German Ballad Catalog
Introduction to the Catalog List
The catalog contains the individual ballad descriptions and examples in .pdf format.
The catalog is organized according to the so-called "Freiburg System<BMark"#FrSystem">," as conceived by Rolf Wilhelm Brednich in the 1960s. When I took over the project of the German Ballad Catalog at the Deutsches Volkslied Archiv, Prof. Brednich's list was still under development; nevertheless, this experimental list offered the most comprehensive collection of German ballad titles available at the time. I took it as a to-do-list and was able to expand the list by dozens of ballads and add references. The organization of the list and its categories has remained as Prof. Brednich gave them to me, and I changed little except for adding categories for ballads added to the finding list ("Nachträge" = "addenda, supplements"). Like any printed edition of songs, the order must essentially be arbitrary, but the Freiburg system seemed more sensible to me than an organization based on, for example, alphabetized titles. Ultimately, in the age of computers a specific order is not so crucial.
Rolf Brednich's organization had 11 main categories:
1. Ballads with Magical-Mythical Content
2. Religious Narrative Songs
3. Love
4. Family Events
5. Social Conflicts
6. Historical Narrative Songs
7. Agonistic and Heroic Striving
8. Strokes of Fate and Catastrophes
9. Human Cruelty
10. Farce
11. Nature and Cosmos
Each ballad has a specific address (Identifier) within the catalog list. In cases of doubt, where the DVA had listed a ballad twice at different addresses, I have chosen one or the other. A overview of the Freiburg System's categories and subcategories is available here, and of course in the organized Catalog list which contains also the references to the ballad entries in their assigned places.
The identifiers (URLs) of the individual ballad files were assigned, with minor modifications, according to the Freiburg system's numbering: the main category is a two-digit number followed by a period (e.g., "01." or "12."); Roman numerals were converted to Arabic. The subcategories are handled individually because the system as a whole was not consistently numbered; periods are omitted (e.g., D4 or C2b2 or N). An "N" ("Nachträge") instead of a number stands for "addendum." At the end, after a dash, is the running number of the song within the respective subcategory, e.g., "-01" or "-23." Occasionally, a ballad type which was previously classified under a single type but is treated here as a separate song, is represented with one of the running numbers plus an appended "a" or "b," etc. (For more information see identifiers below or Numbers.
For example:
|
File Identifier (& linked URL) |
Title |
Category . |
Subcategory 1 |
Subcategory 2 |
– Song number |
|
01.1-01.pdf |
Das Teufelsross |
01. Magical-Mythical Ballads |
1 "Curses and Enchantments" |
|
-01 |
|
03.D4-07.pdf |
König von Mailand |
03. Love Ballads |
D4 "Faithful Behavior in Love" |
|
-07 |
|
10.C2b-04.pdf |
Die Müllerin |
10. Farce Ballads |
C2 "Wife & Adulterer Outwit the Husband" |
b "Husband Notices, But Cannot Do Anything, Resigns" |
-04 |
|
07.N-09.pdf |
Rinaldo Rinaldini |
07. Agonal and Heroic Striving |
N Addenda (="Supplements") |
|
-09 |
|
03.C6a-02.pdf |
Graf Friedrich |
03. Love Ballads |
C6a "Death of a Beloved by Accident" |
|
-02 |
|
03.C6a-02a.pdf |
Graf Friedrich Andreas |
03. Love Ballads |
C6a "Death of a Beloved by Accident" |
|
-02a
|
Although a search using the Freiburg system is theoretically possible, you will be much better served using the classified Themes on the search page.
Notes to the Catalog List
§ Alternative titles are shown in parentheses.
§ Songs labeled "ad-->" or "von<--" have been moved from one category ("von<--") to another ("ad-->") in order to avoid repetition.
§ Songs labeled "Unikat" have only one unique, single source.
§
Sometimes a song type was better treated as several
(similar) songs. In this case, the identifier was modified to,
for example, "-02a." I also applied this solution when I "split
off" a version or a stable combination of separate songs treated elsewhere
in the working list. Conversely I sometimes concatenated two song numbers (e.g.,
"-02-03") from Brednichs draft when a single song type was listed
under two numbers. These procedures ensured interchangeability with the
Freiburg original but better reflected the actual song types.
§ Regarding the sources of the list:
¨ References to Erk-Böhme's Deutscher Liederhort (EB) or Deutsche Volkslieder mit ihren Melodien: Ballads (DVldr), as well as the Gottscheer Volkslieder (GVldr), are indicated in bold as primary sources. All cited works can be found in the Bibliography.
¨ The the song descriptions in Brednich's working list were each derived from a single song variant. Often the sources were taken from the extensive files of the DVA. These ballads were cited according to the DVA's filing system:
Ø DVldr: Songs that appeared in the planned, definitive, "Child-like" edition, Deutsche Volkslieder mit ihren Melodien: Balladen. Publication of the series ceased after the 10th volume.
Ø EB: Songs that appeared in the large Erk-Böhme edition, Deutscher Liederhort.
Ø Groups I ... to XIX: Songs that did not appear in EB or DVldr; the groups are based on the sections of EB, extending them with new material. (For example, Group I contains narrative songs; Group II and Group XVc contain religious songs, etc.) and after the "group" then an incipit:
· "Gr. I: Es hätt eine Mutter zwei Töchterlein "
· "Gr. I: Wie früh ist auf die schöne Mare "
· "Gr. II: Maria ist gewandert wohl über das Meer "
Ø K: "Kinderlieder" - Children's songs (analogous to the "groups").
· "K: Hexebeemche helf mer du, alleweil giht's hamwärts zu"
Ø KiV: "Kunstlieder im Volksmund"- Art songs become folk songs: songs for which an author could be identified, which then became traditional. The category (analogous to the "groups") is based upon John Meiers seminal work, Kunstlieder im Volksmund, 1906
· "KiV: In des Waldes düstern Gründen"
Ø
¨ Some songs listed in the working list I received came from other sources, perhaps with unclear attribution. Where the sources could not be identified, I have left them as found.
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