Doten dantz mit figuren, the instruments
Der doten dantz: Pope
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Official
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One thing that characterizes Der Doten dantz mit Figuren is the very large number of musical instruments that Death handles.
As a comparison, the French Dance Macabre had
no music at all (it was only in the second edition that
four corpse musicians were added),
the dance in Lübeck had
a fife at the beginning,
and Tallinn has
a bagpipe at the start.
In Oberdeutsche vierzeilige Totentanz the musical selection is expanded a little.
Death comes
»mit seyner pfeyfen geschrey« ("with the screams of his fife")
and tells the pope:
»merkt off meyner pawken don« ("notice the tone of my kettle drums").
Der Doten Dantz leaves all these dances in the shade: Out of 38 scenes, there are only three where Death is not
handling one instrument or another: Trumpet, organ, harp, triangle, bells, etc.
This number of different instruments is not just impressive in a dance of death-context:
The Doten dantz mit figuren is an important source for knowledge about
musical instruments in the late Middle Ages.
Plucked string instruments
Danse Macabre, 1485.
Lute and bow.
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Antoine Verard:
Dropped lute, but flute in hand
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The only musical instrument featured in the first edition of La Danse Macabre is the lute,
which had been dropped by the minstrel and was lying on the ground.
There is also a bow, which is strange since a lute
is not a bowed string instrument. Maybe it's to show the range of the minstrel's
musical skills — that he does not only master a single instrument?
Many of the later editions also show him with a flute in his hand, but without a bow (pictured right).
In Der Doten Dantz mit Figuren there are several kinds of lutes.
Death also arrives to the senator with a kind of three-string guitar, which is actually a diminished lute.
The innkeeper listens to a relative of the lute, namely a cittern.
Count Zimmern depicted himself as the count, who is fetched by the lute-playing Death,
but in Donaueschingen 123 this scene (with lute) is instead used for the mayor.
In the manuscript in Kassel Death plays the lute for
the child, the canon, the innkeeper and the official.
In Kienzheim Death brings a lute to the empress:
»vnd hat ein lut vor in« ("and has a lute in front of himself").
Der doten dantz: Count
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Der doten dantz: Senator
Three-stringed guitar / lute
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Der doten dantz: Innkeeper
lute / cittern
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Der doten dantz: Nun
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Der doten dantz: Young woman
Guitar
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Donaueschingen 123, Mayor
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There is also a lute in the background of Holbein's painting of The Ambassadors.
Der doten dantz: Canon
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Der doten dantz: Evil monk
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Harps are often associated with something paradisal and angelic, but Death can also make use of harps (pictures left and right).
The harps are used extensively in the manuscript in Kassel:
Nun, armour-bearer, young man, lawyer and priest.
In Kienzheim it's the count,
who is entertained by Death with »ein harpffen in der lincken hand«.
Der doten dantz: Nobleman
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Der doten dantz: Doctor
Psalterium played with a plectrum.
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The nobleman and the doctor from Paris are picked up to the streams from a psalterium.
This instrument is related to the dulcimer that accompanies
Holbein's old man.
Marine trumpet
The instrument is also called a "nun's trumpet" in German
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Holbein: Hawker
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Despite the name, a marine trumpet is a stringed instrument.
A marine trumpet (tromba marina, German: Trumscheit) can be up to 2 meters long, and
as the picture on the left shows, the musicians usually let the heavy end rest on the ground.
When Death treats the "marine trumpet" it is typically turned upside/down or handled as a sort of baseball club.
Often Death hasn't even got a bow.
In the manuscript in Kassel,
Death uses a marine trumpet to entertain the doctor, the mayor, the duke and the usurer.
The cardinal in Kienzheim is fetched by Death, who
»treyt ein trumschyt swyschen den beynen oder füesen«.
Der doten dantz: Cardinal
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Der doten dantz: Craftsman
Small triangular, three-stringed marine trumpet. No bow.
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Der doten dantz: Lawyer
Small square two-strenget marine trumpet with two machine heads. No bow.
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Zimmern: Gambler
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Donaueschingen 123: Citizen
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Other Bowed String Instruments
Der doten dantz: Official
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The official is picked up by Death with a violin (German: Geige).
The same thing goes for the good monk and the craftsman in the manuscript in Kassel.
The Death that comes for the mayor has a trumpet marine on his back, but there is a "geige" lying on the ground.
Death came to the maiden in kienzheim
and touched her with the geige by the right breast and invited her to dance with the geige:
»ryert die junckfrouw mit der gygen an ann die rechte brust vnd gyget ir zu tantz mit der gygen«.
Bagpipe
The start of the dance in Tallinn
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The start of the dance in Berlin.
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The bagpipe is the only instrument to be seen (and heard) in the dances of death in
Tallinn
and
Berlin.
Other dances, however, are better equipped, and we see the bagpipe in
Basel's dance of death,
la Danse Macabre from 1486
as well as with
Hans Holbein's fool.
Even
a wild boar plays the bagpipe.
Once again, Der Doten Dantz mit Figuren surpasses them all and features several models.
There are also two instances of a bladder pipe (German: Platerspiel or Blaterpfeife),
which is related to the bagpipe, but more simplified with only a single pipe.
In the manuscript in Kassel
Death brings a bagpipe to the senator, the gambler, the bishop and the good monk.
The usurer in Kienzheim is carried away to sound of a bagpipe with five reeds:
»ein sack pfyff mit fünff rörehn«.
Der doten dantz: Bishop
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Der doten dantz: Abbot
Bladder pipe
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Der doten dantz: Hermit
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Der doten dantz: Mayor
Bladder pipe
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Der doten dantz: City woman
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Donaueschingen 123: City woman
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Other Wind Instruments
Der doten dantz: Dance house
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The dance opens up in the dance house (to the left) with three shawms of various sizes and a trumpet.
Shawms emit a loud sound, but they demand lots of air, which is impractical if you are a corpse without lips and lungs.
For this reason shawms are often used as part of bagpipes or bladder pipes.
In the manuscript in Kassel there are shawms for
the abbot and the scribe.
In Kienzheim there is a shawm (German: Schalmei) for the young man:
»hat in der rechten hant ein scharmygen vnd pfifft dem jünglin vff der scharmygen, kört sich mit dem halss vm gegen dem scharmeygen «.
There are a number of trumpets of various shapes.
In Kassel there are trumpets for the count,
the king,
the nobleman, the emperor and the cardinal.
In Kienzheim Death came to the emperor
with a trumpet with a yellow banner with the eagle painted upon the banner:
»Hie kumbt der tod zu dem keyser mit einer trumeten, mit einem gëlen fenlen, mit dem adler am fenlen gemalt«.
Der doten dantz: Pope
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Der doten dantz: Emperor
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Der doten dantz: Usurer
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Der doten dantz: Scribe
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Der doten dantz: Merchant
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There are many different horns:
In Kassel there is a horn for the merchant.
There were also a number of them in Kienzheim. One was for the abbot:
»vnd ein horn in beyden henden vnd blosst es vber sich«.
Der doten dantz: Duke
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Der doten dantz: Knight
Death has the horn in the belt
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Der doten dantz: Robber
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Der doten dantz: Gambler
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Der doten dantz: Thief
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Der doten dantz: All ranks
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Portative organ
Der doten dantz: Priest
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Kassel: Pope
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A portative was a small transportable pipe organ.
The portative was also played by one of
the four corpse musicians
from Marchant's extended edition of La Danse macabre.
In Kienzheim, Death fetches the bishop with an organ between the knees and feet:
»hat ein orgel zwyschen den knugen vnd den füessen«.
Sundry instruments
Der doten dantz: Chaplain
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Der doten dantz: Physician
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The Death that picks up the chaplain has a fool's cap with a bell.
He has a triangle with jingle-rings in his hand.
Death comes to the physician with castanets. Three shells with handles, each connected to a bell.
Der doten dantz: King
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Der doten dantz: Good monk
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There is warlike music for the king: A "schwegel", also known as three-hole pipe or tabor pipe, designed
to be played by one hand,
and a drum.
The good monk is lead away to a small "tabor pipe" and a tambourine.
We see the same combination with the fourth musician in
la Danse Macabre from 1486.
Der doten dantz: Young man
Ukendt instrument
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Kassel: robber
Death plays the spade
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The young man seems to be puzzled by the unknown instrument: A round, pumpkin-like ball
from which two crescent arms are protruding.
Each string can be tuned with a machine head, but the strings cannot be shortened while playing
so the tone cannot be altered.
However, the most original instrument is to be found in
the manuscript in Kassel:
Both the citizen and
the robber
are being treated to a trumpet-solo on spade.
External links
In order to identify the instruments there are four sources:
Further Information
The dance of death
Doten dantz mit figuren →
Musical instruments
