(b before 1380; d Bregenz, c1430). German song composer. As an employee of the poet Count Hugo von Montfort, he was responsible for setting ten of Hugo's poems, as Hugo stated in an express acknowledgment of the composer in his Rede no.31: ‘Die weysen zu den lieden/Die han ich nicht gemachen/ich will euch nicht betriegen/ … die weysen hat gemachen Bürk Mangolt/unser getrewer knecht’ (‘I will not deceive you; I did not make the tunes for the songs myself. They were made by our faithful servant Bürk Mangolt’). It is most unusual in the history of medieval song for a poet to state explicitly that the settings of his texts were not of his own composition. Moreover, this case is unusual in that it is clear that Mangolt had set poems already in existence, so that text and music were certainly not conceived at the same time.
Mangolt was a citizen of Bregenz, and consequently a relatively large number of civic and church documents are available to help with the reconstruction of his biography. For instance, an entry in a land register of 1380 shows that he was in possession of the so-called ‘Fahrlehen’ (‘ferry fief’), meaning that he had a farm in the immediate vicinity of the landing-place for Bregenz, and the tenure of his fief obligated him to ferry the Count over Lake Constance whenever the Count desired. The last archival mention of Mangolt is another land register entry, this time from 1422. He died before 1435. The only source for Mangolt's melodies is the fine codex of the poems of Hugo von Montfort, D-HEu Pal.germ.329, which can be dated between about 1415 and 1420. They are all transmitted in Gothic choral notation with some traces of mensural rhythm. The last two melody transcriptions (lieder nos.39 and 40) are in a different hand, but there is no definite proof that any composer other than Mangolt was involved (Welker, 1988; for a different opinion see Jammers, 1956). A firm conclusion is made more difficult by the fact that all the melodies seem to be assembled from set melodic fragments rather than individually composed, so that by comparison with other late medieval song composers Mangolt appears rather second-rate. Some transitional passages that are notably difficult to sing, on the other hand, need not be blamed on the composer, but may well be the result of scribal errors.
all in D-HEu Pal.germ.329; monophonic melodies only
Editions: Die Lieder des Hugo von Montfort mit den Melodien des Burk Mangolt, ed. P. Runge (Leipzig, 1906) [R]Hugo von Montfort, ed. E. Thurnher, F.V. Spechtler, G.F. Jones and U. Müller, ii (Göppingen, 1978) [HM]
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Des hiemels vogt und hochster keiser, R 13, HM 40 |
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Fraw wilt du wissen was es ist, R 9, HM 22 |
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Fro welt ir sint gar hüpsch und schön, R 10, HM 29 |
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Ich fragt ain wachter ob es were tag, R 5, HM 10 |
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Ich fröw mich gen des abentz kunft, R 3, HM 8 |
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Ich var uff wag des bittern mer, R 8, HM 13 |
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Könd ich ein gedicht volbringen, R 12, HM 39 |
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Mich straft ein wachter des morgens fru, R 6, HM 11 |
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Sag an wachter wie was es tag, R 7, HM 12 |
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Weka wekch die zarten liehen, R 11, HM 37 |
E. Jammers: ‘Die Melodien Hugos von Montfort’, AMw, xiii (1956), 217–35
G. Moczygemba: Hugo von Montfort (Fürstenfeld, 1967)
E. Jammers: Aufzeichnungsweisen der einstimmigen ausserliturgischen Musik des Mittelalters (Cologne, 1975), 78–80, 106–7
L. Welker: ‘Die Melodien des Burkhard Mangolt’, Hugo von Montfort: Gedichte und Lieder, ed. F.V. Spechtler and others (Wiesbaden, 1988), ii, 47–60 [facs. in vol.i]
L. Welker: ‘Some Aspects of the Notation and Performance of German Song around 1400’, EMc, xviii (1990), 235–46
LORENZ WELKER