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342 CURIOSITIES OF MUSIC.
i " Do man der rehten minne pflag Da pflag man ouch der ehren; Nu mag man naht und tag
Die bbsen sitte lei en: Swer dis nu siht, und jens do sach,
O we! was der nu clagen mag Tugende wend sich nu verkehren."
u When true love had its proper sway, Then honour too, was nourished
But now by night and day All evil ways are cherished,
Who knows the past and present way, Oh Woe! how well complain he may
Since every virtue now has perished."
Almost all the lays of the minne-singers were written in the Swabian dialect which was then the court language of Germany. As a rule, their grace and elegance of diction was superior to that of the troubadours. They did not, like the latter, hire accompanists, or jongleurs, but played their own accompaniments on a viol. As in the South, emperors, princes, and knights, were proud to be known as minne-singers.
There exists a little epigram (ascribed to Frederic II.,) which we are tempted to reproduce, as it gives an insight to the qualities which were esteemed at that time.
" I like a cavalier Frances,* And a Catalonian dame; The courtesy of the Genoese And Castilian dignity • French. |
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