Minnesinger

Minnesinger (German Minne,”courtly love”), German lyric poet-composers of the 12th to the 14th century, the Middle High German period (see German Literature). Strictly, the term minnesinger means “singer of love songs (Minne),” but it came to be applied to all German poets of the time, particularly those who composed Sprüche, or religious and political poems. The type of poem written by the minnesingers was modeled on the poetry of the Provençal troubadours. Soon, however, it developed individual characteristics, such as emphasis on religious allusion and symbolism. The poems were characteristically set to a melody composed by the poet, who sang them while accompanying himself on a harp, fiddle, or other stringed instrument, sometimes with additional musicians. The music was monophonic (consisting of a single melodic line without harmony). The prevalent musical form was the Bar form (AAB) or a variant; for longer narrative verse, the Leich (AABBCC, etc.) was used. Influenced by Gregorian chant, both forms were derived from musical forms used by the troubadours and the French trouvères (the ballade and lai).

Among the best-known minnesingers (who usually belonged to the lesser aristocracy) were Wolfram von Eschenbach and Walther von der Vogelweide in the 12th century, and Frauenlob (Heinrich von Meissen; 1250?-1318) and Tannhäuser in the 13th century. In the 14th century the minnesingers were gradually succeeded by the Meistersinger.