The Lochamer Liederbuch (Locham Songbook) is from the Nuremberg area; the Locham name, just to confuse people who might be getting interested in the music, apparently stems from a notation made by one of the manuscript's early owners. Compiled around 1450, it's one of the first notated collections of German secular song, and it consists mostly of monophonic tunes. Most of the music is anonymous (diplomat Oswald von Wolkenstein is one of the few named composers), and in its melodic shapes it sounds like the French and ...
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The Lochamer Liederbuch (Locham Songbook) is from the Nuremberg area; the Locham name, just to confuse people who might be getting interested in the music, apparently stems from a notation made by one of the manuscript's early owners. Compiled around 1450, it's one of the first notated collections of German secular song, and it consists mostly of monophonic tunes. Most of the music is anonymous (diplomat Oswald von Wolkenstein is one of the few named composers), and in its melodic shapes it sounds like the French and Italian song of 50 years earlier, with frequent use of the medieval 7-6-8 cadence. There are some polyphonic pieces, however, and there's enough detail in the manuscript to suggest various kinds of polyphonic accompaniment. German Renaissance in general has been comparatively neglected by early music performers, and a performance like this one, which sets the modest goal of presenting a range of attractive possibilities for realizing the music, is especially welcome; the early German...
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