The Ansingen repertory in Tyrol
The school regulation of Bolzano (» Kap. The school regulation of Bolzano) is regrettably not specific about the kind of songs performed during the Ansingen. The same silence also typifies the other Tyrolean sources of the time, except for the Venetian travel diary mentioned above. On the basis of the latter we may hypothesise, however, that since the late fifteenth century Ansingen in Tyrol comprised both monophonic and polyphonic music. The repertory probably consisted of more strictly liturgical items such as antiphons, responsories, hymns, cantica, sequences (and perhaps other sections of the Mass liturgy), as well as cantiones in Latin and German.[27] The typical medium for these performances was, in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, approximately that described in the ambassadors’ diary: four or five children together with two or three masters (succentors or older students). This formation allowed for a balanced rendering of three- or four-voice polyphony (» E. Kap. Das Bozner Ansingen).
The arrival of the protestant doctrine in Tyrol certainly affected the repertory of the Ansingen practice. This is evidenced by some Tyrolean documents of the later sixteenth century, which complain about the performance of Lieder and psalms in German, which were of “suspect provenance”.[28] Perhaps for this reason, the provincial council of the Salzburg archdiocese, 1569, decreed that only “Latin antiphons and Lieder” were henceforth allowed during Ansingen:[29] a sign that the repertory had by then been extended to other types of songs, which were resented by the church authorities.
[27] Strohm 1993, 295; see also » A. Gesänge zu Weihnachten.
[1] For a compact history of Tyrolean schools, see Augschöll-Blasbichler, 2019, 96-106 at 96-101, online, https://cab.unime.it/journals/index.php/qdi/article/view/2643 (April 2023). On music in the schools, see Post 1993; Herrmann-Schneider 2023, online ,https://musikgeschichten.musikland-tirol.at/content/musikintirol/musikinkloesternusw/musik-in-pfarrkirchen.html (April 2023).
[2] Cfr. Büchner 2019, 16-49 (Teil I); 94/1, 2020, 46-72 (Teil II); 94/2, 2020, 20-61 (Teil III); 94/3, 2020, 40-61 (Teil IV); 94/4, 2020, 28-71 (Teil V): in Teil I, 27, a few examples from Tyrolean schools are given.
[3] As underlined by Hannes Obermair, referring to the parish church of Gries near Bolzano, the “System Church” represents in the 15th century an “efficient mixture of cult, community, identity and economical sphere”: see Obermair 2012, 137-174 at 137.
[4] Büchner 2019, 27-28.
[5] Preserved at San Candido/Innichen, Collegiate Foundation, manuscript vii a 10s. Transcribed by Gionata Brusa, online, Cantus Network. Libri ordinarii of the Salzburg metropolitan province, https://gams.uni-graz.at/context:cantus .
[6] Modern edition in Hofmeister-Winter 2001. This regulation of the sixteenth century informs about various processions with the participation of children, and about the ancient, widely-known custom of “Kindelwiegen” (child-rocking) which at Bressanone was reserved for the masters and students of the cathedraL school: see » A. Kap. Kindelwiegen.
[7] San Candido/Innichen, Collegiate Foundation, manuscript viii b 3. Although compiled as late as 1614, the volume contains descriptions of partly much older customs, for example the many processions in the streets of the town in choirboys were singing. A compact survey of these processions and chants is offered in Gabrielli 2020, 15-23 at 22, online, https://musicadocta.unibo.it/article/view/11927.
[9] Boynton 2008, 37-48 at 47.
[10] Der „Liber ordinarius Brixinensis“, ed. Gionata Brusa, in: Cantus Network – semantisch erweiterte digitale Edition der Libri ordinarii der Metropole Salzburg, Wien/Graz 2019, online, <gams.uni-graz.at/o:cantus.brixen>, 128.
[11] Liber ordinarius Brixinensis, Festum innocentum [sic].
[12] See Mackenzie 2011.
[13] Noggler 1885, 16-18.
[14] Büchner 2019, 31.
[15] Strohm 1993, 294-296. For a definition, see Rudolf Flotzinger, Ansingen, in: Oesterreichisches Musiklexikon online, founded by Rudolf Flotzinger, ed. Barbara Boisits, online, https://musiklexikon.ac.at/0xc1aa5576_0x0001f702 (2002).
[17] It is interesting to note that the customs of both the Boy Bishop and the “Ansingen” were analogous to the annual springtime feasts of the Roman schola cantorum of the first Christian centuries, particularly the cornomania (a feast of undoubtedly pagan origins, when the sacristans disguised themselves as bishops) and the laudes puerorum at Easter, sung by the students in the streets on Easter Saturday for eggs and other gifts. On the extra-liturgical songs of the schola cantorum see Dyer 2008, 19-36 at 22-23.
[19] Ibidem.
[20] Obermair 2008, 65, no. 967.
[21] F-Sn Ms. allemands 187. The manuscript, formerly presumed lost, has been located by Hannes Obermair, who gave a first description of it in Obermair 2005.
[23] F-Sn Ms. allemands 187 (Obermair 2008), f. 122v.
[24] On the different types of students in Tyrolean schools of the period, see also Post 1993, 34-35.
[25] A polyphonic setting of the antiphon (which belongs to the Song of Songs) is extant in the manuscript fragment from Muri-Gries: » F. Schlaglicht: Das Bozner Fragment.
[27] Strohm 1993, 295; see also » A. Gesänge zu Weihnachten.
[30] The expression “für sich” is interpeted here as implying a “separate” action outside the liturgical context.
Empfohlene Zitierweise:
Giulia Gabrielli: “Children’s Processions in Tyrol”, in: Musikleben des Spätmittelalters in der Region Österreich, <https://musical-life.net/kapitel/childrens-processions-tyrol> (2023)