the usual watchman — a lady's maid warn the lovers that dawn is
breaking as they are still half sleeping, half carrying on their
loveplay to escape the approaching day. She is even permitted to enter
their secret love chambers. Despite all constraints of style hardly any
other dawn song of this period is more free-spirited, more intimate and
more natural!
Full of gaiety No. V (ballad 38 — Êren gernde ritter, lât inch schouwen) is soaring to ethical heights. The taleteller from the Frauendienst
novel dedicates himself to this song for the Journey in order to
motivate himself for the next tournament, thus justifying his disguise
as King Arthur. Using this as a background, the knightly singer demands
from his peers full body commitment and moral dedication, in the end
plaintively and in an exemplary manner calling for more spears to throw
in the service of his lady.
No. VI (ballad 57 — Min muot der muoz stîgen immer, as is No. VII, not included in Frauendienst,
but even so attributed to Ulrich) sings the high song of the Minne.
Nothing, not even paradise, could ever be more exhilarating as the
requited love of a woman. Love, which, thanks to the spirited help of
Madame Minne, pours forth from the eyes of both lovers, melting their
bodies into one. In this „erotic song of triumph", the imperturbable
melody line ideally blends in to the hasty mood at hand.
In No. VII (ballad 58 — Ich bin her bî mînen stunden,
cf. the remarks on No. VI) the thought of true courtly love and luck
resumes, vouched for by the lyrical taleteller. Symbolically ambiguous,
he speaks of a painful Minne arrow: the wounds it causes, be they
physical or emotional, are able to be healed by salves of all kinds, but
can only truly be forgotten in the eyes of the one he loves. The
frugal, yet rhythmically sensational melodic accompaniment, filled with
the nuances of cymbals lends this song nothing less than a beguiling
character.
Immediately prior to No. VIII (ballad 9 — Nu schouwet wie des meien zît) in Frauendienst there is talk of Rome as the destination for a pilgrimage. This suits the topic of gotes wege
quite well. As is typical for pilgrimage ballads, we are given here a
feeling of assurance and an wrenching feeling of saying farewell, which
is once again strikingly different to the typical Ulrich themes, laced
with spiteful guile. For if the general public disapproves of the singer
not singing the praise of God on his journey, but extolling the virtues
of his lover, then he just won't sing about her at all. Instead, and
this is the surprise at the end of the song, he would say a little
prayer for her, oh so prudently entrusting her to the care of Mary.
Service to God and service to the Minne could not be intertwined any
more sophisticatedly or provocatively!
A kind of turnaround of roles is also found in No. IX (ballad 54 — Wizzet alle daz ich kan). The lieder singer himself, not God as is customary, is here the cordis speculator,
the seer of hearts, from whom no thought can be kept secret. By
reinforcing the morally admonitory tenor of the text, the processional
style the almost contemplatively internalizing characteristic style of
the melody chosen here is fitting for the pious (with regard to women)
yet almost threatening topic.
No. X (ballad 53 — Fliuch, fliuch, trûren, von uns verre)
lets us come full circle with a Mixolydian, solemn, almost hymnal
melody about being a woman and a lady all at once. We are told that this
is how to make chivalrous men happy. Based on that notion and keeping with the Minnesong aims of the High Middle Ages,
in Ulrich's song of praise for his lover — happy-go-lucky and filled
with joy — once more God Himself has become the keeper of this alliance
of love, ready to serve, ethically demanding: got behüete / mir ir lîp, ir scheme, ir êre. / sîst mîn fröiden lêre!
About the singer Eberhard Kummer
Dr. Eberhard Kummer, who among music experts has long been considered
the epitome of an authentic, down-to-earth medieval lieder singer, has
for years now been a fixed star on the Austrian and the international
scene for early music. A trained opera singer and the former head of the
University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, Eberhard Kummer is
primarily known for his successful, near record-breaking efforts with
the Song of the Nibelungs (Nibelungenlied). He sang it numerous
times not only as excerpts on various recordings, but enthralled the
audience by singing this masterpiece in its entirety in consecutive
evening performances.
A considerable number of recordings of
works of the High Middle Ages and late Middle Ages right up to
traditional folk songs characterized the breadth of his remarkable
repertoire. At the end of 2007 ORF (Edition Alte Musik) published the
first ever recording of the musical works of Count
Hugo von Montfort
(1357 1423). Together with Michael Posch's ensemble „Unicorn", Eberhard
Kummer is currently working on a recording of all 134 (!) ballads by
Oswald von Wolkenstein. More information on the artist can be found at http://kummer.gzpace.net.
Song Texts and Translations
Ulrich von Liechtenstein's song texts survive in the Munich Frauendienst
Manuscript (Cod. germ. 44) and in the large Heidelberg Lieder
Manuscript (Cod. Pal. germ. 848), the renowned Codex Manesse. Both
manuscripts underlie the historical-critical edition by Carl von Kraus
(KLD), according to which the ballads for this CD were sung:
Deutsche
Liederdichter des 13. Jahrhunderts. ed. by Carl von Kraus. Vol. I:
Text. 2nd edition, revised by Gisela Kornrumpf. Tübingen 1978.
Explanatory notes on meter and other issues can be found in the commentary annotation:
Deutsche
Liederdichter des 13. Jahrhunderts. ed. by Carl von Kraus. Vol. II:
Commentary, 2nd edition, revised by Gisela Kornrumpf. Tübingen 1978.
The
translations into Modern High German are by Prof. Dr. Wernfried
Hofmeister (Nos. I – V) and Mag. Dr. Andrea Hofmeister (Nos. VI – X).
The linguistically insightful translation of all of the song texts into
English is by Mag. Terri Gattringer-Sabino, who also translated this
introduction to the CD text.
Recording
This CD was
recorded under the direction of Dipl.-Ing. FH Roland Radlinger at the
Media Academy of the University of Graz. The recording took place on
April 27 & 28, 2011 in the Cellarium of the Rein Abbey.
CD Design
Roman Klug from the Department of Graphic Arts and Layout at the University of Graz.
Funding
The
realization of this CD project was made possible by the financial
support of the Vice Rector for International Relations and
Interdisciplinary Cooperation at the University of Graz, Prof. Dr.
Roberta Maierhofer.
Wernfried Hofmeister (Graz, May 2011)
translated by Terri Gattringer-Sabino
Ulrich von Liechtenstein — dazherze min ist minne wunt
Liedtexte ins Neuhochdeutsche übersetzt von Wernfried Hofmeister
und Andrea Hofmeister, ins Englische übertragen von Terri
Gattringer-Sabino.
Ulrich von Liechtenstein
circa 1205-26.1.1275
daz herze mîin
ist minne wunt
Der Titel der CD ist dem Lied/Song 9 EINE SINGWEISE/A KIND OF SONG, Str.2, Vers 3 (Track VIII) entnommen.
interpretiert von
Eberhard Kummer
Label:
vox medii aevi
Koordination und Durchführung: Prof. Dr. Wernfried und Dr. Andrea Hofmeister
Medieninhaber, Herausgeber, Verleger: Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz, Institut für Germanistik © 2011
Übersetzung ins Neuhochdeutsche: Wernfried und Andrea Hofmeister
Übersetzung ins Englische: Terri Gattringer-Sabino
Tontechnik: Roland Radlinger, Akademie für Neue Medien
Gestaltung, Satz & Layout: Roman Klug, Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz © 2011
Cover Illustration: Roman Klug nach dem Codex Manesse, Miniature of
Ulrich von Liechtenstein/ Manesse Miniature of Ulrich von Liechtenstein
Kontakt und Information:
Prof. Dr. Wernfried Hofmeister Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz Institut für Germanistik
Mozartgasse 8/I
A-8010 Graz
wernfried.hofmeister@uni-graz.at
www.uni-graz.at/deuph