Heinrich von Morungen (died 1222)[1] was aMinnesinger, whose 35 survivingMiddle High German songs are dated on both literary and biographical grounds to around the period 1190–1200.[2] AlongsideWalter von der Vogelweide andReinmar he is regarded as one of the most important Minnesänger:[3] he was "the most colourful, passionate, tender and musical of the Minnesänger"[4] and his work "marks a new and brilliantly effective stage in the development of the German lyric."[5]
Morungen is identified with theHendricus de Morungen who is mentioned in two charters ofDietrich I, Margrave of Meissen. ThisHendricus presumably originated from the castle of Morungen nearSangerhausen inSaxony-Anhalt, a location consistent with the language of the songs.[2][6] As a "retired knight" (miles emeritus) he received from his patron Dietrich, also a patron ofWalter von der Vogelweide,[7] a pension for his"high personal merits" (alta suae vitae merita). In 1213 he transferred this to the monastery ofSt Thomas in Leipzig, which he entered himself in 1217. According to a 16th century source based on the records of the monastery, he died there in 1222.[2] The same source reports a certainly apocryphal story of a visit to India.[7][8]
In theLate Middle Ages, there was extant a ballad ofDer edele Möringer ("The Noble Moringer"), which transferred to Heinrich von Morungen the stock theme of the return of a husband believed lost.[8]
The manuscript tradition preserves 115 strophes of Morungen's, constituting 35 songs. He is represented in the three main Minnesang manuscripts:.[8][9]
Four other manuscripts have small amounts of additional material:
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An essential theme in Morungen's work is the demonic nature ofMinne, theMiddle High German word for this type of love, which for the mediaeval writers was embodied by the ancient classical goddess of love,Venus.Minne is experienced partly as a magical, pathological, even fatal power, but also as a religious and mystical experience.
Morungen is a very graphic lyricist: he particularly often makes use of images of shining (sun, moon, evening star, gold, jewels, mirror) as comparisons by which to describe the lady who is being sung and praised.
In form and content the poems are influenced by theProvençaltroubadour lyric:dactylic rhythms and through-rhymes (Durchreimung) occur frequently. Motifs in the content have also been taken over from the same source: for example, the motif, otherwise rare in German Minnesang, of the "notice of termination of the service of love" (Lied XXVII), the roots of which are to be found inclassical literature (for exampleOvid).
Although Morungen is explicitly named in the works of later poets more rarely than Walther or Reinmar, his surviving corpus of 35 songs is larger than that of any contemporary Minnesänger other than these two, and his influence on the Minnesang tradition was considerable.[12][3]
| Song I[a] | Si ist ze allen êren | MF 122,1[b] |
| Song II | Mîn liebeste und ouch mîn êrste | MF 123,10 |
| Song III | Het ich tugende niht sô vil | MF 124,32 |
| Song IV | In sô hôher swebender wunne | MF 125,19 |
| Song V | Von den elben | MF 126,8 |
| Song VI a | West ich, ob ez verswîget möhte sîn | MF 127,1 |
| Song VI b | Der alsô vil geriefe | MF 127,12 |
| Song VII | Ez ist site der nahtegal | MF 127,34 |
| Song VIII | Sach ieman die vrouwen | MF 129,14 |
| Song IX | Sîn hiez mir nie widersagen | MF 130,9 |
| Song X | Ich hân sî vür alliu wîp | MF 130,21 |
| Song XI a | Ich bin iemer ander und niht eine | MF 131,25 |
| Song XI b | Ich bin iemer ander, niht der eine | MF 131,25 |
| Song XII | Ist ir liep mîn leit und mîn ungemach | MF 132,27 |
| Song XIII | Leitlîche blicke | MF 133,17 |
| Song XIV | Mîn herze, ir schoene und diu minne | MF 134,6 |
| Song XV | Ez tuot vil wê | MF 134,14 |
| Song XVI | Wê, wie lange sol ich ringen | MF 135,9 |
| Song XVII | Owê, war umbe volg ich tumbem wâne | MF 136,1 |
| Song XVIII | Diu vil guote | MF 136,25 |
| Song XIX | Vrowe, wilt du mich genern | MF 137,10 |
| Song XX | Vrowe, mîne swaere sich | MF 137,17 |
| Song XXI | Ob ich dir vor allen wîben | MF 137,37 |
| Song XXII | Ich waene, nieman lebe | MF 138,17 |
| Song XXIII | Ich hôrte ûf der heide | MF 139,19 |
| Song XXIV | Solde ich iemer vrowen leit | MF 140,11 |
| Song XXV | Uns ist zergangen | MF 140,32 |
| Song XXVI | Mich wundert harte | MF 141,15 |
| Song XXVII | Si hât mich verwunt | MF 141,37 |
| Song XXVIII | Ich bin keiser âne krône | MF 142,19 |
| Song XXIX | Wie sol vröidelôser tage | MF 143,4 |
| Song XXX | Owê, sol aber mir iemer mê | MF 143,22 |
| Song XXXI | Hât man mich gesehen in sorgen | MF 144,17 |
| Song XXXII | Mir ist geschehen als einem kindelîne | MF 145,1 |
| Song XXXIII1 | Ich wil ein reise | MF 145,35 |
| Song XXXIII2 | Ich wil immer singen | MF 146,11 |
| Song XXXIV | Vil süeziu senftiu toeterinne | MF 147,4 |
| Song XXXV | Lange bin ich geweset verdâht | MF 147,17 |
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| Carl Orff | ||
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