Music As We Know It

Although Walther von der Vogelweide was one of the most famous composers, poets and singers in medieval Germany, there are practically no contemporary records about him. By doing a lot of guesswork, specialists came to the conclusion that he was of noble birth but did not belong to the aristocracy or even higher nobility. His place of birth is unknown, but there are dozens of books with all kinds of theories about it. Some secondary evidence also points that he occasionally used a nickname, which was quite usual for the poets of the times during which he lived.. Generally, everybody agrees, that he period of life was overall from about 1170 to 1230.

We know that Walther mastered his craft at the court of Vienna because of his beautiful lyrics dedicated to the death of his patron, duke Frederick, who was a patron of poetry and art. Since his sponsor’s death Walther’s happy period of life had ended. He started wandering from court to court, singing for bed and bread. Even though famous composer was hoping that some new patron would notice and give him a shelter, he was not exactly suited for that type of life, mostly due to his poetry. It contained very emotional and scathing criticism of men and manners of the times, which made uncomfortable rich nobility. Thanks to his lyrics, he lost a position at the court of duke Bernhard of Carinthia and later was kicked out of the court of Dietrich I of Meissen, where as he mentions, he did not get neither money nor praise.

Yet, Walther’s poems give us the picture not only of a great artistic genius, but of a strenuous, passionate, very human and very lovable character. His talents and strong views became required by German society, when empire and papacy started their struggle in 1197. Walther took side with German independence and unity which gave him a place of significance in history. Till the end of his days, Walther remained a faithful Catholic, which is confirmed by religious poems. Nevertheless, he was fervently opposing the extreme claims of the Roman popes, whom he attacked with bitterness, expressing his deep patriotic feelings.

Walther never switched sides and a highly intelligent new emperor Frederick II held in high esteem poet’s genius and zeal. Thus, Walther received desired recognition and even a small fief in Franconia, that gave him a home and fixed position. Yet, he was complaining that this fief had little value. There is some evidence, that Frederick made Walther the tutor of his son, but this evidence based on one of his lyrics is disputed by modern researchers.

Walther von der Vogelweide did not stay immediately at his new fief long, he traveled for a while and only then settled at his new place. From there he was urging German princes to take part in the Sixth Crusade in 1228 but, did not participate in it himself, or at least did not go further than Tirol. In a beautiful poem he paints the change that had come over the scenes of his childhood and made his life seem a thing dreamed. When he was dying in 1230, he put in his will the request to feed the birds at his tomb every day.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS