Oswald’s repertory of non-mensural polyphony
The following table contains the corpus of two-voice non-mensural polyphony in the œuvre of Oswald von Wolkenstein. It is an excerpt of the list of polyphonic pieces from my article on Oswald’s polyphonic music.[14] It contains twelve songs—one of them with two alternative texts (Kl 37/38) (see Table I.)
- * Kl 37 Des himels trone & Kl 38, Keuschlich geboren: WolkA, fols 34v–35r & 46r, 2vv; WolkB, fols 15v–16r), 1v
- + Kl 51 Ach senliches leiden: WolkA, fols 20v–21r, 2vv; WolkB, fol. 22r–v, 2vv
- Kl 68 Mein herz júngt sich: WolkA, fol. 30v, 2vv; WolkB, fol. 29r, 1v
- * Kl 75 Wol auff, wol an: WolkA, fol. 35r, 2vv; WolkB,fol. 31r, 2vv
- * Kl 76 Ain graserin:WolkA, fol. 35v, 2vv (discantus blackened); WolkB, fol. 31v, 2vv
- * Kl 77 Simm Gredlin, Gret:WolkA, fol. 36r, 2vv; WolkB, fols 31v–32r, 1v (discantus intended but not filled in)
- * Kl 79 Frölich so wil ich aber singen: WolkA, fol. 39r, 2vv; WolkB, fols 32v–33r, 2vv
- + Kl 84 Wol auff, wir wellen slauffen: WolkA, fol. 45r, 2vv; WolkB, fols.34v–35r, 2vv
- + Kl 91 Freuntlicher blick: WolkA, fols 53v–54r), 2vv; WolkB, fols 37v–38r, 2vv
- - Kl 93 Herz, prich: WolkA, fol. 21r, 2vv; WolkB, fol. 38v, 2vv
- - Kl 94 Lieb, dein verlangen: WolkA, fol. 18r, 2vv; WolkB, fol. 38v, 1v (discantus intended but not filled in)
- Kl 101 Wach auff, mein hort: WolkA, fol. 56r–v, 2vv; WolkB, fol. 40v, 2vv
Table I: Two-voice non-mensural polyphony in the œuvre of Oswald von Wolkenstein.
All of these songs have in common that their two voices are largely homophonic, which means that even if the notation is not entirely clear, the coordination of the two independently notated voices (with some exceptions) does not pose particular problems. Also, the notation of these songs, in contrast to that of the contrafacta, does not feature a great variety of rhythmical values and mostly employs semibreves and minims. Certain techniques of non-mensural polyphony, such as fifthing and contrary motion, as well as the semi-mensural concept of the reference rhythm occur in almost all of them. Elements of all these can be seen below in » Notenbsp. Wol auff, wol an (Kl 75).
While fifthing is omnipresent throughout this song piece, contrary motion occurs over the words ‘gen des zarten maien garten’ towards the end of the A-section, and in its first ending (ouvert). The minim upbeat after the initial melisma over the first word ‘wol’ as well as the use of the semiminima as a custos (visible in the original manuscript) both hint at a structural use of mensural notation. Reference rhythm is quoted a few times, most noticeably to the words ‘Tanzen, springen’ – probably also referencing dance – and at the beginning of the refrain ‘Amplick herte, der geferte soll wir’.
Yet, the corpus can be further divided into groups of similar construction. The five songs marked with an asterisk (*) share noteworthy notational traits, particularly an abundant use of red notation, as well as other striking features, such as occasional breaks of the homophonic setting, the inclusion of hoquetus passages, and an extravagant melodic construction that at times can seem almost erratic. Four of these five stand together as a group in both manuscripts.[15] The three songs marked with a plus sign (+) are strictly homophonic, melodically fluent while featuring drone-like passages, they present a reference rhythm in duple metre, and do not employ red notation. Even though their notation seems to add up rhythmically, the fact that they use reference rhythm indicates their semi-mensural structure, hinting at a certain degree of rhythmical freedom in performance. They also represent a group of pieces where the tenor rather than the discantus might be the added voice, similar to the ‘pumhart’ songs by the Monk of Salzburg (see below). Two of the remaining four songs, Kl 93 and Kl 94, are marked with a minus sign (-): they can be singled out as influenced by the sort of settings Oswald would have encountered during his work on the contrafacta. These more ambitious compositions (both employ hoquetus effects) betray a mixed style in which elements of contemporary discantus rules are introduced to such a degree that a more precise use of the mensural notation was required. I would not be surprised if one of them (Kl 93) might eventually turn out to be another contrafactum, possibly based on an Italian model. The notational difficulties with the other, the surprisingly short Kl 94, apparently caused the scribe of WolkB[16] to abandon the copying process, leaving the discantus staff empty. The inaccuracies in the notation of this song in WolkA, of both pitch and rhythm, make a reconstruction of the intended counterpoint very difficult. However, the fact that the initial melisma of Kl 94 is identical to the initial melisma of Oswald’s monophonic song Kl 13 (Wer ist, die da durchleuchtet) is an indicator for his authorship of both compositions. It is also a further confirmation of the open borders between monophony and polyphony in these repertories.[17] The remaining two songs (Kl 68 and Kl 101) appear to be a mixture of the above-mentioned styles, featuring elements of non-mensural polyphony as well as a more standard use of the contemporary discantus rules, particularly for the cadences. In fact, most of the songs in Table I mix these elements to a certain degree – some more so, some less – and it appears that Oswald, who may have been learned in the tradition and practices of non-mensural polyphony but who was probably not trained in the techniques of the discantus treatises, tried to apply to his own compositions some of the features of these treatises, which he would have come to know through his contrafacta. Both songs also show modal ambiguity in the surviving sources: Kl 68 is notated once in a C-mode (WolkA) and once in a D-mode (WolkB), the latter in a monophonic version, while Kl 101 – the only song from Oswald’s non-mensural polyphony with concordances outside his own manuscripts – comes in a whole variety of modes.[18] The transmissions of Kl 101 display a large range of features, which link the song to monophonic and non-mensural practices. These include shifting modality, non-rhythmical notation for the tenor vs. a mensurally notated discantus, hints at a reference rhythm, the use of stroke notation, and wrong clefs for the discantus in both Wolkenstein codices. Furthermore, its tenor melody was consequently adapted in the Lochamer Liederbuch to comply with a more contemporary approach to discanting and intabulation, complete with a clear rhythmic ordination, an initial melisma, and the rubric “tenor”.
[14] Lewon 2011; see the table on pp. 189-191. Not all of the remaining songs listed there are proven contrafacta, but their notation and counterpoint strongly suggest a model from contemporary polyphonic exemplars. There is one more piece that could be added to the list of twelve below: Kl 21 (Ir alten weib), a monophonic song that appears to be a cognate to the Neidhart song Der sawer kübell - Niemand sol sein trauren tragen lange (see Mark Lewon, ‘Oswald quoting Neidhart: Ir alten weib (Kl 21) & Der sawer kübell (wl)’ (2014), accessible online at: https://mlewon.wordpress.com/2014/06/30/oswald-quoting-neidhart/). Michael Shields (2011) has suggested that the third section of this Oswald song could contain a piece of hidden polyphony in the form of a fuga. Should this prove true, then Kl 21 could be another case of non-mensural polyphony, employing reference rhythm. Since the claim is hard to substantiate and canons are excluded from the list – most of them being contrafacta – I will, for the time being, leave this song aside.
[15] In WolkA, only Kl 79 was notated separately a few pages later, probably because it was added with a second layer of repertory. For the scribal layers of the manuscript, see Delbono 1977. In WolkB, song Kl 37/38 was separated from the block and notated in a monophonic version in the first half of the manuscript, while the other four were grouped together.
[16] A-Iu o. Sign. (?Basel, c. 1432).
[17] See chapter 5.3 ‘Oswald quoting Oswald: Crossing the Border to Polyphony’, in Lewon 2018, pp. 260–268.
[18] For an in-depth analysis of the modal shifts of Kl 101 in the different sources, see chapter 5.1 ‘“Wach auff, mein hort”: A Melody of Modal Ambiguity’, in Lewon 2018, pp. 241–53.
[1] On these sacred repertories, see » A. Klösterliche Mehrstimmigkeit: Grundlagen (Alexander Rausch), and » A. Klösterliche Mehrstimmigkeit: Arten und Kontexte (Reinhard Strohm).
[2] Pelnar 1978, and substantiated in Pelnar 1982, Textband.
[4] „WolkA“: A-Wn Cod. 2777 (?Vienna, c. 1425): „WolkB“: A-Iu o. Sign.
[5] See Lewon 2017, pp. 134–137.
[6] This assessment supports Pelnar’s statement (Pelnar 1982, Textband, p. 21) against a development from a more ‘primitive’ to a more ‘sophisticated’ counterpoint within Oswald’s œuvre: ‘Auf keinen Fall dürfen die Gruppen [‘bodenständig’ und ‘westlich’] chronologisch als Entwicklungsphasen aufgefaßt werden, wie es etwa Salmen bei seiner Datierung der Lieder macht’ (Under no circumstances should the categories [‘native’ and ‘Western’] be understood as chronological phases of a development, as Salmen did in his dating of the songs).
[7] Pelnar 1978, p. 275f.
[8] For a more comprehensive summary of the concept of ‘reference rhythm’, see Lewon 2012, 169–173.
[9] ‘Strichnotation’: see » K. A-Wn Cod. 5094: Souvenirs and Glossary.
[10] The main manuscript for the songs of the Monk of Salzburg, the Mondsee-Wiener Liederhandschrift (A-Wn Cod. 2856), is one of the first musical manuscripts that makes a clear division between secular and sacred songs with the rubrics “werltlich” and “geistlich”; see März 1999, pp. 367–368.
[11] ‘Kl’ numbers refer to the numeration in the standard text edition, Klein 2015 (and earlier).
[12] ‘W’ (‘weltlich’) numbers refer to the numeration in März 1999.
[13] The rubric to W 8 (Ich klag dir, traut gesell) by the Monk confirms this practice ex negativo: “Ain tenor von hübscher melodey als sy ez gern gemacht haben darauf nicht yeglicher kund übersingen” (A tenor with a pretty melody, the way they liked to make them. Not everyone was capable of singing an upper voice to this). See also » B. Kap. Ich klag dir traut gesell (David Murray).
[14] Lewon 2011; see the table on pp. 189-191. Not all of the remaining songs listed there are proven contrafacta, but their notation and counterpoint strongly suggest a model from contemporary polyphonic exemplars. There is one more piece that could be added to the list of twelve below: Kl 21 (Ir alten weib), a monophonic song that appears to be a cognate to the Neidhart song Der sawer kübell - Niemand sol sein trauren tragen lange (see Mark Lewon, ‘Oswald quoting Neidhart: Ir alten weib (Kl 21) & Der sawer kübell (wl)’ (2014), accessible online at: https://mlewon.wordpress.com/2014/06/30/oswald-quoting-neidhart/). Michael Shields (2011) has suggested that the third section of this Oswald song could contain a piece of hidden polyphony in the form of a fuga. Should this prove true, then Kl 21 could be another case of non-mensural polyphony, employing reference rhythm. Since the claim is hard to substantiate and canons are excluded from the list – most of them being contrafacta – I will, for the time being, leave this song aside.
[15] In WolkA, only Kl 79 was notated separately a few pages later, probably because it was added with a second layer of repertory. For the scribal layers of the manuscript, see Delbono 1977. In WolkB, song Kl 37/38 was separated from the block and notated in a monophonic version in the first half of the manuscript, while the other four were grouped together.
[16] A-Iu o. Sign. (?Basel, c. 1432).
[17] See chapter 5.3 ‘Oswald quoting Oswald: Crossing the Border to Polyphony’, in Lewon 2018, pp. 260–268.
[18] For an in-depth analysis of the modal shifts of Kl 101 in the different sources, see chapter 5.1 ‘“Wach auff, mein hort”: A Melody of Modal Ambiguity’, in Lewon 2018, pp. 241–53.
[19] A recording of this edition, though experimentally transposed to a D-mode, can be found on the album The Cosmopolitan – Songs by Oswald von Wolkenstein. Ensemble Leones (Christophorus, 2014), track 9. Other examples for a new edition of Oswald’s non-mensural polyphony can be found in Lewon 2016a, ‘Ach senliches leiden (Kl 51)’, pp. 35–37, and ‘Des himels trone (Kl 37)’, pp. 38–43.
[20] For a first proposal of this interpretation, see Lewon 2011, pp. 168–191 at pp. 182–184.
[21] In » Notenbsp. Wol auff, wol an, most melismas are in parallel fifths; the cadential melisma over the word ‘springen’ and a section of the final melisma of the clos, however, run in parallel sixths.
[22] März 1999. See also » B. The secular songs of the Monk of Salzburg (David Murray). The secular songs (‘W’ for weltlich), are edited in März 1999, the sacred songs (‘G‘ for geistlich), in Waechter-Spechtler 2004.
[23] Rubric: “Der tenor ist der tischsegen” (This tenor is [called] the benediction).
[24] Rubric: “Der tenor haizt der freüdensal nach ainem Lusthaws pey Salzburg […]” (This tenor is called the house of pleasure after a hunting lodge near Salzburg […]).
[25] Rubric: see n. 13 above.
[26] For a more formal definition of monophonic ‘tenores’, see März 1999, pp. 11–2, 14–19, 31–3 and 36–40. An extended interpretation of the use and function of such ‘tenores’ by Reinhard Strohm and myself is given in Lewon 2018, pp. 225–226.
[27] In fact, Lorenz Welker argued that the motet-like song W54* is an example of extemporised counterpoint, which needed to be written because it carries a text. In other circumstances the discantus would not have been notated, but extemporised: see Welker 1984/1985, p. 55.
[28] Melody rubric: “Das nachthorn, vnd ist gut zu blasen” (The night horn, and it is suitable for wind instruments); second voice rubric: “Das ist der pumhart dar zu” (This is the accompanying bombarde).
[29] Melody rubric: “Das taghorn, auch gut zu blasen, vnd ist sein pumhart dy erst note vnd yr ünder octaua slecht hin.” (The day horn, also suitable for wind instruments, and its bombarde is simply the first note down an octave).
[30] See Welker 1984/1985.
[31] Rubric: “Das kchühorn […]” (The cow horn […]).
[32] Melody rubric: “Das haizt dy trumpet vnd ist auch gut zu blasen. Das swarcz is er, das rot ist sy” (This is called the trumpet and it is also suitable for wind instruments. The black [notation and text] is him, the red [notation and text] is her). Second voice rubric: ‘Das ist der wachter dar zu’ (This is the watchman for this).
[33] See März 1999, p. 368.
[34] On the musical types trumpetum and tuba (‘trompetta music’), see Strohm 1993, pp. 108-111 and passim.
[35] See » E. Kap. Hornwerke, where it is now suggested that a Hornwerk may have existed in the 15th century on the tower of the Salzburg parish church or of the town hall.
[36] März 1999, pp. 12 and 368.
[37] Both of them feature a dialogue of two lovers in their main melody, accompanied by a running commentary in the second voice.
[38] März 1999, p. 375.
[39] A recording is » Hörbsp. Untarnslaf - Das kchúhorn (Ensemble Leones), https://musical-life.net/audio/untarnslaf-das-kchuhorn (2015), where I refer to this song as a ‘pseudo-’ or ‘peasant-motet’.
[40] A stylised semiminima is used as the custos throughout the section with polyphonic songs and monophonic ‘tenores’.
[41] See Welker 1984/1985.