A Party in Augsburg

In the German city of Augsburg, throughout the 16th century, a fascinating tradition took place. The town's dignitaries would dress up in historical costumes, representing their forbears from as early as the 1200s through to their own time. They performed processions and dances, or so it would appear from the several surviving paintings of these occasion. In these portrayals the people are sometimes labelled by name, along with the dates they represent. We can often also see the Stadtspjeiferen (the town band, or Waits, as they were known in England), wearing their liveries and playing shawms and brass instruments. They are often surrounded by other, un-liveried, musicians such as drummers bagpipers and string players, and in one version from 1520 there is even a banner above the band showing a fragment of a dance melody which they presumably played.
 
The steps for German dances of this period are not as well documented at those of Italy, Burgundy or even England, but we do have some tunes. The Hoftanz (related to the Burgundian basse danse) and Tanzmass seem to have been common dance types, and they were each followed by a tripla, a triple time version of the same tune. This bears an obvious resemblance to the bassedance & tourdion or pavan & galliard found in other parts of Europe.
 
This collection of music has been produced for use in a day long workshop where participants can explore the music that might have been heard at such a gathering. The dance music section includes three newly transcribed “Stadtpfeiffertanzen” from the Munich 1512 lute manuscript, two of which have tenor lines that are not unlike the fragment found in the painting mentioned above. Alongside the dances are a selection of song tunes from the same period which work especially well as instrumentals. There is also a small selection of music from further back into German musical history. After all, if the Bergers of Augsburg were dressing up in historical costumes we can imagine that the musicians might also have tried their hand at playing some historical music. The oldest melodies to be included are monodies from a 15th century collection of the music of the 13th century Minnesinger Neidhart von Reuental. Just for fun there's also one pastiche included – a Hoftanz & tripla composed by myself with one of Reuental's melodies as the tenor line.
 
These editions are unashamedly practical rather than academic. Lyrics have been omitted and note values made shorter in order to make the clearest possible scores with the smallest possible number of page turns. The music is transposed into sharp keys suitable for loud wind players and drone instruments in G & D. They should still work well for most instrumentalists, whatever they play.