The ''Glogauer Liederbuch'' (Glogau Song Book) is a ''

Liederhandschrift ''Liederhandschrift'', German for ''Manuscript of the Songs'', is the German term for a manuscript containing lieder (songs) of the German Middle Ages, dating from the late 12th to the 15th centuries. Of particular importance are the Minnesang manu ...

'' (medieval songbook) of sacred and secular songs and instrumental music, written about 1480. It is the earliest surviving set of

partbook A partbook is a format for printing or copying music in which each book contains the part for a single voice or instrument, especially popular during the Renaissance and Baroque. This format contrasts with the large choirbook, which included all ...

s (

descant A descant, discant, or is any of several different things in music, depending on the period in question; etymologically, the word means a voice (''cantus'') above or removed from others. The Harvard Dictionary of Music states: A descant is a ...

tenor A tenor is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The lo ...

, and

contratenor A countertenor (also contra tenor) is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range is equivalent to that of the female contralto or mezzo-soprano voice types, generally extending from around G3 to D5 or E5, although a sopranist (a s ...

) and an important source of 15th century musical material. The manuscript is named after the town of Glogau (present-day Głogów) in

Lower Silesia Lower Silesia ( pl, Dolny Śląsk; cz, Dolní Slezsko; german: Niederschlesien; szl, Dolny Ślōnsk; hsb, Delnja Šleska; dsb, Dolna Šlazyńska; Silesian German: ''Niederschläsing''; la, Silesia Inferior) is the northwestern part of the ...

. Formerly kept at the

Prussian State Library The Berlin State Library (german: Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin; officially abbreviated as ''SBB'', colloquially ''Stabi'') is a universal library in Berlin, Germany and a property of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation. It is one of the lar ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, it was taken to Grüssau Abbey, Silesia, in 1941 to protect it from Allied bombing. Under

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

sovereignty after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, it apparently disappeared until in 1977 the missing manuscripts and early printed books from Berlin were found to be in the

Jagiellonian Library Jagiellonian Library ( pl, Biblioteka Jagiellońska, popular nickname ''Jagiellonka'') is the library of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków and with almost 6.7 million volumes, one of the largest libraries in Poland, serving as a public libra ...

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

, where it now resides as part of the Berlinka art collection.An Urtext Edition of the Glogauer Liederbuch, Ringman, (1936).

References

External links

*
Abbot Martin Rinkenberg and the origins of the ‘Glogauer Liederbuch’
at

Oxford Journals Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

{{Authority control 15th-century manuscripts Music publications Renaissance music manuscript sources