Walther von der Vogelweide

Notable songs include the love-song "Under der linden", the contemplative "Elegy", and the religious "Palästinalied", for which the melody has survived.

For all his fame, Walther's name is not found in contemporary records, with the exception of a solitary mention in the travelling accounts of Bishop Wolfger von Erla of the Passau diocese: Walthero cantori de Vogelweide pro pellicio v solidos longos (To Walther the singer of the Vogelweide five shillings for a fur coat.)

Hörner proved that the still-existing farmhouse Weid is indeed the mentioned Vogelweidhof and collected arguments for Walther being born in the Waldviertel ("Forest Quarter").

Klomfar was also able to partly reconstruct land ownership in this region and prove the existence of the (not rare) Christian name Walther.

Contrary to this theory, Franz Pfeiffer assumed that the singer was born in the Wipptal in South Tyrol, where, not far from the small town of Sterzing on the Eisack, a wood—called the Vorder- and Hintervogelweide—exists.

[2] Here it was that the young poet learned his craft under the renowned master Reinmar von Hagenau, whose death he afterwards lamented in two of his most beautiful lyrics; and in the open-handed duke, he found his first patron.

[2] Thus he was forced to leave the court of the generous duke Bernhard of Carinthia (1202–1256); after an experience of the tumultuous household of the landgrave of Thuringia, he warns those who have weak ears to give it a wide berth.

He received a diamond from the high noble Diether III von Katzenelnbogen around 1214:[6] Ich bin dem Bogenaere (Katzenelnbogener) holt – gar ane gabe und ane solt: – … Den diemant den edelen stein – gap mir der schoensten ritter ein[7] Walther was, in fact, a man of strong views; and it is this which gives him his main significance in history, as compared to his place in literature.

From the moment when the death of the emperor Henry VI (1197) opened the fateful struggle between empire and papacy, Walther threw himself ardently into the fray on the side of German independence and unity.

Although his religious poems sufficiently prove the sincerity of his Catholicism, he remained to the end of his days opposed to the extreme claims of the popes, whom he attacks with a bitterness which can be justified only by the strength of his patriotic feelings.

[2] From the new emperor, Walther's genius and zeal for the empire finally received recognition: a small fief in Franconia was bestowed upon him, which—though he complained that its value was little—gave him the home and the fixed position he had so long desired.

[8] Von der Vogelweide died about 1230, and was buried at Würzburg, after leaving instructions – according to the story – that the birds were to be fed at his tomb daily.

His original gravestone with its Latin inscription has disappeared, but in 1843 a new monument was erected over the spot, called the Lusamgärtchen [de] (Little Lusam Garden), today sheltered by the two major churches of the city.

[8] Walther's work is exceptionally well preserved compared to that of his contemporaries, with over 30 complete manuscripts and fragments containing widely varying numbers of strophes under his name.

[13] In the surviving complete manuscripts, there are often missing pages in the sections devoted to Walther, which indicates lost material, as well blank space left by the scribes to make allowance for later additions.

There are further melodies in two early manuscripts, M (the Carmina Burana) and N (Kremsmünster Stiftsbibliothek, Codex 127) but they are recorded in staffless neumes and cannot be reliably interpreted.

[14][15] The ascription of other melodies to Walther in the Meistersang manuscripts (the "Goldene Weise", the "Kreuzton", and the "Langer Ton") is regarded as erroneous.

She is Mistress of the Chamber there at court Grove Music Online evaluates Walther's work as follows: He is regarded as one of the most outstanding and innovative authors of his generation... His poetic oeuvre is the most varied of his time,... and his poetry treats a number of subjects, adopting frequently contradictory positions.

In his work he freed Minnesang from the traditional patterns of motifs and restricting social function and transformed it into genuinely experienced and yet universally valid love-poetry.

[24] Walter is mentioned in Samuel Beckett's short story "The Calmative": "Seeing a stone seat by the kerb I sat down and crossed my legs, like Walther.

[32] There are also statues in: Weißensee (Thuringia); Sankt Veit an der Glan and Innsbruck in Austria; and Duchcov in the Czech Republic.

[32] There have been more scholarly editions of Walther's works than of any other medieval German poet's, a reflection of both his importance to literary history and the complex manuscript tradition.