Neidhart von Reuental

File:Codex Manesse Neidhart.jpg

Neidhart portrayed in the Codex Manesse, about 1300

Neidhart (Middle High German ) c. Template:Trim – c. 1240Template:Sfn (later often called Neidhart von Reuental)Template:Sfn was one of the most famous . With around 1500 documented strophes of his songs surviving, Neidhart has the largest corpus of surviving lyrics of any , suggesting the great popularity of the songs.Template:Sfn In addition, and quite unlike any of his contemporaries, many melodies to his songs have been preserved: manuscripts have almost 70 melodies to 55 of his songs.Template:Sfn

Neidhart's lyrics are highly innovative: into the courtly genre of Minnesang, he introduced peasant characters, who are often shown in conflict with the knightly class. Both classes are sometimes treated as objects of satire. His songs are traditionally divided into summer and winter songs (), each group opening with a piece of seasonal description of nature.Template:Sfn But there are also songs which fall outside these categories and which in the past were often regarded as the work of later imitators.Template:Sfn

Neidhart's works continued to enjoy great popularity long after his death. He was transformed into the legendary, peasant-hating "Neidhart Fuchs" in late 15th century comical stories (German ),Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn and he also had a legacy in the visual arts, with woodcuts, frescos and carved reliefs portraying scenes from his songs.Template:Sfn

Life

In spite of the enduring popularity of his songs, there are no documentary sources for Neidhart's life.Template:Sfn While the songs seem to offer a great deal of biographical, geographical, and historical information, this material relates to a poetic persona — a biographical basis cannot be assumed.Template:Sfn

The song collections consistently give his name as Nîthart or, in its later Early New High German form, Neidhart.Template:Sfn While the songs mention a knight von Riuwental , the identification of the poet with this knight is not found until the 15th century, and then in texts geographically remote from Neidhart's sphere of activity in Bavaria and Austria.Template:Sfn However, this identification of the poet as "Neidhart von Reuental" was adopted by Moriz Haupt in his first critical edition of the songs in 1858Template:Sfn and was widely taken up until recently.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Attempts to locate a geographically plausible Reuental have not succeeded,Template:Sfn and the name has in any case an emblematic quality — it means literally "Vale of Regret" — which supports the conclusion that it is a fictional location appropriate for songs of the unsuccessful pursuit of love.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Indeed, the name Neidhart might be a pen name, as it was also used as a general term for an envious person and as a name for the devil.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

There are only the most approximate dates for Neidhart's life. He is mentioned in Wolfram von Eschenbach's Willehalm, which would indicate that he was active in the 1210s, and born, therefore, perhaps in the 1190s. He is mentioned as deceased by Template:Ill in Template:Ill, (c. Template:Trim). Neidhart names Frederick II, Duke of Austria as his patron — since Frederick died in 1246 and there is no lament for him in Neidhart's surviving songs, it is assumed that Neidhart must already have died by that date.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

While there is no certainty that apparently biographical details in the songs are correct, the evidence suggests that Neidhart spent the early part of his career in Bavaria and, possibly as a result of loss of patronage or political events surrounding the murder of Ludwig I of Bavaria, moved in the 1230s to the court of Duke Frederick II in Vienna.Template:Sfn The songs mention not only Bavaria and Austria, but many individual places, including Landshut (the seat of the Bavarian dukes), Vienna, and locations in the vicinity of Vienna, which indicate detailed local knowledge.Template:Sfn 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.Template:Sfn

The Songs

Neidhart's songs fall, both lyrically and musically, into two main categories, Summer Songs () and Winter Songs (). Although the terms themselves were first proposed in 1848 by Rochus von Liliencron,Template:Sfn the distinction is already apparent in the way the songs are grouped in the 15th-century MS c.,Template:Sfn and the two types of song contrast both thematically and in structure.Template:Sfn

Lyrics

In their lyrics, Neidhart's songs represent a break with the tradition of Minnesang.Template:Sfn While his protagonist in the songs is a knight unable to attain the reward from his beloved that he believes he merits for his service to her — a standard Minnesang theme — instead of the court, the setting is that of the medieval village. The impoverished knight, often named as "von Riuewental", is enamored of a village maiden whose love he is unable to attain, but the reason is either the interference of the girl's mother or the competition from the upstart village males, who ape courtly dress and manners to impress the girl. The effect is essentially humorous, even satirical, contrasting court and village, and mocking both the courtly conventions and the social pretentions of the villagers.Template:Sfn

Summer songs

The Summer Songs use a simple strophic form, the "dance strophe" (German , from MHG , "circle dance", "carole")Template:Sfn characterised by simple couplet and triple rhymes, e.g. AAABBB.Template:Sfn Such forms are not common in Minnesang and are probably based on a native tradition of dance songs.Template:Sfn

The Summer Songs all start with one or more strophes of natural description (German ) welcoming the coming of summer, sometimes contrasting it with the winter that has gone.Template:Sfn A village girl is then introduced and she announces her intention to attend the country dance in amorous pursuit of the knight of her affections. This gives rise to a dialogue with her mother, who warns against seeking a partner of a higher station, or a girlfriend, who shares the girl's aims.Template:Sfn

Winter songs

The Winter Songs use the three-part canzone form common in earlier Minnesang and generally have longer stanzas.Template:Sfn The opening natural description is often a lament for the passing of summer.Template:Sfn This is often followed by a lover's complaint about how the love of his "lady", herself in fact a village maiden, has been alienated by the pretentions of the villagers at the dance.Template:Sfn

Music

File:Neidhart MS c fol 31r.jpg

Melody and text of Neidhart's song "Der schwarze dorn" (MS c)

Melodies to 57 of Neidhart's songs are preserved, with several recorded in more than one manuscript. This is more than survive for all the other 12th- and 13th-century combined, a clear indication of their popularity.Template:Sfn There are five melodies in the Frankfurt Fragment (MS O) from c. Template:Trim, but otherwise the bulk of the melodies are in 15th-century MSS, the largest collection being in MS c.Template:Sfn While many scholars have regarded the songs in MS c as being by Neidhart's imitators (and therefore reduce the number of "authentic" melodies to 17), musicologists have found no basis for differentiating between "authentic" and "inauthentic" songs.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The melodic similarities between songs in MS O and their equivalents in MS c, roughly 160 years later, suggest that 15th-century melodies cannot simply be dismissed as later compositions.Template:Sfn

All the songs are monodic and the notation rarely indicates rhythm.Template:Sfn However, many of Neidhart's lyrics describe dances or call on listeners to dance,Template:Sfn and the melodies show features associated with dance songs.Template:Sfn These include limited vocal range (an octave or a ninth),Template:Sfn rapid movement between high and low notes, and a syllabic structure (i.e. one note per syllable).Template:Sfn Hatto and Taylor note a contrast between the Summer and Winter songs, the former being more "exuberant and carefree" in their melodies.Template:Sfn Lewon remarks that the melodies in the Frankfurt manuscript demand considerable virtuosity from the singer.Template:Sfn

The main modes are the Dorian mode and the major mode.Template:Sfn

The Manuscript tradition

The earliest recorded lyric of Neidhart's is a single strophe "Nu gruonet aber diu heide" (R 12),in the Carmina Burana manuscript, c. Template:Trim.Template:Sfn But the main manuscripts are:

• R — Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin - Preußischer Kulturbesitz, mgf. 1062 (also called the "Riedegg MS", from its previous location in Schloss Riedegg in Upper Austria). Compiled in the late 13th century, probably in Lower Austria, it contains 58 song texts (383 strophes).Template:Sfn
• C — Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg cpg 848 (Manesse Codex) contains 209 strophes under Neidhart's name and, under various names, a further 48 which are attributed to Neidhart in other sources. It was probably compiled in Zürich in the first half of the 14th century. It contains a full-page illustration of Neidhart surrounded by peasants.Template:Sfn
• c — Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin - Preußischer Kulturbesitz, mgf 779 (also called the "Ried MS" after an 18th-century owner), compiled probably in Nürnberg in the second half of the 15th century.Template:Sfn It is the largest Neidhart collection, containing 131 songs (1098 strophes), along with 45 melodies (and space left for others), and is the largest single-author collection for any .Template:Sfn In contrast to earlier manuscripts, each song here has a heading (a title or a genre description).Template:Sfn Uniquely, the songs are grouped into Summer and Winter Songs.Template:Sfn

All but a handful of Neidhart's songs are found in one or more of these three manuscripts. In addition, there are a further 28 manuscripts and fragments with song lyrics, including both the Kleine Heidelberger Liederhandschrift (Minnesang MS A, 14 songs)Template:Sfn and the Weingarten MS (Minnesang MS B, 13 songs).Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Reception

File:Umschlag des Buches "Neithart Fuchs".tif

Cover of 1566 "Neithart Fuchs" print.

Neidhart's songs had a significant influence on later . In particular the simple rhyming scheme of the and the motif of the dialogue between two villagers (), mother and daughter or two girlfriends, are taken up by later Minnesänger.Template:Sfn

The conflict between court and village found in Neidhart's comic tales () finds its way into narrative verse works, as in, for example, Wernher der Gartenære's Meier Helmbrecht.Template:Sfn

Neidhartspiele

In the 14th and 15th centuries the comic tales, particularly "The Tale of the Violet" (), formed the basis of five plays ().Template:Sfn The earliest known performance of such a play is recorded in Arnhem on 23 February 1395 with a cast of apprentices.Template:Sfn

Neithart Fuchs

The Neidhart persona of the songs was taken up by later generations and perpetuated as the figure of Neithart Fuchs (Fuchs= "fox"), the fictional knightly hero of a comic tale surviving in three printed editions, 1491–1566. The tale begins with the ("The Tale of the Violet"), after which the hero repeatedly bests the peasants with pranks and combat.Template:Sfn

Frescoes

File:Spiegelraub.jpg

"Theft of the mirror" ("Spiegelraub") in the Neidhart frescos from the house at Tuchlauben 19, Vienna. This motif occurs in several of Neidhart's songs

In about 1407, Viennese cloth merchant Michel Menschein commissioned a series of four murals for his private dance-hall based on songs by Neidhart. Each fresco depicts scenes from one of the four seasons of the year. The frescoes are remarkable as one of the few surviving works of the kind on a secular subject from so early a date. They were discovered during redevelopment in 1979 and are exhibited in situ by the City of Vienna Museum, which undertook an extensive restoration.Template:Sfn

Editions

• (21 songs with German translation and commentary.)
• (Salzburger Neidhart-Edition)

English

• (Nine songs with notes in English.)
• With English translation and commentary.

Texts

The first strophe of a Summer and a Winter Song.

Sommerlied Template:Verse translation Rhyme scheme: AABBB

Winterlied Template:Verse translation Rhyme scheme: AABBC DDEEC FGGF

References

• Template:Cite thesis

Recordings

Among the many recordings of Neidhart's songs, the following have his work as their main focus:

External links

Manuscripts

• M: München, Staatsbibliothek, Clm 4660, fol 68r (Carmina Burana) Description — Digital facsimile (Bavarian State Library, Munich).
• R: Berlin, Staatsbibliothek, mgf 1062 (Riedegg MS) Description — Digital facsimile (Berlin State Library).
• C: Große Heidelberger Liederhandschrift (Manesse Codex): Description — Digital facsimile (Heidelberg University Library).
• c: Berlin, Staatsbibliothek, mgf 779 (Ried MS) Description — Digital facsimile (Berlin State Library).