Eberhard Kummer

Schrammelmusik is an urban Viennese folk style that crystallized in the late nineteenth century around the famed Schrammel brothers, Johann and Josef. Typically performed as a quartet, the classic instrumentation combines two violins, a high, mellow G-clarinet (the so‑called "picksüßes Hölzl"), and a contraguitar (Schrammelgitarre) with extended bass strings; later variants often add zither or a small diatonic accordion (Schrammelharmonika). The repertoire merges local dance forms (Waltz, Ländler, Polka, marches) with lyrical "Wienerlied" song culture, while retaining a chamber-like elegance suited to salons and the gemütlich atmosphere of Viennese Heurigen taverns. Musically it balances sentimental melodies, expressive slides and portamenti, supple rubato, and lilting dance pulses, often shifting between major and minor for a bittersweet, nostalgic color. The result is music that can be intimate yet virtuosic—equally at home in popular taverns and bourgeois drawing rooms—and emblematic of fin‑de‑siècle Vienna.

Minnesang is the German tradition of courtly lyric and song that flourished during the Middle High German period. Its name derives from “minne” (love), reflecting its central focus on idealized courtly love (hohe Minne), alongside nature imagery, crusade songs, and occasional political pieces. Musically it consists mainly of monophonic, strophic songs (Minnelieder) in bar form (AAB: two Stollen followed by an Abgesang). Texts are in Middle High German, crafted with refined rhyme and meter. Performance was typically by poet‑singers (Minnesänger) who either sang unaccompanied or with discreet accompaniment on medieval instruments such as harp, vielle (fiddle), or lute. While closely comparable to the Occitan troubadours and Old French trouvères, Minnesang is regarded as an original German contribution to courtly lyric.