Oswald von Wolkenstein, Lied Kl 18: Liebe als Passion — Eine Symptomatik

Abstract

OSWALD VON WOLKENSTEIN, SONG 18: SYMPTOMS OF LOVE AS PASSION. The song (‘Lied’) Es fúgt sich is probably the most discussed text of Oswald von Wolkenstein. Mostly the focus has been on the abundant autobiographical information which is presented by the author. Instead the following article concentrates on the topics of love and passion which are exhaustively listed in the song according to the European tradition of love poetry. The poet depicts himself as addicted to a young woman whose name is not mentioned, and he imagines that a suitable marriage with a noble lady could be a solution for his problems. But he is afraid of a bickering wife and crying children, and he puts his only hope in the grace of God. Nevertheless at the same time he was indeed wooing a noble lady and wrote passionate songs for her. It is not biographical reality which is depicted in these songs, but they are subject to their genre, i.e. the tradition of a religious summary of life in one case, the tradition of love poetry in the other one. Oswald’s description of a yelling wife and children seems to have been so impressive to his audience that he used the topic later in two more songs, complaining his political problems and asking for support.