Maienzeit bannet Leid (Neidhart von Reuental, c. 1220)

  1. Martin Jonas
    Martin Jonas
    Neidhart von Reuental (c. 1190 - c. 1237) was one of the most famous German minnesingers (troubadours), and the one who left the largest number of melodies behind. This one is his best-known one, a lively dance tune originally with Middle High German words, although I'm playing it as an instrumental. The title translates as "Maytime banishes sorrow". Source:

    http://www.kstez.de/Maienzeit_bannet_Leid.pdf

    Mid-Missouri M-0W mandolin
    Vintage Viaten tenor guitar



    Martin
  2. Frithjof
    Frithjof
    Great powerful playing, Martin. That give us hope for the next year.
    (Btw., I guess Neidhart died 1237 )
  3. Martin Jonas
    Martin Jonas
    Thanks, Frithjof! You're right, it was a typo in Neidhart's death year -- now corrected and link to Wikipedia entry added.

    Martin
  4. Christian DP
    Christian DP
    Incredible, that this music is so old.
    I alwys thought, that notation came with the Renaissance era.
    Sounds very impressive, fine playing.
  5. Martin Jonas
    Martin Jonas
    Thanks, Christian. Music notation as we would recognise it today dates from the renaissance, but it evolved from medieval predecessors, the earliest of which are from about the 11th century. They're largely concerned with pitch, so rhythm and pulse can be a bit ambiguous. I'm not sure precisely how much of this transcription can be legitimately traced to a Neidhart manuscript and what is later interpretation, but the basic tune at least sounds more or less the same in all the various recorded versions online, although tempo and accompaniment style vary a lot.

    Martin
  6. Gelsenbury
    Gelsenbury
    I absolutely love this! I learn tunes so slowly that my to-do list is already painfully long, but this needs to be added. Thanks for pointing us to the download. I'll post a version here in about 3 years or so!
  7. Simon DS
    Simon DS
    Really nice Martin, I love this tune too!
    -it has that feeling of something that has been known for many years by many people.
  8. Martin Jonas
    Martin Jonas
    Thanks, Dennis and Simon. Yes, it's a fun tune. Check out Youtube for other recorded settings, which tend to vary quite a lot in style. For mine, I've used an accompaniment on the root and fifth only (no third), for more mock-medieval harmonies.

    Martin
  9. Gelsenbury
    Gelsenbury
    It didn't take me quite as long as I'd feared!

  10. Martin Jonas
    Martin Jonas
    That's a wonderful recording, Dennis! When you started with solo mandolin I was expecting a simple run through the tune so it came as a surprise to get all these other medieval instruments coming in. Psaltery, recorder, rauschpfeife (or shawm?) and OM, I believe. And then of course the singing: we don't get enough vocals here in the SAW group! Well done!

    Martin
  11. Frithjof
    Frithjof
    You gave your recording a nice medieval feeling, Dennis. With these vocals you are our SAW bard now.
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