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“Augustin / Zinckenblaser / Maister” (Augustin / Cornettist / Master)

Markus Grassl

Augustin Schubinger (c. 1460–1531/32) is considered one of the most significant instrumentalists of the time around 1500. As an outstanding cornettist and trombonist, but also a skilled lutenist, he had a career that, after initial years in Augsburg, led through an activity in Florence to decades of employment at the courts of the Habsburg rulers from Frederick III to Ferdinand I. Schubinger’s prominent position is evident not least in the Triumphzug of Emperor Maximilian I: a well-known depiction of the “Chapel Wagon” shows Schubinger playing the cornett in cooperation with the chapel and the trombonist Hans Steudl; the caption for Schubinger’s portrait reads: “Augustin/Zinckenblaser/ Maister” (Augustin/cornett player/master).

Abb. Augustin Schubinger und die Kantorei Maximilians I. / Augustin Schubinger and the Cantorey of Maximilian I

Augustin Schubinger und die Kantorei Maximilians I.

„Musica Canterey“, aus: Triumphzug Maximilians I., A-Wn Cod.min. 77 (Ende 16. Jahrhundert), fol. 11r; Digitalisat: https://digital.onb.ac.at/RepViewer/viewer.faces?doc=DTL_3174567&order =1&view=SINGLE.© Österreichische NationalbibliothekVgl. auch » Abb. Triumphzug Kantorei (nach anderer Quelle, ohne Beschriftung). /

„Musica Canterey“, from Triumphzug Maximilian’s I ,A-Wn Cod.min. 77 (end of 16th century), fol. 11r; Digitalisation: https://digital.onb.ac.at/RepViewer/viewer.faces?doc=DTL_3174567&order =1&view=SINGLE.© Österreichische NationalbibliothekSee also » Abb. Triumphzug Kantorei (from a different source, without captions).

Augustin Schubinger und die Kantorei Maximilians I. (Ausschnitt) / Augustin Schubinger and the Cantorey of Maximilian I (Detail)

Augustin Schubinger und die Kantorei Maximilians I. (Ausschnitt)

Augustin Schubinger als Zinkenist, dahinter Posaunist Hans Steudl, beide von einem Notenpult lesend (Ausschnitt aus: Abb. Augustin Schubinger und die Kantorei Maximilians I.).„Musica Canterey“, in: Triumphzug Maximilians I., A-Wn Cod.min. 77 (Ende 16. Jahrhundert), fol. 11r; Digitalisat: https://digital.onb.ac.at/RepViewer/viewer.faces?doc=DTL_3174567&order =1&view=SINGLE.© Österreichische Nationalbibliothek. /

Augustin Schubinger as cornettist, behind him trombonist Hans Steudl, both reading from a music stand. (Detail from: Abb. Augustin Schubinger und die Kantorei Maximilians I.). ‚Musica Canterey‘, in: Triumphzug Maximilian’s I, A-Wn Cod.min. 77 (Ende 16. Jahrhundert), fol. 11r; Digitalisat: https://digital.onb.ac.at/RepViewer/viewer.faces?doc=DTL_3174567&order =1&view=SINGLE.© Österreichische Nationalbibliothek.

 

The accompanying pictorial programme states among other things that „vnnder den Zÿnngken der Augustin [der maister sein solle]“ (among the cornett players, Augustin [should be the master]),[1] which makes Schubinger one of six musicians named in the Triumphzug.

As an internationally renowned and sought-after instrumentalist who participated in the musical culture of court chapels and in particular in the cultivation of composed polyphony, Schubinger represents a relatively new type of musician. The development of this type is related to a social and aesthetic appreciation of instrumental music-making that took place during the fifteenth century.[2] This is manifested, among other things, by the fact that instrumentalists, in contrast to the non-sedentary minstrels, increasingly took up permanent positions in urban and courtly centers, and that the prominent ones among them were now also discussed, appreciated, or depicted by chroniclers, theorists, poets, and visual artists. The result is that players like Schubinger become accessible in the documents, and their life and work can be at least partially reconstructed.

[1] A-Wn Cod. 2835 („Was in diesem püech geschriben ist, das hat kaiser Maximilian im xvc und xii Iar mir Marxen Treytzsaurwein seiner kay. Mt. secretarÿ müntlichen angeben.“), fol. 9r; Digital copy: https://digital.onb.ac.at/RepViewer/viewer.faces?doc=DTL_2985406&order=1…. Edition: Schestag 1883, 160.