Bolzano School Regulation for Christmas Processions, original and translation
The original text of the regulation for the Bolzano parish school (1424) for the itinerary of Ansingen processions after Christmas, 1424 (Hasler’s Urbar, f. 135r-v: » E. Kap. Das Urbar der Bozner Pfarrkirche).
(Item one begins on St Stephen’s Day after Christmas to sing separately after Vespers[30] near the corner house on the Platz, inhabited by Ulreich Gredner, which used to be Hainreich’s am Ortt, and one sings this same lane all the way down until the New Chapel, then turning around in the other lane upwards, singing until the house of Englein Noder, where one leaves it for the present day.)
(Item on the following second day, separately after High Mass, one begins to sing at Englein Noders house and thus the lane all the way up to the Platz and on the same side towards Härtlein Schmid the Cobbler’s lane all the way down until the hospital tavern, where one turns round to sing at the Kälein’s or Hanns Vintler’s house, taking the other Cobbler’s lane up again to the Platz, and from the Platz on the same side at Reiner Schuester’s house outwards through the exterior meat market before the town gate until the customs bar, and from the customs bar on the same side inwards again through Meat Lane again back to the Platz, where one sends two or three who sing in the Rauschgasse and the lanes along St Martin’s brook through to the Parfusser. Meanwhile, one begins again to sing from the Platz upwards towards the Parfusser, thus singing from Platz upwards both lanes; [then] the Hintergasse down until the house of Andres at the customs bar. After this, one begins to sing the rest of the lane called Am Obern Graben, where the Rittner and Sigmund am Turm are living, where the second day is completed.)
(Item on the third day one begins, separately after High Mass, to sing in the Wangergasse at Andres’s house at the customs bar, next to the Vintlertor, and through both lanes together down until the gate, where one goes towards the Lower Bathhouse, and from the gate in front of Niderhawss the lane through until the parish, and from the the lane down where one comes to the Mairhoff, and from the Mairhoff one sings both lanes to the Eysagk [Isarco] bridge; from the Kerlein may one go up until the Plassenbergerin. After this one sings throughout the Newnstat and the lanes at the Unterer Graben; on the same day, separately after Vespers, one sings in the parish house and the hospital.
[30] The expression “für sich” is interpeted here as implying a “separate” action outside the liturgical context.
[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)