Ansingen: an introduction
The pupils of the church schools were in fact also protagonists of performances which were not religious or liturgical: they were called “Ansingen” (“singing at”; serenading).[15] This practice, disseminated throughout the German-speaking region and in other centres in Europe, consisted of vocal performances of the students in non-liturgical locations such as streets, squares, inns, castles, town halls and hospitals (» E. Kap. Das Bozner Ansingen); these were held periodically during the year, on special feast-days and for visits of high-ranking personalities. As reward for their vocal display, the choristers – who could be pupils only or sometimes include their instructors – received gifts and money. This practice, widespread in the Middle Ages and also known under the name of “Kurrende” (wandering choir), received a strong impulse during the Protestant reforms and survives to this day in some areas of Northern Germany.[16] In Tyrol, the custom is documented and described in some travel diaries of foreign visitors who traversed the region in the late fifteenth century. Venetian ambassadors, heading for Germany in June 1492, stopped over in Klausen/Chiusa, a town north of Bolzano, in the tavern called the “Agnus Dei”, and recorded in their travel diary a vocal performance given in their honour by pupils and masters of the local school (» D. Advenisti. Fürsten und Diplomaten auf Reisen). The ambassadors were surprised by the high musical standards of the small group, which consisted of five children and two masters, performing music “with admirable consonance” – thus presumably in polyphony. The diary specifies the music performed in sufficient detail to allow for a tentative identification of at least one of the pieces: it was “a certain song resembling the trumpets of a battle” (un certo canto simile a trombette di battaglia) – perhaps a composition “ad modum tubae”. At the end of this little concert the enchanted ambassadors lavishly recompensed the children and their masters for their excellent performance. This detail draws attention to a fundamental aspect of Ansingen: that of the very real need to collect money to fund the masters and poor pupils of the school.[17] In many cases – presumably including the Klausen performance cited here – the schoolmasters accompanying the children also benefitted of this income, whereas in other circumstances the money received was to be divided equally among the pupils. The school regulation of Bolzano, 1424 (see below), stipulates the distribution of the money very precisely. Nevertheless, the rules for this distribution underwent changes as time went on (» Kap. Das Bozner Ansingen). Sources tell us that in some localities in Tyrol, Ansingen remained alive until the later eighteenth century.[18] The documents inform us that the custom was very ancient but, over the centuries, also underwent abuses (it was occasionally transformed into unlawfaul aggressivity) and “irregular” competition; thus, at Innsbruck and Hall i. T. in the seventeenth century, the boys of the parish school who practiced Ansingen every week were rivalled by the students of the local Jesuit College.[19]
[15] Strohm 1993, 294-296. For a definition, see Rudolf Flotzinger, Ansingen, in: Oesterreichisches Musiklexikon online, founded by Rudolf Flotzinger, ed. Barbara Boisits, online, https://musiklexikon.ac.at/0xc1aa5576_0x0001f702 (2002).
[17] It is interesting to note that the customs of both the Boy Bishop and the “Ansingen” were analogous to the annual springtime feasts of the Roman schola cantorum of the first Christian centuries, particularly the cornomania (a feast of undoubtedly pagan origins, when the sacristans disguised themselves as bishops) and the laudes puerorum at Easter, sung by the students in the streets on Easter Saturday for eggs and other gifts. On the extra-liturgical songs of the schola cantorum see Dyer 2008, 19-36 at 22-23.
[19] Ibidem.
[1] For a compact history of Tyrolean schools, see Augschöll-Blasbichler, 2019, 96-106 at 96-101, online, https://cab.unime.it/journals/index.php/qdi/article/view/2643 (April 2023). On music in the schools, see Post 1993; Herrmann-Schneider 2023, online ,https://musikgeschichten.musikland-tirol.at/content/musikintirol/musikinkloesternusw/musik-in-pfarrkirchen.html (April 2023).
[2] Cfr. Büchner 2019, 16-49 (Teil I); 94/1, 2020, 46-72 (Teil II); 94/2, 2020, 20-61 (Teil III); 94/3, 2020, 40-61 (Teil IV); 94/4, 2020, 28-71 (Teil V): in Teil I, 27, a few examples from Tyrolean schools are given.
[3] As underlined by Hannes Obermair, referring to the parish church of Gries near Bolzano, the “System Church” represents in the 15th century an “efficient mixture of cult, community, identity and economical sphere“: see Obermair 2012, 137-174 at 137.
[4] Büchner 2019, 27-28.
[5] Preserved at San Candido/Innichen, Collegiate Foundation, manuscript vii a 10s. Transcribed by Gionata Brusa, online, Cantus Network. Libri ordinarii of the Salzburg metropolitan province, https://gams.uni-graz.at/context:cantus .
[6] Modern edition in Hofmeister-Winter 2001. This regulation of the sixteenth century informs about various processions with the participation of children, and about the ancient, widely-known custom of “Kindelwiegen” (child-rocking) which at Bressanone was reserved for the masters and students of the cathedraL school: see » A. Kap. Kindelwiegen.
[7] San Candido/Innichen, Collegiate Foundation, manuscript viii b 3. Although compiled as late as 1614, the volume contains descriptions of partly much older customs, for example the many processions in the streets of the town in choirboys were singing. A compact survey of these processions and chants is offered in Gabrielli 2020, 15-23 at 22, online, https://musicadocta.unibo.it/article/view/11927.
[9] Boynton 2008, 37-48 at 47.
[10] Der „Liber ordinarius Brixinensis“, ed. Gionata Brusa, in: Cantus Network – semantisch erweiterte digitale Edition der Libri ordinarii der Metropole Salzburg, Wien/Graz 2019, online, <gams.uni-graz.at/o:cantus.brixen>, 128.
[11] Liber ordinarius Brixinensis, Festum innocentum [sic].
[12] See Mackenzie 2011.
[13] Noggler 1885, 16-18.
[14] Büchner 2019, 31.
[15] Strohm 1993, 294-296. For a definition, see Rudolf Flotzinger, Ansingen, in: Oesterreichisches Musiklexikon online, founded by Rudolf Flotzinger, ed. Barbara Boisits, online, https://musiklexikon.ac.at/0xc1aa5576_0x0001f702 (2002).
[17] It is interesting to note that the customs of both the Boy Bishop and the “Ansingen” were analogous to the annual springtime feasts of the Roman schola cantorum of the first Christian centuries, particularly the cornomania (a feast of undoubtedly pagan origins, when the sacristans disguised themselves as bishops) and the laudes puerorum at Easter, sung by the students in the streets on Easter Saturday for eggs and other gifts. On the extra-liturgical songs of the schola cantorum see Dyer 2008, 19-36 at 22-23.
[19] Ibidem.
[20] Obermair 2008, 65, no. 967.
[21] F-Sn Ms. allemands 187. The manuscript, formerly presumed lost, has been located by Hannes Obermair, who gave a first description of it in Obermair 2005.
[23] F-Sn Ms. allemands 187 (Obermair 2008), f. 122v.
[24] On the different types of students in Tyrolean schools of the period, see also Post 1993, 34-35.
[25] A polyphonic setting of the antiphon (which belongs to the Song of Songs) is extant in the manuscript fragment from Muri-Gries: » F. Schlaglicht: Das Bozner Fragment.
[27] Strohm 1993, 295; see also » A. Gesänge zu Weihnachten.
[30] The expression “für sich” is interpeted here as implying a “separate” action outside the liturgical context.
Empfohlene Zitierweise:
Giulia Gabrielli: „Children’s Processions in Tyrol“, in: Musikleben des Spätmittelalters in der Region Österreich, <https://musical-life.net/kapitel/childrens-processions-tyrol> (2023)