Walther von der Vogelweide Joel Frederiksen

• Walther von der Vogelweide (1170 - 1230): Zuo Rôme voget, zuo Pülle künic (Completed by Marc Lewon):
• 1 Vogelweide: Zuo Rôme voget, zuo Pülle künic (Completed by Marc Lewon) 01:37
• Under der linden:
• 2 Vogelweide: Under der linden 03:25
• Vil wunder wol gemachet wîp (Completed by Marc Lewon):
• 3 Vogelweide: Vil wunder wol gemachet wîp (Completed by Marc Lewon) 09:58
• Marc Lewon (b. 1972): Vil wunder wol gemachet wîp - Estampie:
• 4 Lewon: Vil wunder wol gemachet wîp - Estampie 03:48
• Walther von der Vogelweide: Mir hât her Gêrhart Atze ein pfert:
• 5 Vogelweide: Mir hât her Gêrhart Atze ein pfert 05:41
• Gautier D'Espinau (ca. 1232 - 1272): Quant je voi l'erbe menue:
• 6 D'Espinau: Quant je voi l'erbe menue 03:15
• Walther von der Vogelweide: Hebet sydus (Arr. by Marc Lewon):
• 7 Vogelweide: Hebet sydus (Arr. by Marc Lewon) 02:45
• Muget ir schowen:
• 8 Vogelweide: Muget ir schowen 05:07
• Vincent Kibildis: Ich saz ûf einem steine (Instrumental):
• 9 Kibildis: Ich saz ûf einem steine (Instrumental) 03:47
• Walther von der Vogelweide: Ich saz ûf einem steine (Arr. by Marc Lewon):
• 10 Vogelweide: Ich saz ûf einem steine (Arr. by Marc Lewon) 02:59
• Anonymous: Alte clamat Epicurus:
• 11 Buranus: Alte clamat Epicurus 01:40
• Jaufré Rudel (ca. 1100 - 1147): Lanquan li jorn son lonc en mai:
• 12 Rudel: Lanquan li jorn son lonc en mai 04:49
• Walther von der Vogelweide: Nû alrêst leb ich mir werde, "Palästinalied" (Arr. by Marc Lewon):
• 13 Vogelweide: Nû alrêst leb ich mir werde, "Palästinalied" (Arr. by Marc Lewon) 06:06
• Ich hân mîn lêhen:
• 14 Vogelweide: Ich hân mîn lêhen 02:00
• Durchsüezet und geblüemet:
• 15 Vogelweide: Durchsüezet und geblüemet 01:59
• Félix Verry: Tannhäuser Stampedes:
• 16 Verry: Tannhäuser Stampedes 03:46
• Walther von der Vogelweide: Frô Welt, ir sult dem wirte sagen:
• 17 Verry: Frô Welt, ir sult dem wirte sagen 05:29
• Total Runtime 01:08:11

Info for Walther von der Vogelweide

He was the most important German-language lyricist and minnesinger of the Middle Ages: Walther von der Vogelweide (c. 1100 - c. 1147). But his musical legacy is as obscure as his biography. Only a few of his melodies have survived. Now the American bass, lutenist and ensemble leader Joel Frederiksen and his ensemble Phoenix Munich present an entire album of Walther's songs reconstructed for the first time.

In close collaboration with renowned musicologists and experts on the music of the Middle Ages, Frederiksen and his fellow musicians have recorded 17 songs that provide a fascinating insight into the vocal music of the Middle Ages. You can hear songs by Walther, but also many a chanson by French troubadours such as Jaufré Rudel (c. 1100 - c. 1147), whose melodies the minstrel probably adopted and adapted for his own songs. "Sung and made music, we thus come much closer to the strong and sensitive texts of this artist than if they were only read," says Joel Frederiksen.

"And in doing so, we immerse ourselves in an early world that doesn't seem so far removed from our own after all." With his "Walther von der Vogelweide" album, Joel Frederiksen once again dedicates himself to a great bard with his unique bass voice. Frederiksen had already recorded songs by the Renaissance composer John Dowland and the pop singer Nick Drake for his successful album "Requiem for a Pink Moon" in 2012. And he has just released a tribute to a modern troubadour, the great singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen ("A Day with Suzanne").

On the album, Joel Frederiksen and his musicians Vincent Kibildis and Félix Verry accompany themselves on instruments that may have been played by Walther himself. These include the medieval cistern "Citole" as well as harp and fiddle. As exciting and unique as this musical journey into the Middle Ages has turned out to be, Joel Frederik.

Ensemble Phoenix Munich
Anne Azema, soprano
Joel Frederiksen, bass, violin
Vincent Kibildis, harp, vocals
Felix Verry, fiddle, vocals

Joel Frederiksen
Bassist and lutenist Joel Frederiksen lives in Munich, Germany. He has performed with leading figures in early music, including Dame Emma Kirkby, Andrew Parrott, Rubén Dubrovsky, and Jordi Savall, and with leading ensembles such as the Netherlands Bach Society, Freiburger Baroque Orchestra, Bach Consort Wien, Ensemble Gilles Binchois, and the Huelgas Ensemble. Frederiksen studied voice and lute in New York and Michigan, where he earned his master's degree. Between 1990 and 1999, he was a member of two early music ensembles in the United States, The Waverly Consort and Boston Camerata. His versatile basso-profondo voice and expressive performances have earned him worldwide acclaim.

Joel Frederiksen has devoted many years to his specialty, self-accompanied lute song. After moving to Germany, he founded Ensemble Phoenix Munich (EPM) in 2003 for the CD recording of Orpheus, I am. In 2007, the early music series "Between Mars and Venus" was founded with concerts mainly in the Bavarian National Museum in Munich. In four concerts per season, they have explored English, Italian, French, Spanish and German repertoire from the Renaissance and Baroque periods. Forays into the earliest music of Frederiksen's homeland, the United States, saw the release of the highly acclaimed harmonia mundi France disc Rose of Sharon in 2011.

EPM's debut CD for harmonia mundi France, The Elfin Knight, was released in August 2007 to rave reviews and was re-released on their Gold label in 2018. In 2008, Joel Frederiksen was named Classical Musician of the Year by the Munich Evening News. He received the German Record Critics' Prize (Best List) in November 2008 for his second harmonia mundi release, O felice morire, and the French critics award Orphée d’Or (Academie du Disque Lyrique - Motette von Mikołaj Zieleński mit u.a. Dame Emma Kirkby, DUX CD; Martti Talvela Preis) in 2011. The EPM recording Requiem for a Pink Moon was awarded the German Echo Prize in 2013. He has been honored several times by his alma mater, Oakland University (MA Early Music), Michigan, receiving the Distinguished Alumni Award in 2012.

Frederiksen continues to perform as a guest artist throughout Europe and the U.S. and is under exclusive contract with SONY Records. The 2016 release with SONY/Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, Tell me true love (music of John Dowland) was followed in 2018 by a CD of Spanish and Latin American music for Christmas, Un niño nos es naçido (A Child for us is born). In Hanoi and Saigon, Vietnam, EPM presented German and Italian baroque music as guests of the Goethe Institute in November 2019. In December 2019, Frederiksen toured as bass soloist singing Monteverdi's Marian Vespers together with the Netherlands Bach Society conducted by Andrew Parrott. Highlights of 2020 included Orpheus, I am concerts in Germany, Switzerland, France and Malta, and a U.S. tour with the Boston Camerata of The Play of Daniel as King Darius. Due to the Corona pandemic, almost all other performances in 2020-21, and many in 2022, were cancelled.

Thanks in part to grants from the Goethe Institute and Neustart Kultur, Joel Frederiksen developed and recorded a new program: A Day with Suzanne - A Tribute to Leonard Cohen (French Chansons of the Renaissance meet Songs of Leonard Cohen; CD, SONY/Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, January 2023). Another project, Walther von der Vogelweide - a wandering life (Courtly Songs of the Middle Ages), was recorded in 2022 by the Bavarian Radio. The SONY/DHM CD, and accompanying documentary film about Walther von der Vogelweide, will be released in May, 2023.

In October 2022 EPM was able to mount a production of the monumental work La Pellegrina - the Florentine Intermedii of 1589 with modern dance. Performances were given as part of Munich's Residenzwochen in the Antiquarium, in Augsburg's Golden Hall, and in the Wilhelma Theater, Stuttgart.

For Joel Frederiksen, 2023 includes an exciting mix of collaborations with familiar colleagues and new ones. Performances this Spring with the Belgian-based Pluto Ensemble will bring him to Brussels and Regensburg, and with Vox Luminis he will appear in Paris, Amsterdam and Brussels.

Ensemble Phoenix Munich continues its 20th year anniversary celebration with concerts in Munich, around Europe, and in North America, and the release of a documentary film and two new CDs. In addition, we welcome two new agencies, one in Spain and the other in Canada, to our list of valued collaborators.

Booklet for Walther von der Vogelweide