Nibelungenlied: Opening lines; group dance

About the scene and clip:
The performer sings the opening lines of The Nibelungenlied, which introduce the themes of the work and the central female character of Kriemhild; he sings and reads the text, accompanying himself on an Irish harp and using appropriate music from the medieval period. The clip then briefly shows a group dancing a medieval round-dance step in a garden, while the performer plays the melody of the epic on the hurdy-gurdy. The Nibelungenlied is sung here to a melody called the “Hildebrandston,” known to be very close to the original melody of the epic. It is not certain if the Nibelungenlied was ever used for dancing, but on the Faroe Islands (between Scotland and Iceland), in a practice dating back many centuries, Nibelungen ballads are still today both sung and danced; those dances inspired this performance.

About the work:
The Nibelungenlied, or Song of the Nibelungs, is an anonymous German epic composed around 1200, probably by a professional poet or entertainer for performance in a court in Bavaria or Austria. This violent poem draws both on Germanic legends and on historical events of the distant past; it recounts the love and marriage between Siegfried and Kriemhild, a Burgundian queen of the Nibelung dynasty; the great quarrel between Kriemhild and her sister-in-law Brunhild; the treacherous murder of Siegfried; Kriemhild’s marriage to Etzel (Attila the Hun), her violent revenge for Siegfried’s death, and her death. The Niebelungenlied is composed in 4-line strophes of rhymed couplets. The long lines of somewhat irregular length have 7 accented syllables to a line for the first 3 lines of the strophe, and 8 for the last line. Over 30 manuscripts preserve this lengthy epic, in 3 main versions. It is known that the Nibelungenlied was originally sung, and a surviving melody called the “Hildebrandston” is believed to be very close to the original melody for the epic.

About the genre:
The epic is an ancient genre and is found in almost every culture. It is a long heroic narrative that tells of war and great deeds. Epics are generally composed in verse, and sung from memory or improvised in performance by professional performers with instrumental accompaniment. These narratives are created from traditional elements, commonly without recourse to writing, by poets whose names are often unknown to us. Among the famous traditional epics are the Iliad and the Odyssey, attributed to Homer; the Anglo-Saxon Beowulf; and the Old French Song of Roland. Many known poets adopt epic forms and themes for their literary verse (such as Virgil in his Aeneid).

About the edition/translation:
Das Nibelungenlied, ed. Karl Bartsch & Helmut de Boor/ trans. Siegfried Grosse, Stuttgart, Reclam, 2003. The most accessible English edition is the prose translation by A.T. Hatto, The Nibelungenlied, Penguin Classics, Harmondsworth/Middlesex, 1969. Poetic translations of this work also exist; the attractive poetic translation by George Henry Needler is currently (October 2004) available on-line: http://gutenberg.teleglobe.net/etext05/niebn10h.htm

About the performer/ensemble:
Eberhard Kummer, a professional musician and a retired lawyer from Vienna, has been performing works of the German Middle Ages for many years, accompanying himself on the harp, hurdy-gurdy and other instruments. The dancers are Prof. Ulrich Müller of the University of Salzburg, who arranged for Kummer’s performance in New York, and members of the audience.

About the production:
This clip comes from a performance of Middle High German works by Eberhard Kummer at New York University in May 2004. The performance was videoed by NYU-TV at the New York University Deutsches Haus and in its garden. This production was made in cooperation with the “Interdisciplinary Center for Medieval Studies” at the University of Salzburg, Austria.

Rose or Dole: Scenes

About the scene and clip:
This clip shows five scenes from the “Teaching Medieval Romance through Video Performance” video of The Romance of the Rose or of Guillaume de Dole. The first scene shows rejoicing, dancing and singing in the court of the Emperor Conrad. In the second scene, Conrad has just fallen madly in love with Lienor after hearing her beauty and virtue praised by Jouglet, and he sings about his love while Jouglet plays the vielle. The third scene shows Lienor singing a “chanson de toile” (a weaving song) for her family and guests. These three scenes emphasize the ways in which songs sung by the characters in the romance, along with instrumental music and dancing, have been inserted by the poet into the narrative. This video takes special interest in the musical sv rolex day date m118348 0149 mens 36mm automatic dimension of The Romance of the Rose or of Guillaume de Dole. In the fifth scene, the narrator (Jouglet) reads the text aloud while manuscript illuminations illustrate the romance account of a great tournament at St. Trond and instrumental music creates the appropriate ambiance of sound.

About the work:
The Romance of the Rose or of Guillaume de Dole is a verse romance in octosyllabic rhymed couplets, composed by Jean Renart in northern France early in the 13th century. This is apparently the first romance into which songs were inserted. These songs, representing some thirty-five lyric genres, are represented as sung by the minstrel Jouglet and by various characters. The romance itself recounts the love from afar of the Emperor Conrad for Lienor and his desire to marry her; it also tells of his friendship for her brother, Guillaume. False accusations by the evil seneschal (a high court official) threaten Lienor’s marriage to the Emperor, but she cleverly foils the seneschal, regains her honor, and contrives her wedding and a happy ending.

About the genre:
Medieval romances are typically long narratives of love and adventure in which an aristocratic hero (or occasionally a heroine) proves himself in combat and courtship. Medieval romance arose in France and Anglo-Norman England in the 12th century and spread through Western and even Eastern Europe. Many early romances tell the stories of knights and https://www.vape-o-rama.com/ ladies at King Arthur’s court. In the 12th and 13th centuries, romances are composed in verse (typically octosyllabic rhymed couplets), and are commonly performed aloud from memory by minstrels; romances are also sometimes read aloud. In the 13th century, some romances begin to be written in prose; public and private readings become more frequent.

About the edition/translation:
Text translated and abridged by Switten. Original: Le roman de la Rose ou de Guillaume de Dole, ed. Félix Lecoy, Paris, Champion, 1966. See also the dual-language (Old French/English) edition, Le roman de la rose ou de Guillaume de Dole/The Romance of the Rose or of Guillaume de Dole, ed./trans. Regina Psaki, New York, Garland, 1995.

About the performer/ensemble:
The Folger Consort, based in Washington DC and associated with the Folger Library, is a chamber music ensemble which plays music from the 12th to the 18th century; the instrumentalists are often joined by guest singers. The performers were (1993) and remain (2004) professional actors and singers who perform widely, often with ensembles such as the Folger Consort and Hesperus. Their updated bios are available online.

About the production:
This multi-scene clip is drawn from “Teaching Medieval Romance through Video Performance,” a project supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities and Mount Holyoke College. Project directors were Margaret Switten and Robert Eisenstein; stage direction was by Michael Tolaydo. Production: Sheffield Audio-Video Productions, 1993; Robert Bender, video producer. A copy of this video is available at the Avery Fisher Center in Bobst Library at New York University.

Beowulf: Beowulf boasts; Hrothgar recalls Grendel’s assaults

About the scene and clip:
In this scene, Beowulf boasts of his strength and expresses his intention to rid the Danes of the evil monster, Grendel; King Hrothgar then recalls Grendel’s terrible assaults on his hall in the past.

The solo performer uses all facets of the voice—including singing, speaking, heightened speech and even unusual sounds–and combines these with the use of a six-stringed harp (an instrument with strings of equal length, sometimes known today as a lyre) which is tuned in the “mode” of the epic, a reconstruction based on our knowledge of medieval musical practice and theory. The resulting six tones do not yield “melodies” as such, but rather a large collection of modal gestures which provide the vocalist with his primary musical material. The performer accompanies himself at times, and at other times uses the instrument to create certain modal effects, denote the passage of time, the introduction of a new character, a change of scene, etc.

About the work:
Beowulf, an Old English epic that was written down in the early 11th century, may actually date from as early as the 7th century, and is one of the great surviving medieval epics. While we cannot know who “created” the written version, it is clear that the text has its roots in an older oral tradition of epic storytelling. This type of Germanic verse is recognizable by the structural unity of its unrhymed alliterative lines, each line containing four stressed syllables.

It tells of the mighty struggles between the legendary hero Beowulf and three great supernatural monsters: first Grendel, then Grendel’s mother, and finally the Dragon. This song also sings of Beowulf’s great leadership and loyalty panerai luminor gmt replica and of the virtues for which he was famed.

About the genre:
The epic is an ancient genre and is found in almost every culture. It is a long heroic narrative which tells of war and great deeds. Epics are generally composed in verse, and sung from memory or improvised in performance by professional performers with instrumental accompaniment. These narratives are created from traditional elements, commonly without recourse to writing, by poets whose names are often unknown to us. Among the famous traditional epics are the Iliad and the Odyssey, attributed to Homer; the Anglo-Saxon Beowulf; and the Old French Song of Roland. Many known poets adopt epic forms and themes for their literary verse (such as Virgil in his Aeneid).

About the edition/translation:
Bagby based his performance on Beowulf, ed. Friedrich Klaeber, 3rd ed., Lexington, MA, Heath, 1950, lines 99ff. There are many English translations of this famous work.

About the performer/ensemble:
The American vocalist and medievalist Benjamin Bagby directs Sequentia, the ensemble for medieval music which he founded givenchy bracelets replications for sale together with the late Barbara Thornton in 1977. In addition to his work with Sequentia, Bagby is widely known for his solo performances of the Beowulf epic. He lives in Paris. See www.sequentia.org and www.BagbyBeowulf.com.

About the production:
This clip is taken from a video of a performance of Beowulf by Bagby which took place at the Angel Orensanz Center for the Arts in New York City in April 2003, sponsored by the People’s Poetry Gathering. The performance was videoed by NYU-TV.

A DVD of a different performance of Beowulf by Bagby can be purchased at www.BagbyBeowulf.com.