Sempach song

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Sempach Song is the title of two songs that sing about the Swiss victory in the Battle of Sempach (1386). The older song is the earliest mention of Arnold Winkelried's deed .

The older song is a late medieval poem, probably written around 1470, which has been preserved in various versions in the Swiss chronicles of the 16th century. The best-known version, the so-called Halbsuterlied, has 63 stanzas. The song was quoted first by Melchior Russ (1488) and later by Wernher Schodeler (1515), Aegidius Tschudi (1536) and other chroniclers. The Halbsuterlied was printed in 1599 by Rudolf Wyssenbach (before 1527-1572) in Zurich . As is usual with pre-modern songs, the half-uterus song is not made of one piece, but rather represents a conglomerate of additions that were in flux at the time of going to press. The research of the 19th century made attempts to reconstruct the original, probably much shorter song by Hans Halbsuter, but did not come to any conclusive result. In this context, Lorenz should be mentioned, who split the song into four parts.

Little is known for sure about the author Hans (or Hensli) Halbsuter. Based on the last of the 63 stanzas, a kind of colophon , it was speculated that Halbsuter fought in the Battle of Nancy or another battle of the Burgundian Wars and drew a parallel between this and the Battle of Sempach 90 years ago. The stanza in question reads from Wernher Steiner:

Half-utter unforgotten /
so he is called /
he sat at Lucerne /
he recognized something /
hey, he was a biderman / this
song he made / when he came from the battle.

The Lucerne state archivist Theodor von Liebenau said: “Halbsuter only sang about Winkelried's death as a victim when he came home from the battle of Grandson and Murten, but instead of his life lost his health and workforce.” Tobler contradicts this view.

The modern Sempacherlied, which is best known today, is a poem by Heinrich Bosshard , dated around 1836, i.e. during the Swiss Regeneration . The melody is a composition by Ulrich Wehrli . This song is also about Winkelried. The first stanza reads:

Let us hear from the old days of
bold ancestors' heroic struggle, of
spear weight and wild sword fighting, of
slaughter dust and hot blood vapor.
Today we sing a holy song,
It is meant for the hero Winkelried.

See also

literature

  • Hans Halbsuter: Song of the battle proclaim before Sempach, located in Lucerner Biet. Rudolff Wyssenbach, Zurich 1599.
  • Jakob Bucher:  Halbsuter, Hans . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 10, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1879, p. 405 f.
  • Alois Lütolf: Lucerne battle song poet in the 15th century, especially Hans Halbsuter and the Sempacherlied. In: History friend. 1862.
  • Ludwig Tobler: Swiss folk songs; with introduction and comments. Frauenfeld 1882.
  • Kaspar Kreis: The Sempacherlied with the life pictures of the composer Hans Ulrich Wehrli and the poet Heinrich Bosshard. Zürcherische Liederbuchanstalt, Zurich 1886.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Adalbert Quadt : Lute music from the Renaissance. According to tablature ed. by Adalbert Quadt. Volume 1 ff. Deutscher Verlag für Musik, Leipzig 1967 ff .; 4th edition ibid 1968, Volume 2, p. 65.
  2. ↑ Germania IV 173-179
  3. ↑ Das Alte Luzern , 1881, p. 266.
  4. ↑ Ludwig Tobler: Swiss folk songs; with introduction and comments. Frauenfeld 1882. p. 222.