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Ballade aus dem 15. Jahrhundert - (2002)
Anon. - "Dämmerlinge" (Deutsche Unsinnpoesie)
for bass and piano
Der edle Ritter Kunibert
Mit seinem großen, langen Schwert, [ 1 ]
Er wohnte hoch mit seinem Troß
Auf seinem väterlichen Schloß.
Auf seinem väterlichen Schloß
Da wohnte hoch mit seinem Troß
Mit seinem großen, langen Schwert
Der edle Ritter Kunibert! [ 2 ]
Einst trank viel Wein der Kunibert
Mit seinem großen, langen Schwert,
Und mit ihm auch der ganze Troß
Auf seinem väterlichen Schloß!
Betrunken ward der Kunibert
Mit seinem großen, langen Schwert,
Und dito auch sein ganzer Troß [ 3 ]
Auf seinem väterlichen Schloß!
Da zog der edle Kunibert
Heraus sein langes, großes Schwert,
Und stach sich todt auf seinem Schloß
Und brachte um den ganzen Troß!
Nun spukt der edle Kunibert
Mit seinem großen, langen Schwert
Herum auf's väterliche Schloß
Und dito auch sein ganzer Troß.
Nutzanwendung
O kneipe nie mit deinem Troß
Den Wein im väterlichen Scloß!
Trink' lieber stille ihn allein,
Dann wird's zu deinem Besten sein![ 5 pages, circa 2' 30" ]
"The noble knight Kunibert with his great, long sword lived high up with his retinue in his ancestral home. In his ancestral home there lived with his retinue and with his great, long sword the noble knight Kunibert. Once Kunibert with his great, long sword drank too much wine, and with him also the whole retinue in his ancestral home. Kunibert became drunk with his great, long sword, and "ditto" with the whole retinue in his ancestral home. Then the noble Kunibert drew his great, long sword all about his ancestral castle, and "ditto" too his whole retinue. Then the noble Kunibert went round with his great, long sword and stabbed himself to death in his castle after killing his whole retinue. The moral? Never drink wine with your retinues in ancestral homes. Drink better quietly all alone, and then all will be the better for you!"
The tessitura is apt for a bass or bass-baritone, and latitude may be taken with the dynamics for the lowest tones as necessary. The accompaniment of this strophic setting provides a less than serious tone to the text, though the strophe when this knight slaughters his fellows is meant to be dramatic and mysterious in a comic way.
The score is available as a free PDF download, though any major commercial performance or recording of the work is prohibited without prior arrangement with the composer. Click on the graphic below for this piano-vocal score.
Ballade aus dem 15. Jahrhundert
NONSENSE NOTES from Dämmerlinge (in translation)
[ 1 ] For his personal protection.
[ 2 ] "...dito...." The wife of a great German writer was to have said to her servant: "Look here, Riecke, one can recognize the 'beschten Verse,' as my dear husband said to me, just as one can turn one's stockings inside out."
[ 3 ] Not to be confused with that musical free-for-all in the Wartburg.
