Editing Minnesang (section)

==History==
The earliest texts date from perhaps 1150, and the earliest named ''Minnesänger'' are [[Der von Kürenberg]] and [[Dietmar von Aist]], clearly writing in a native German tradition in the third quarter of the 12th century. This is referred to as the Danubian tradition.

From around 1170, German lyric poets came under the influence of the Provençal [[troubadour]]s and the French ''[[trouvère]]s''. This is most obvious in the adoption of the [[strophic form]] of the [[canzone]], at its most basic a seven-line strophe with the rhyme scheme AB AB CXC, and an AAB [[song structure|musical structure]] (denoting the repetition of large segments), but capable of many variations.

A number of songs from this period match ''trouvère'' originals exactly in form, indicating that the German text could have been sung to an originally French tune. For example, [[Friedrich von Hausen]]'s "Ich denke underwilen" is regarded as a contrafactum of [[Guiot de Provins]]'s "Ma joie premeraine".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cramer |first=Thomas |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Waz_hilfet_%C3%A2ne_sinne_kunst/tqHA41Y_P6gC?hl=de&gbpv=1&dq=%22Ich+denke+underwilen%22&pg=PA45&printsec=frontcover |title=Waz hilfet âne sinne kunst?: Lyrik im 13. Jahrhundert : Studien zu ihrer Ästhetik |date=1998-01-01 |publisher=Erich Schmidt Verlag GmbH & Co KG |isbn=978-3-503-03791-9 |pages=45 |language=de}}</ref>

By around 1190, the German poets began to break free of Franco-Provençal influence. This period is regarded as the period of Classical ''Minnesang'' with [[Albrecht von Johansdorf]], [[Heinrich von Morungen]], [[Reinmar von Hagenau]] developing new themes and forms, reaching its culmination in [[Walther von der Vogelweide]], regarded both in the Middle Ages and in the present day as the greatest of the ''Minnesänger''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Nicholas |first=David |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Medieval_West_400_1450/_GXxAAAAMAAJ?hl=de&gbpv=1&bsq=culmination+Walther+von+der+Vogelweide&dq=culmination+Walther+von+der+Vogelweide&printsec=frontcover |title=The Medieval West, 400-1450: A Preindustrial Civilization |date=1973 |publisher=Dorsey Press |isbn=978-0-256-01420-4 |pages=173 |language=en}}</ref>

The later ''Minnesang'', from around 1230, is marked by a partial turning away from the refined ethos of classical ''Minnesang'' and by increasingly elaborate formal developments. The most notable of these later ''Minnesänger'', [[Neidhart von Reuental]] introduces characters from lower social classes and often aims for humorous effects.