Editing Wolfram von Eschenbach (section)

==Works==
===''Parzival''===
{{Main|Parzival}}

Wolfram is best known today for his ''Parzival'', sometimes regarded as the greatest of all [[German courtly romance|German Arthurian romances]]. Based on [[Chrétien de Troyes]]' unfinished ''[[Perceval, the Story of the Grail|Perceval, le Conte du Graal]]'', it is the first extant work in German to have as its subject the [[Holy Grail]] (in Wolfram's interpretation a gemstone). In the poem, Wolfram's narrator expresses disdain for Chrétien's ([[unfinished work|unfinished]]) version of the tale, and states that his source was a poet from [[Provence]] called [[Kyot]].

===''Titurel'' and ''Willehalm''===

Wolfram is the author of two other narrative works: the fragmentary ''[[Titurel]]'' and the unfinished ''[[Willehalm]]''. These were both composed after ''Parzival'', and ''Titurel'' mentions the death of Hermann I, which dates it firmly after 1217. ''Titurel'' consists of two fragments, which tell the story of Schionatulander and Sigune (lovers that were already depicted in ''Parzival''). The first fragment deals with the birth of love between the main characters. The second fragment is quite different. Schionatulander and Sigune are alone in a forest, when their peace is suddenly disturbed by a mysterious dog, whose leash contains a story written in rubies. Sigune is eager to read the story, but the dog runs off. Schionatulander sets off to find him, but, as we already know from ''Parzival'', he dies in the attempt.

''Willehalm'', an unfinished poem based on the [[Old French]] [[chanson de geste]], ''[[Aliscans]]'', was a significant work, and has been preserved in 78 manuscripts. It is set against the backdrop of the religious wars between the Christians and the [[Saracen]]s. The eponymous hero Willehalm kidnaps a Saracen princess, converts her to Christianity and marries her. The Saracen king raises an army to rescue his daughter. The poem has many of the distinguishing features of medieval literature: the victory of the Christians over a much larger Saracen army, the touching death of the young knight Vivian, Willehalm's nephew and the works mirror of chivalric courage and spiritual purity.

=== Lyric poetry ===
Wolfram's nine surviving songs, five of which are [[Tagelied|dawn-songs]], are regarded as masterpieces of [[Minnesang]]. Dawn-songs recount the story of a knight who spends the night with his beloved lady, but at dawn has to slip away unnoticed. Mostly it is the lady who wakes the knight up in the morning, but sometimes this mission is made by the watchman. No melodies survived. Two melodies are still connected to him, the ''Schwarzer Thon'', attributed to Wolfram in a 14th-century manuscript, and the fragmentary and unfinished epic ''Titurel'' (after 1217) with a complicated four-line [[stanza]] form that was often used in later poems.<ref>[https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000030511?rskey=UKV4K8&result=407 Wolfram von Eschenbach at the Oxford Music Online]</ref>

===Influence===
The 84 surviving manuscripts of ''Parzival'', both complete and fragmentary, indicate the immense popularity of Wolfram's major work in the following two centuries. ''Willehalm'', with 78 manuscripts, comes not far behind. Many of these include a continuation written in the 1240s by [[Ulrich von Türheim]] under the title ''Rennewart''. The unfinished ''Titurel'' was taken up and expanded around 1272 by a poet named Albrecht, who is generally presumed to be [[Albrecht von Scharfenberg]] and who adopts the narrative persona of Wolfram. This work is referred to as the ''[[Jüngere Titurel]]'' (''Younger Titurel'').

The modern rediscovery of Wolfram begins with the publication of a translation of ''Parzival'' in 1753 by the Swiss scholar [[Johann Jakob Bodmer]]. ''Parzival'' was the main source [[Richard Wagner]] used when writing the [[libretto]] to his opera, ''[[Parsifal]]''. Wolfram himself appears as a character in another Wagner opera, ''[[Tannhäuser (opera)|Tannhäuser]]''.