Bauern-, Tanz- und Straßenlieder im Deutschland circa 1500
Peasant, Dance and Street Songs in Germany / Studio der frühen Musik

medieval.org
Telefunken "Das Alte Werk" SAWT 9486-A
1966
CD, 1998: Teldec "Das Alte Werk" 3984-21 804-2

(A)

Stefan MAHU (c.1490—1540)
1. Es gieng ein wolgezogner knecht  [1:23]
mezzo-soprano, tenor C, 2 viols, lute

2. Es wolt ein meydlin wasser holn  [2:14]
mezzo-soprano, portative, rauschpfeife, crumhorn, viol
3. Ein meidlein tet mir klagen  [1:52]
baritone, 3 viols
4. Ein pauer gab sein son ein weib  [2:31]
mezzo-soprano, tenor R, baritone, kortholt, crumhorn, viol

Ludwig SENFL (c.1480—1542)
5. Es hett ein biderman ein weib  [2:10]
mezzo-soprano, tenors C R, baritone, 4 crumhorns

6. Es wolt ein fraw zum Weine gan  [0:52]
baritone, 3 crumhorns
7. Ich het mir ein endlein fürgenommen  [0:47]
mezzo-soprano, tenor C, viol, lute
8. Die prünle, die da fließen  [1:08]
tenor C, 3 viols

Ludwig SENFL
9. Ich stund an einem morgen  [3:03]
tenor R, portative, viol, lute
10. Es taget vor dem Wald  [1:39]
tenor C, baritone, 3 viols

11. Es warb ein schöner jüngling  [1:41]
mezzo-soprano, 3 viols

Ludwig SENFL
12. Quodlibet. Es taget vor dem Wald - Es warb  [1:04]
mezzo-soprano, tenor C, 2 viols

13. Es ist ein schnee gefallen  [1:38]
mezzo-soprano, lute (arr. Thomas Binkley)

Thomas STOLTZER (c.1480—1526)
14. Entlawbet ist der walde  [4:15]
tenor C, 3 viols


(B)

Ludwig SENFL
15. Ich weiß nit was ehr ihr verhieß  [1:01]
mezzo-soprano, tenor R, baritone, cornetto, viol
16. Im maien  [1:54]
tenor R, flute, portative, viol

17. Den meinen Sack  [1:36]
mezzo-soprano, crumhorn, viol
18. Der Vechlienlin  [2:04]
baritone, 2 crumhorns, viol
19. Ich trau keinm alten - Ach guter gsell  [5:44]
mezzo-soprano, tenor C, rauschpfeife, 2 crumhorns, viol

Ludwig SENFL
20. Im bad wöl wir recht frölich sein  [2:27]
baritone, crumhorn, viol, lute

21. Ich weet en Vrauken amorues  [1:57]
tenor C, rauschpfeife, crumhorn, viol

Ludwig SENFL
22. Ich armes megdlein klag mich ser  [3:40]
mezzo-soprano, 3 viols

23. Nun zu disen zeyten  [1:33]
mezzo-soprano, tenor R, crumhorn, viol
24. Den besten vogel den ich weiß  [1:33]
mezzo-soprano, tenor R, viol, viol

STUDIO DER FRÜHEN MUSIK
Early Music Quartet
Thomas Binkley

Andrea von Ramm, mezzo-soprano, portative
Thomas Binkley, lute, crumhorn, rauschpfeife, kortholt, flute
Willard Cobb, tenor, crumhorn
Sterling Jones, viol, crumhorn


&

Nigel Rogers, tenor (#4, 5, 9, 15, 16, 23, 24)
Karl Heinz Klein, baritone
Johannes Flink, viol
Udo Klotz, viol
Don Smithers, cornetto




Recorded AEG Studio, Munich, Germany,
08/1963 (tracks #4, 5, 9, 15, 16, 23, 24) & 04/1966
Ⓟ 1964 TELDEC
CD, digitally remastered © 1998 TELDEC

Cover: Peasant Dance, painting by Pieter Brueghel the elder (c1525-1569)
(Archiv für Kunst und Geschichte, Berlin)

This is a collection of witty, bucolic, and popular German songs from the early 16th century, the age of the emperor Maximilian and of Dürer, Erasmus, and Luther. They were genuinely popular, and quite different to the serious repertory of the humanists or the love songs of the courts. In fact, the ballads and songs of the townsfolk were full of burlesque fun, satire, and earthy humour. It is true that humanists such as Konrad Celtes and Joachim Vadian criticized certain composers and indeed the frivolity of the whole genre. However, the very same composers continued to be held in high esteem on account of their serious religious music. And arranging popular songs was clearly something which they found rather amusing, for there are numerous examples of a composer making more than one arrangement of the same song.

In fact, making arrangements of what was often simply referred to as "borrowed material" was a standard feature of the contemporary composer's art. (Similarly, research into such arrangements has now become a common musicological pastime.) Regional styles of arrangement were in some ways related to the predominant national style of composition. For example, around 1500 German arrangements were nearly always in four parts, with the melody in the tenor voice. They were designed for a singer accompanied by two treble instruments and a bass. However, the complexity of the various arrangements differed significantly. Although simple settings in the style of a chorale were not uncommon, many composers preferred to weave interesting contrapuntal lines into the accompaniment, and to make extensive use of imitation and canon. In the course of time popular songs began to be turned into unaccompanied madrigals. Sometimes, as in the case of the quodlibet, a number of songs were included in a single madrigal. This heralded the decline of the genre, the success of which had depended on its solo narratives, its charming naivety, and its personal character. Without these features, the songs lack immediacy and a specifically bucolic character.

In the 16th century regional traditions and preferences were the source of major stylistic differences. Thus it is no accident that the styles personified by Dürer and Michelangelo, who were contemporaries, were so strikingly different. In music, stylistic traditions existed not only in the field of composition, but also in that of performance. There were clearly distinct regional styles, which included the preference for certain instruments and the style of singing. In Italy, for example, string instruments were considered to be more "noble" than "vulgar" winds: the Apollonian principle had triumphed over the Dionysian one. For this reason string instruments tended to be used in the aristocratic circles which patronized both composers and performers. However, German aristocrats were obviously not as Apollonian as their Italian counterparts. Nor were their tastes as sophisticated. In Germany instruments were not employed symbolically, and there was no Castiglione to proclaim the nobility and superiority of string instruments.

In Italy and France the culture of the courts was considered to be refined and sophisticated, and that of the street crude and unpolished. However, in Germany a distinction tended to be drawn between the culture of the city (which was deemed to be high) and that of the country (which was considered to be low). Similar traditions and predilections governed the treatment of instruments. Thus the evidence at our disposal can help us to solve the problem of instrumentation. The notion that Renaissance music was not written for specific instruments is questionable, for we know which instruments tended to be grouped together. For example, the trombone and cornett were often used with voices, the lute with viols, the crumhorn with shawms and a trombone, and so on. It is usually possible to discover the best and what was probably the original instrumentation by adhering to such guidelines, and by bearing in mind the character of the instruments and their specific musical qualities.

The music on this CD was popular in origin and popular in character. And it was designed for popular consumption. As such it affords a unique insight into an aspect of life in Renaissance Germany. Its most striking quality is humour, and it depicts common attitudes towards institutions and human frailty which were no doubt shared by contemporary listeners.

Thomas Binkley (1966, rev. 1998)

Teldec "Das Alte Werk" 3984-21 804-2

Vierzig Jahre jung: DAS ALTE WERK

Selten gelingt es, ein Programm über einen solchen Zeitraum immer wieder mit neuem Leben, mit neuen Impulsen zu füllen. Dem ALTEN WERK ist es gelungen. Die Idee: hochprofessionelle Interpretationen auf Originalinstrumenten. 1958 erschienen die ersten Schallplatten des ALTEN WERKS, noch in Mono und aus schwarzem PVC gepreßt. Man hatte eine gute Hand bei der Auswahl der Interpreten: Sie sollten stilbildend werden, und ihre Aufnahmen können heute historischen Rang beanspruchen. Vor allem in Holland wirkende Musiker um Gustav Leonhardt kamen Anfang der 60er Jahre zum ALTEN WERK: So Frans Brüggen, der mit stupender Virtuosität die Blockflöte von den Zwängen des Banalen der Gemeinschaftsmusik befreite. so der Cellist Anner Bylsma und der Geiger Jaap Schröder. Geistesverwandt, wenn auch aus einer ganz anderen Region stammend: Nikolaus Harnoncourt mit seinem Concentus musicus Wien. Der junge Harnoncourt sollte dann auch die wichtigsten künstlerischen Impulse bringen — und er ist seit seinen ersten Aufnahmen für Teldec 1963 dem Label treu geblieben: Von Monteverdi bis zu Mozart reichen seine unzähligen Aufnahmen für das ALTE WERK, die ganze Vielfalt der barocken Musik umfassend. Einen Schwerpunkt bildeten sämtliche geistliche Kantaten Bachs; ein Projekt, das sich Hamoncourt und Leonhardt teilten und das im Bach Jubiläumsjahr 1985 abgeschlossen werden konnte. Von Anfang an hat DAS ALTE WERK Musik auch jener Epochen vorgestellt, die erst in jüngeren Jahren auf breiteres Interesse gestoßen sind: Die Vokalmusik der Renaissance sang die Capella Antiqua München unter der Leitung von Konrad Ruhland. Und Thomas Binkley und sein Studio der Frühen Musik erfüllten mittelalterliche Quellen mit musikantischen Leben. Auch wenn das gesamte Spektrum von Gregorianischen Hymnen und mittelalterlichen Tänzen bis zu Schuberts Sonaten auf dem Fortepiano und den Streichersinfonien des jungen Mendelssohn-Bartholdy im ALTEN WERK erschienen ist: immer stand und steht die Qualität der Musik und ihrer Interpreten im Vordergrund. Das macht die Aufnahmen des ALTEN WERKS, worunter sich viele Ersteinspielungen befinden, so interessant. In neuester Zeit hat DAS ALTE WERK mit dem Cembalisten und Pianisten Andreas Staier, mit dem Concerto Köln und mit dem italienischen Ensemble II Giardino Armonico Künstler vorgestellt, die der alten Idee faszinierend neue Seiten abgewonnen haben. Und es sieht so aus, als ob Das ALTE WERK weiterhin so jung bleibt wie in seinen ersten vierzig Jahren.

In den 60er Jahren entsprachen die vier Musiker des Studios der Frühen Musik rein äußerlich dem normalen Erscheinungsbild des Musikers; die Herren in Fliege und Frack, die Sängerin Andrea von Ramm im Abendkleid. Doch das war alles, was dieses Ensemble mit der herkömmlichen Musik gemein hatte. Man spielte auf so exotischen Instrumenten wie dem Rebec und dem Pommer, und die 1928 geborene Andrea von Ramm sang mit ganz eigentümlicher, fast androgyner Tongebung. Hier erklang eine Musik, die beides war: alt und gleichzeitig unglaublich aktuell. Nicht von ungefähr hatte sich die Sängerin vorher mit neuer Musik beschäftigt. Damit bildete das Studio der Frühen Musik, das der 1931 geborene amerikanische Lautenist Thomas Binkley 1960 in München gründete, einen Stil, der später von Musikern wie David Munrow aufgegriffen wurde und dank der vielen Schallplatten des Ensembles in alle Welt hinausgetragen wurde.

Die Stammbesetzung bestand neben dem 1995 gestorbenen Binkley und Andrea von Ramm aus dem Amerikaner Sterling Jones (alte Streichinstrumente) und dein Engländer Nigel Rogers (Tenor, Schlaginstrumente), der schon bald von einem anderen Engländer, von Willard Cobb, und später dann von Richard Levitt abgelöst wurde.

Die Teldec hatte frühzeitig die Meriten des Ensembles entdeckt und produzierte viele mit den vier Musikern und einer Reihe von «Gastkünstlern« Repertoirelücken des Mittelalters und der Renaissance, Aufnahmen, die durchgängig die Kritik begeisterten. Bis 1977 bestand das Studio der Frühen Musik; in den knapp zwei Jahrzehnten seines Wirkens entstanden etwa 50 Schallplatten — Aufnahmen, die Geschichte gemacht haben.

Martin Elste

Forty Years young: DAS ALTE WERK

Only rarely is it possible to breathe new life into one and the selfsame product over such a lengthy period of time and keep on investing it with new ideas. But DAS ALTE WERK has done just that with its underlying idea of presenting supremely professional performances on period instruments. The first recordings on the DAs ALTE WERK label appeared in 1958 — still in mono and in the form of black vinyl discs. But fate had dealt the label an excellent hand in its choice of performing artists, all of whom were to prove influential in creating a specific style, so that their recordings can now lay claim to historic status. Above all, it was artists living in the Netherlands and associated with the figure of Gustav Leonhardt who came to DAS ALTE WERK in the early 1960s. Here one thinks not only of Frans Brüggen, whose stupendous virtuosity freed the recorder from its banal reputation as an instrument for schoolchildren, but also of the cellist Anner Bylsma and the violinist Jaap Schröder. Spiritually akin to these musicians, but from a different part of Europe, is Nikolaus Harnoncourt and his Vienna Concentus musicus. Indeed, it was the young Harnoncourt who was to provide the label with its most important artistic stimuli and who has remained loyal to Teldec since his very first recordings for the company in 1963. His countless later recordings for DAS ALTE WERK range from Monteverdi to Mozart and cover the whole vast span of Baroque music in all its manifold guises. One particular focus of interest was his complete recording of all Bach's sacred cantatas in the form of a project divided between himself and Gustav Leonhardt and completed in 1985 to mark the tercentenary of the Thomaskantor's birth. From the very outset, DAs ALTE WERK has featured music from periods that only later have met with more widespread interest: Renaissance vocal music, for example, was recorded by the Munich Capella Antigua under the direction of Konrad Ruhland, while Thomas Binkley and his Studio der Frühen Musik breathed new and vibrant life into their medieval goliardic sources. Although the range of music that has appeared on the Dm ALTE WERK label extends from Gregorian chant and medieval dances to Schubert sonatas played on a fortepiano and the young Felix Mendelssohn's string symphonies, it is the quality of the music and its performers that has always been to the fore. It is this — and the fact that Das ALTE WERK has featured many works never previously recorded — that makes these recordings so interesting.

Among recent artists and ensembles to appear on the DAS ALTE WEAK label are the harpsichordist and fortepianist Andreas Staier, the German ensemble Concerto Köln, and the Italian group Il Giardino Annonico, all of whom have shed fascinating new light on the old idea. It looks very much as though DAS ALTE WERK will continue to renew itself and remain as eternally youthful in the future as it has done during its first forty years of existence.

From a purely physical standpoint, the four members of the Studio der Frühen Musik looked just like any other musicians of the 1960s: the men disported themselves in tie and tails, while the soprano Andrea von Ramm wore evening dress. But that was all that these musicians had in common with traditional forms of music-making. They played on exotic instruments such as the rebec and shawm, while Andrea von Ramm's singing had a strange, almost androgynous quality to it. The result was a kind of music that was both old and incredibly new. It was no accident that Andrea von Ramm, who was born in Estonia in 1928, had earlier been associated with contemporary music. In this way, the Studio der Frühen Musik helped to forge a style of performing early music that was later taken up by other musicians such as David Munrow and carried all round the world in the form of the ensemble's innumerable gramophone recordings.

The Studio der Frühen Musik was founded in 1960 by the American lutenist Thomas Binkley (1931-1995) and centred on three performers: Binkley himself, the American string player Sterling Jones and the English tenor Nigel Rogers, who also doubled as percussionist and who was later succeeded by another English musician, Willard Cobb, and, finally, by Richard Levitt.

Teldec discovered the ensemble's qualities at a very early date and made many recordings with the four members of the Studio der Frühen Musik, who were joined on these occasions by a whole series of guest artists and who in this way filled many gaps in the recorded repertory of medieval and Renaissance music, recordings that were invariably enthusiastically received by critics. By the time that the Studio der Frühen Musik was disbanded in 1977 it had made some fifty recordings, all of which made gramophone history.

Martin Elste
Translation: Stewart Spencer