In the middle third of the fifteenth century, contrafacta of Italian, French, and Netherlandish works frequently appear in Germany. Two more contrafacta in the Lieder of Oswald von Wolkenstein can now be added to the six already known. Both poems, Mein herz das ist versert (No. 101 in the Wolkenstein Edition) and Weiss, rot, mit praun verleucht (No. 111) are set to a work from the Italian Trecento, Landini's ballata Questa fanciulla. Although No. 101 is not a literal translation of the Italian text, the two poems show similarities in content. Wolkenstein is also influenced by the verse form (the "endecasillabo") of his Italian model. He preserves only the bipartite structure of the ballata, while the overall form is removed from its refrain model. Finally, in both Wolkenstein manuscripts only the tenor has a text, a purely German feature characteristic of the "Tenorlied." Thus Landini's ballata, in which the tenor had a supporting function, was transformed in Germany into a song for tenor and an upper-voice accompaniment.

Index Classifications: 1400s

Contributed by: Mirna Polzovic