(fl 1196). German Minnesinger. It has been assumed that he came from the Frankfurt region, on the grounds of his use of language, but it is also possible that he was from a north Bavarian family, or otherwise came from Horheim, near Vaihingen. He was one of a group of noblemen from south-west Germany who, as the followers of Friedrich von Hûsen, writing in a more international style than hitherto, brought about the blossoming of Minnesang. These men drew on the work of the northern French trouvères and southern troubadours for content and formal schemes of their poetry. Six songs (17 strophes) by Bernger have survived, all of them stylish and none with music. Of these, two (possibly four) may have used the melodies of his Romance precursors, since they can be recognized as contrafacta of works by, among others, Chrétien de Troyes and Gace Brule.
Text edition: Des Minnesangs Frühling, ed. K. Lachmann and M. Haupt (Leipzig, 1857, rev. 38/1988 by H. Moser and H. Tervooren), 224–9 [MF]
Music editions:Singweisen zur Liebeslyrik der deutschen Frühe, ed. U. Aarburg (Düsseldorf, 1956) [A]Ausgewählte Melodien des Minnesangs, ed. E. Jammers (Tübingen, 1963) [J]The Art of the Minnesinger, ed. R.J. Taylor, i (Cardiff, 1968) [T]
none of the poems appears with music in any source
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Mir ist alle zît also ich vliegende var, MF 113.1: ?contrafactum of ?Robert de Castel or Bertran de Born, ‘Puis ke li mal k’amours me font sentir’, R.1457; A |
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Nu enbeiz ich doch des trankes nie, MF 112.1: contrafactum of Chrétien de Troyes, ‘Onques del bevrage ne bui’ (from D’Amours qui m’a tolu a moi, R.1664); A, J, T |
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Nu lange ich mit sange die zît hân gekündet, MF 115.27: contrafactum of ?Gace Brule, ‘Ne puis faillir a bone chançon faire’, R.160; A, J |
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Wie solt ich armer der swaere getrûwen, MF 114.21; ?contrafactum of Conon de Béthune, ‘Mout me semont amours que je m’envoise’, R.1837; A |
U. Aarburg: ‘Melodien zum frühen deutschen Minnesang’, Der deutsche Minnesang: Aufsätze zu seiner Erforschung, i, ed. H. Fromm (Darmstadt, 1961), 378–421
G. Schweikle: ‘Bernger von Horheim’, Die deutsche Literatur des Mittelalters: Verfasserlexikon, ed. K. Ruh and others (Berlin, 2/1977–)
V. Mertens: ‘Intertristanisches: Tristanlieder von Chrétien de Troyes, Bernger von Horheim und Heinrich von Veldeke’, Kulturelle Wandel und die Germanistik in der Bundesrepublik: Augsburg 1991, ed. J. Janota (Tübingen, 1993), iii, 37–55
For further bibliography see Minnesang.
BURKHARD KIPPENBERG/LORENZ WELKER