A term used in German literary history to denote two different categories of medieval poetry.
(1) The verbal Spruch, sometimes also called Reimspruch or Reimrede. Normally in rhyming couplets and of didactic content, it was written for spoken delivery. It is similar in nature to the Priamel, the Bispel, the Epigramm and the Wappendichtung (a description of a coat-of-arms in poetry). Important contributors to the tradition of the verbal Spruch were Freidank (13th century), Heinrich der Teichner and Peter Suchenwirt (14th century).
(2) The lyric Spruch, also called Sangspruch or Sangspruchdichtung. A form of Middle High German song, together with the Minnelied (see Minnesang) and the Leich (see Lai). It is easily distinguished from the Leich, which is a more extended form made up of irregular sections and built on the principles of symmetry and repetition. While the differences between Spruch and Minnesang are less clear, some distinctions can be drawn, primarily on the basis of content and performance. Whereas Minnesang was more or less confined to the topos of ‘courtly love’, the Spruch treated predominantly of rational, didactic and pragmatic issues, including, for example, socio-political commentary, topics related to moral or religious teaching and philosophy, practical wisdom, biographical material, praise of patrons, begging and much else besides. This difference in the attitude of the poet or the performer of the Spruch seems to be reflected in the nature of the music: so far as the surviving melodies allow comparison, those for the Spruch tend more towards recitation in their manner. The genre seems to go back to the earliest tradition of the German lyric and probably became more widespread from the middle of the 12th century. Influence from the Occitan sirventes seems likely. The earliest Spruch poets (Sangspruchdichter) were professional poet-musicians, while in the earliest stages Minnesang was cultivated in a courtly setting, sung by nobles for the assembled company.
The two genres can be distinguished by their form: the early Spruch has a stanza form quite different from that of the Minnelied, which is normally in the so-called canzone form or Bar form. Furthermore, the early Spruch was principally a single-stanza form, whereas Minnelieder comprised several stanzas. Confusion has sometimes arisen owing to the frequent occurrence in the sources of several stanzas appearing together, making for more or less coherent groupings. The reason for such transmission is partly that, unlike Minnelied, in which each melody and poetic scheme was generally used for only one lied, in Spruch poetry the same formal poetic scheme was repeatedly re-used with its melody for separate strophes (see Ton (i)); the manuscript sources thus group together strophes according to their Ton. In some cases, for instance in the works of Frauenlob, while a stanza is usually complete within itself, small groups of stanzas can be seen as belonging together in terms of the unity of their content.
The earliest surviving Sprüche are connected with the name of Älterer Spervogel; Walther von der Vogelweide raised the status of the Spruch, bringing its form and content closer to those of Minnesang and adding a strongly political content to some of his works. From Walther’s work onwards the distinctions between Minnesang and Spruch began to blur, while the tradition, originally concentrated in southern Germany, spread northwards to include such later exponents as Reinmar von Zweter and Bruder Werner. Frauenlob marks a late culmination in the tradition: besides his Minnelieder and his three Leichs he is represented by about 300 Sprüche. From the middle of the 14th century onwards the old principle of single-stanza Sprüche was replaced by larger complexes of stanzas, and melodic construction changed, becoming more akin to bar form. It became much more common for Spruch authors to add their names at the end of their songs. These changes essentially marked the beginning of the tradition of Meistergesang.
MGG2 (‘Sangspruchdichtung’; H. Brunner)
K. Lachmann and M. Haupt, eds.: Des Minnesangs Frühling (Leipzig, 1857, rev. 38/1988 by H. Moser and H. Tervooren)
H. Tervooren: Einzelstrophe oder Strophenbindung? Untersuchungen zur Lyrik der Jenaer Handschrift (Bonn, 1967)
H. Moser, ed.: Mittelhochdeutsche Spruchdichtung (Darmstadt, 1972) [21 essays with extensive bibliography]
B. Wachinger: Sängerkrieg: Untersuchungen zur Spruchdichtung des 13. Jahrhunderts (Munich, 1973)
U. Müller: Untersuchungen zur politischen Lyrik des deutschen Mittelalters (Göppingen, 1974)
H. Brunner: Die alten Meister: Studien zu Überlieferung und Rezeption der mittelhochdeutschen Sangspruchdichter im Spätmittelalter und in der frühen Neuzeit (Munich, 1975)
E. Pickerodt-Uthleb: Die Jenaer Liederhandschrift: metrische und musikalische Untersuchungen (Göppingen, 1975)
A.H. Touber: Deutsche Strophenformen des Mittelalters (Stuttgart, 1975)
C. Huber: Wort sint der dinge zeichen: Untersuchungen zum Sprachdenken der mittelhochdeutschen Spruchdichtung bis Frauenlob (Zürich and Munich, 1977)
J. Rettelbach: Variation – Derivation – Imitation: Untersuchungen zu den Tönen der Sangspruchdichter und Meistersinger (Tübingen, 1993)
H. Tervooren: Sangspruchdichtung (Stuttgart, 1995)
For further bibliography see Minnesang.
BURKHARD KIPPENBERG/R