Lübeck's Dance of Death

Nathanael Schlott (1666-1703)

When the old, worn painting from 1463 was replaced, the painter - Anton Wortmann - carefully studied and copied backgrounds, clothing and buildings.

In contrast, it doesn't appear that Schlott paid any attention to the remains of the medieval Low German text before he replaced it with his new High German text. Schlott wrote his poem in the fashion of the time, i.e. Alexandrines, meaning that each line consists of 12-13 syllables with the beat on every second:

Lübeckischer Todten-Tantz.

Heran, ihr Sterblichen! das Glas ist aus, heran,
Vom Höchsten in der Welt bis zu dem Bauersmann!

Schlott was born in Danzig (Gdansk), 13/2 1666, and came to Lübeck in 1699 where he got married. Two years later he became married again, so presumably he was a widower when he wrote his dance of death in 1701.

The next years Schlott published his text in several books and added a conclusion: thesis "Der Tod ist kein Tantz" and antithesis "Der Tod ist ein Tantz".

The next year, 1703, the St. Mary's Church paid him his fee for the new text. Both Wilhelm Mantels and Meyer are outraged over the size of the fee but it's hard to be envious since Schlott died 23/3 the same year.

The posterity has not been kind to the works of Schlott. The old text evoked the fear of Death and Hell (and contained quite a bit of social criticism). Schlott's text reflects the feeling of a new age where life is a vale of tears and people yearn for the long sleep. Take for instance Death to the baby:

Nimm, zarter Säugling,
an den frühen Sensenschlag,
Und schlaf hernach vergnügt,
bis an den jüngsten Tag.

Receive, tender infant,
the early strokes of the scythe,
And sleep hereafter happily
until the Day of Judgement.

Schlott's poetic leaves

Den Lybekske Dødning-Dantz.

It's probably all this talk about sleep - combined with the perpetual badaam-badaam beat - that made several reviewers refer to them as "langzeilige und langweilige" (long-lined and boring).(1) Mantels calls the poem "schlectes Machwerk" (lousy botch) and adds that the poem "werden einem heutigen Leser nur widerwillen erregen" (would excite nothing but aversion in a modern [1866] reader).

Harsh words indeed. There's nothing to indicate that the popularity of the painting decreased in the last 241 years, when Schlott's text had replaced the old one. Schlott's texts were published by himself and a great number of copists.

In 1738 Schlott's text was translated into Danish - by Lydert Höyer - still in Alexandrines. That book is available in the Danish section (use the navigation arrows of your browser to get back). In 1768 Thomas Nugent published his travelogue with a very free translation of Schlott's text into English.

Sources

Biographisches Lexikon für Schleswig-Holstein und Lübeck, 1991 (vol. 9, 340-342)
Prof. Hartmut Freytag: Der Totentanz der Marienkirche in Lübeck
Christa Pieske: Die graphischen Wiedergaben des Totentanzes von Bernt Notke, Philobiblon 1968, pp 82-104
Deutsche Biographische Enzyklopädie (vol. 8, 680)
Ludewig Suhl's book - along with the Low German text from 1463 and Nathanael Schlott's text can be downloaded from Google Books: Der Todtentanz nach einem 320 Jahre alten Gemählde in der St. Marienkirche
Schlott's poems from 1702: Eine Hand-voll Poetischer Blätter - (the dance of death starts on page 57)

Related information

Schlott's High German text has been placed under the copper engravings of Suhl.
Thomas Nugent: Travels through Germany - With a particular account of the courts of Mecklenburg.
The original Low German text from 1463 is placed under the photos of the painting.
The Danish translation from 1738 has been converted into HTML but only in the Danish section.

Footnotes: (1)

»langzeilige und langweilige«. This remark, which is used by both Meyer and Baethcke, originates from Hans Ferdinand Massmann in the book "Die Baseler Todtentänze in getreuen Abbildungen", 1847, page 102:

Noch mehr löst sich scheinbar davon der die ursprüngliche Zahl (24) doch festhaltende Lübecker Todtentanz ab, der uns nur in achtzeiligen Reimsprüchen erhalten ist, die aber offenbar einer späteren Auffrischungszeit angehören, wie denn auch 1701 noch neue, eben so langzeilige (zugleich eben so langweilige) untergesetzt wurden (die 1735 beiläufig in Erfurt benützt werden).