| Music in pictures
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Minnesinger Heinrich von Meisssen
Medieval song-composition was considered an aristocratic distinction, devoted to the glorification of ideal womanhood (cortezia en de fin 'amor). It underwent underwent a gradual refining process almost certainly influenced by the cult of the Blessed Virgin.
Troubadours (in the south of France) and Trouvères (in the north of France) were the perofmers and composers of these songs. The art of the troubadours, which flourished roughly between 1100 and 1300, spread not only northwards but also to the south-Germany, Italy, and Spain, where Catalonia was an early home of the movement.
The Minnesänger were similar to the Provençal troubadours and northern French trouvères; they wrote love poetry in the courtly love tradition in Middle High German in the High Middle Ages. The name Minnesänger derives from the word minne, Middle High German for love which was their main subject, and an individual song was a minnelied.
Analyizing the melodies, we can see a great influence from the Gregorian chant (church mode!) and the medieval folksong. Important Minnesänger: Walther von der Vogelweide, Wolfram von Eschenbach en Heinrich van Veldeke.
The picture shows the Minnesinger Heinrich von Meissen (1320) -his nickname was Frauenlob- with some other Minnesänger. Note the instruments: cornett, shawn, viol, psaltery and bagpipe.
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