(fl late 14th century). German poet and composer. 49 sacred and 57 secular songs, all with music, appear in manuscripts of the 15th and 16th centuries and of the Meistergesang era. Although his works are to be found in more than 90 manuscripts, his identity, like that of most medieval German poets, has never been documented. The introduction to the manuscript A (D-Mbs Cgm 715) mentions the name Herman, but manuscripts C (Mbs Cgm 528) and E (A-Wn 4696) call him Johanns or Hanns (Spechtler, 9ff); manuscript A makes him a Benedictine and C a Dominican, while E and the other manuscripts give no such description; all, however, agree that he was a learned monk who wrote sacred and secular songs, many of which are attributed to him as ‘Mönch’, not only in the introductions to manuscripts but even singly (e.g. in D,Wn 2856, the Mondsee-Wiener Liederhandschrift).
The manuscripts also unanimously name as his patron the Archbishop of Salzburg, Pilgrim II von Puchheim (1365–96), at whose magnificent court the Monk wrote his songs, some of them at his lord’s express command (A, f.1r, E, f.107r). The acrostic in song no.2 in Spechtler's 1972 edition (S) ‘Pylgreim Erczpischof Legat’ (contrafactum of Lauda Sion Salvatorem) is a tribute to his powerful and influential patron. The secular songs nos.18 and 30 in Mayer and Rietsch (MR), dating from 1392 and 1387, mention Pilgrim's travels and the court he paid to King Wenceslaus IV in Prague. The foundation of more than 100 endowments for the cathedral (1393) gives an idea of the archbishop's standing. Other names mentioned in manuscripts and in the songs themselves reveal a circle around the author. Manuscript A alludes to a priest named Martin who ‘supported’ the Monk in some unspecified manner; the acrostic in S 3 refers to Pilgrim's court chaplain, Richerus von Radstadt, the foreword to S 5 names the scholar Jakob von Mühldorf as author of its Latin source and that to S 9 (a Latin song) states that the original German song was written by Peter von Sachsen, who had sent it to the Monk.
The 49 sacred songs can be subdivided into 20 songs to the Virgin (S 1–20), 24 songs to the Trinity (S 21–44) with invocations, and 5 songs to the saints (S 45–9). The songs to the Virgin praise her in rich imagery, calling on her especially as intermediary; except for S 1–9 they are designated for specific feasts – Christmas, New Year, the Annunciation, the Assumption and the Birth of the Virgin. S 1–9 stand out in being based on acrostics or otherwise independent of the liturgical year. The second group includes a Christmas carol still sung today – Josef, lieber neve mein (S 22), to the tune of Resonet in laudibus; it also includes hymns for Passiontide, Easter, Whitsun and Corpus Christi and even a mealtime grace (S 42). The first hymn to the saints is a calendar song (Cisiojanus, S 45), followed by one each for Epiphany, the feast of St John, the sending out of the Apostles and St Elizabeth. The Monk wrote his own words and music and also translated or adapted many Latin hymns and sequences.
His secular songs comprise all the genres of late medieval lyric poetry. The Alba scheme is varied, as the song titles imply: if Taghorn (MR 12) describes the characteristic call to wake in the morning, Nachthorn (MR 11) represents the man bidding goodnight to his beloved, whereas Trumpet (MR 15) is a night-time dialogue in which the watchman sings the second voice; MR 14 represents a return welcome (Ain enpfahen) and Das Kühhorn (MR 13) parodies the alba in that the lovers are a servant and maid waking from their midday rest. The Monk also wrote New Year songs, love letters, songs attacking the ‘Klaffer’ (court enemies of the lovers), love songs on every theme (a hawking song, farewell, longing etc.) and even a Leich (MR 44). Autumn songs and canons to St Martin (drinking-songs) are also represented, as are courtly forms like those found in 15th-century songbooks, for example in Rosenlied (MR 49).
The melodic style of the sacred songs is essentially close to that of Latin hymns and sequences (S 22, Josef, lieber neve mein, is an exception, with its 3rds and 5ths). The texts and melodies of the secular songs do follow medieval tradition, but also herald a new departure, both in introducing major modality (MR 49 and 13) and because they include the first recorded examples of polyphonic, and therefore rhythmically notated, tunes in the history of German song. For Pumhart (MR 11; D, f.186r), a primitive bass (unisons and 5ths) in precise rhythm has been written in. The superscription to MR 12 indicates a similar case, and in MR 15 (also an alba) the upper part is sung in alternating dialogue by a man and a woman while the watchman sings the lower part. The Monk's Martincanon (E, f.170v) is the earliest surviving canon a 3 in German (E: ‘Radel von drein stimmen’).
F.A. Mayer and H. Rietsch: Die Mondsee-Wiener Liederhandschrift und der Mönch von Salzburg (Berlin, 1896) [texts and melodies for the secular works]
H. Heger, ed.: Mondsee-Wiener Liederhandschrift, Codices selecti, xix (Graz, 1968) [incl. facs.]
F.V. Spechtler, ed.: Die geistlichen Lieder des Mönchs von Salzburg (Berlin, 1972) [incl. texts and further bibliography]
F. Spechtler and M. Korth, eds.: Der Mönch von Salzburg: Auswahlausgabe mit Übersetzungen und Melodien (Munich, 1980)
B. Wachinger: Der Mönch von Salzburg (Tübingen, 1989)
C. März: Die weltlichen Lieder des Mönchs von Salzburg (Tübingen, 1999)
For further bibliography see Minnesang and Meistergesang.
FRANZ VIKTOR SPECHTLER