20 - 21 September 2025
A Jewish Minnesinger in Medieval Germany
Süßkind von Trimberg (~1230-1300) is the only Jewish poet whose songs in Middle High German and whose portrait we find in the famous Manesse manuscript, alongside those of Walther von der Vogelweide, Wolfram von Eschenbach and Neidhart von Reuental.
There is just a dozen songs under his name, but they form a solid base for further research into this repertoire. He is a fascinating figure, since he is an exact contemporary of the crusades which sparked antisemitic attacks and pogroms along the Rhine valley, namely in Mainz, Speyer and Worms. This was the beginning of the Jewish exodus towards the East, towards Poland and the Baltic lands. Trimberg, close to Bad Kissingen in Franconia was a bit remote and not touched, but certainly the news traveled fast. Süsskind's song reflect on the difficulties of life.
We'll be analyzing the texts and try to find musical forms for them. Also we shall develop an idea of Jewish life in Germany, that had started once the Romans went there, around 600 years before there were 'Germans'. (It were just tribes moving around and mixing with others from the North and East).
This workshop addresses language scholars, singers and musicians. You should be comfortable reading aloud the poetry and feel free improvising music.
Instrument that would be typical are vielle, harp, transverse flute, symphonia (hurdy-gurdy) and citole.
Further reading:
Friedrich Torberg, Süßkind von Trimberg, a novel, well researched and written, Knaur
Dietrich Gerhardt, Süßkind von Trimberg, bringing up all the contraversies about Süsskind's origin and the way literature scholars delt with him. Peter Lang Publ.
Jewish Travelers in the Middle Ages, 19 firsthand accounts, Elkan Nathan Adler Ed., Dover