Valentin Voith

Valentin Voith (also: Voigt ; * 1487 or 1488 in Chemnitz ; † after 1558 in Magdeburg ) was a German poet of dramas, sayings and master songs.

Life

Voith is recorded as a student at the University of Wittenberg in 1507, and as a "Ziesemeister" in 1541, ie as a tax collector in Magdeburg. The last known evidence comes from the year 1558. In that year he completed his large, calligraphic master song manuscript, which is now in the Jena University Library . He dedicated it to Duke Johann Friedrich II of Saxony and his two brothers Johann Wilhelm I of Saxe-Weimar and Johann Friedrich III.

He also worked as a playwright, in 1537 with Esther and in 1538 with the game of people . These dramas can be classified in the series of Magdeburg school dramas. He also wrote proverbs and in 1550 put on a collection of songs under the title "Spiritual Ringeltänze".

His greatest work, however, is a collection of master songs, the songs of which he composed himself from 1535 and 1558 and which contains an impressive number of 351 songs. In them he dealt with the genealogy of the dukes of Saxony, interpreted verses from Genesis, dealt with church holidays and the psalteries. The melody part of the manuscript, which contains a total of 73 melody recordings of master notes, is of particular importance. It is the most extensive collection of Meistersinger melodies from the 16th century. In the preface of the book there is an extensive list of Mastersingers, which come from the sources of the Nürnberg Mastersingers Konrad Nachtigall and Hans Sachs .

In 1924, Otto Clemen , the director of the Zwickau Ratsschulbibliothek, identified Valentin Voith as the author of a small, anonymously published dialogue entitled A conversation between the gentleman and Sanct Peter von der Present Welt Lauff , which first appeared in 1559 and then several times into the 17th century was reissued (see below under web links). However, from the date of publication it cannot be concluded with certainty that Voith was still alive at the time.

Voith was married and had two sons, Johannes and Jakob, who studied in Wittenberg in 1542 and 1546 and died of the plague in 1548 .

literature

• Otto Clemen : Sayings from the master singer Valentin Voith from Chemnitz . In: Small writings on the history of the Reformation, ed. by Ernst Koch. Leipzig 1984, Vol. 5, pp. 178-184. First in: New Archive for Saxon History 42 (1924), pp. 130-136.
• Hugo Holstein :  Voith, Valten . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 40, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1896, p. 223.
• Walther Killy : Literature Lexicon. Authors and works in German . (15 volumes) Gütersloh; Munich: Bertelsmann-Lexikon-Verl. 1988–1991 (CD-ROM Berlin 1998 ISBN 3-932544-13-7 )
• Paul Uhle : The playwright and master singer Valentin Voith from Chemnitz , in: Festschrift for the twenty-five year anniversary of the Association for Chemnitz History. IX. Yearbook of the Society for Chemnitz History, Chemnitz 1897, pp. 159–192.

Web links

• Literature by and about Valentin Voith in the catalog of the German National Library
• Valentin Voith: A conversation between the gentleman and Sanct Peter from the current world Lauff , Eisleben 1562 in Cinquecentine.de