Shepherd dance

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Schäfflertanz in Munich, 1863

The Schäfflertanz is a guild dance of the Schäffler (barrel coopers, barrel makers) who dance set figures to music. It was originally created in Munich . From 1830 onwards, the custom spread through traveling shepherd journeyman also outside of Munich and is now common in many places in the old Bavarian region.

Dancers and dance figures

Schäfflertanz in January 2012 in Neuhausen

Originally, only unmarried apprentices with good repute were allowed to take part in the shepherd's dance, but not master shepherds or their sons. It was not until the 1960s that married and non-professional dancers had to be admitted in order to maintain the tradition.

Schäfflertanz 2019, dance with the tires

In addition to the dancers, there are lead dancers, barrel hits (who hit barrels with hammers), jokers ("Kasperl" who, for example, " derble " the local celebrities ) and tire swingers. The tire swingers swing wooden tires in which a full wine or schnapps glass (sometimes two or three) stands on a small bulge , without spilling anything. Apart from the jokers who wear a colorful costume , everyone is dressed in the shepherd's costume with black shoes, white knee socks, black knee breeches, apron leather, red jacket and green cap with white plumage.

The dance groups sometimes give more than 20 performances a day. At the last performance of the season there is dancing with torches at night , one or more of the dancing hoops are broken and thrown into the audience.

Dance melody

The dance melody of the so-called Second or New Munich Schäfflertanz from 1886 was composed by Johann Wilhelm Siebenkäs (born August 29, 1826 in Fürth ; † March 7, 1888 in Nuremberg ), who was music master in the music corps of the Royal Bavarian 1st Infantry from 1856 to 1875. Regiment "König" was in Munich. The first or the old Munich shepherd's dance , which is no longer played with the shepherd's dance today, is a composition by music master of the Munich garrison Peter Streck (born April 23, 1797 in Gersfeld ; † August 23, 1864 in Munich).

history

origin

The Munich Schäfflertanz is documented for the first time in 1702.

There is an origin legend according to which the dance in Munich is said to have been performed for the first time in 1517 during a plague epidemic in order to calm down the population, who hardly dared to go out on the streets due to the plague, and to get public life back on track. However, this legend was probably not created until the 19th century. It is doubted that there was even a plague epidemic in Munich in 1517, as the death records for this year do not show any noticeable death rates.

Performances since 1760

The original schedule is unclear. Since 1760 the play has been performed every seven years - currently in 2019, the next time again in 2026 - during the carnival season . Why every seven years is not clear; Assumptions are aimed at an increased occurrence of the plague every seven years, which one wanted to contain through the dance, the seven as the lucky number or Duke Wilhelm IV , who gave the shepherds the right to perform their dance every seven years. According to this, the ducal order should have prevented the festivals from taking hold, especially since many other guilds also had their traditional festivals.

Spread in the 19th century

From around 1830 onwards, the shepherd's dance also found its way to other places in the old Bavarian region through traveling journeyman shepherds. In many places, the gymnastics clubs that emerged at this time took up the Munich tradition and have since performed the shepherd's dance every seven years. These places include Arbing , Arnstorf , Aschheim , Asenham , Bad Griesbach im Rottal (shifted by five years), Berchtesgaden , Burgkirchen an der Alz , Dinkelscherben , Eggenfelden , Eichstätt (shifted by three years), Ergoldsbach, Eschelbach / Ilm, Frontenhausen , Geiselhöring , Geisenfeld , Großmehring , Ingolstadt , Ismaning , Kelheim , Kirchheim near Munich , Kraiburg am Inn , Kolbermoor , Kulmbach , Landau an der Isar , Landshut , Mainburg , Moosburg an der Isar , Mühldorf am Inn , Murnau am Staffelsee , Nonnenhorn am Bodensee, Osseltshausen , Partenkirchen , Peißenberg , Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm , Pleinting , Rottenburg an der Laaber , Schierling , Schwarzach , Stadtprozelten , Taufkirchen (Vils) , Traunstein , Velden , Haag in Upper Bavaria , Wasserburg am Inn and Wemding .

Figurative representations

The Schäffler's dance is shown on the lower floor of the carillon at Munich's New Town Hall .

The shepherd's dance is depicted both in the carillon on Munich's New Town Hall and in one of the reliefs on the so-called Wurmeck . Furthermore, at the Schäfflereck (the intersection of Schäfflerstrasse, Weinstrasse and Theatinerstrasse) there are two individual Schäffler figures in traditional dancers' attire as house symbols.

The Schäffler dance on the Schäfflerbrunnen in Augsburg

The bronze Schäffler Fountain in Augsburg also depicts the Schäffler dance as the main motif.

Web links

Commons : Schäfflertanz  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Opening of the exhibition Folk Music in Bavaria. In: OPACplus. Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, accessed on August 5, 2019 .
  2. ↑ 1992 - Dance music around 1850 in Upper Bavaria. In: Folk music archive of the Upper Bavaria district. Folk music archive and folk music maintenance of the Upper Bavaria district, accessed on August 5, 2019 .
  3. ↑ (G) AUDI MAX - the symphony concert of a different kind. (PDF; 878 KiB) Jugendorchester Grafing e. V., 2008, p. 2 , accessed on August 5, 2019 .
  4. ↑ a b c Sabine Reithmaier: Schäfflertanz & Perchtenlauf: Alive traditions and customs in Old Bavaria . 1st edition. Süddeutsche Zeitung, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-86615-729-3 , pp. 23 .
  5. ↑ Bianca Marklstorfer: Dancing with the Schäfflers is an honor . In: Landshuter Zeitung . November 7, 2011 ( idowa.de ( memento of September 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive )).
  6. ↑ Schäfflertanz. In: Website of the Ismaning Bauerntheater. Bauerntheater Ismaning e. V., accessed on May 30, 2019 .