(b Styria, c1200; d 26 Jan 1275). German poet and Minnesinger from a famous Styrian family. His political career is amply documented; the rest of his life is described in his principal work, Frauendienst (completed 1255; ed. K. Lachmann and T. von Karajan, Berlin, 1941/R; ed. F.V. Spechtler, Göppingen, 1987). This long strophic poem also includes his 57 songs (which are also contained in the Manessesche Liederhandschrift) and his one Leich, but no music survives. Frauendienst contains numerous important references to music, to the art of composition, to methods of making contrafacta and to the use and performance of secular music, both vocal and instrumental. Less attention has been paid to his Frauenbuch (ed. F.V. Spechtler, Göppingen, 1989), which was written in the mid-13th century and is transmitted only in one manuscript of the early 16th century.
MGG1 (U. Aarburg)
U. Aarburg: Ulrich von Lichtenstein: Autobiographie und Persönlichkeit (diss., U. of Frankfurt, 1965)
J.D. Müller: ‘Ulrich von Liechtenstein’, Die deutsche Literatur des Mittelalters: Verfasserlexikon, ed. K. Ruh and others (Berlin, 2/1977–)
A.H. Touber: ‘Ulrichs von Liechtenstein unbekannte Melodie’, Amsterdamer Beiträge zur älteren Germanistik, xxvi (1987), 107–18
For further bibliography see Minnesang.
BURKHARD KIPPENBERG/LORENZ WELKER