Wolfram Von Eschenbach

Wolfram von Eschenbach (vôl`främ fən ĕsh`ənbäkh), c.1170–c.1220, German poet. Perhaps the greatest of the German minnesingers, and one of the finest poets of medieval Europe. He was a knight who led a restless, roving life. In 1203 he was at the court of Landgrave Hermann von Thüringen. His only complete work is his famous Parzival, a poem of chivalry notable for its lyricism, humor, and depth of conception (see Parsifal). Wolfram's other works include two unfinished epic poems, Willehalm and Titurel, and lyrics. Richard Wagner's final opera Parsifal (1882) was based on his epic, and Wolfram himself was a character in the same composer's Tannhäuser (1845).

Bibliography

See the interpretation of Parzival by M. F. Richey (1933) and the translation by J. Weston (1894); study by J. F. Poag (1972).

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Wolfram von Eschenbach

(born c. 1170—died c. 1220) German poet. An impoverished Bavarian knight, Wolfram apparently served a succession of lords. The epic “Parzival,” one of his eight surviving lyric poems, is one of the masterpieces of the Middle Ages; likely based on a romance by Chrétien de Troyes, it introduced the theme of the Holy Grail into German literature. Richard Wagner used it as the basis for his last opera, Parsifal (1882). Wolfram's influence on later poets was profound, and, with Hartmann von Aue and Gottfried von Strassburg, he is one of the three great Middle High German epic poets.

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Wolfram von Eschenbach

died ?1220, German poet: author of the epic Parzival, incorporating the story of the Grail

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Wolfram Von Eschenbach 

Born circa 1170, in Eschenbach; died 1220. German minnesinger poet; wandering singer.

Wolfram wrote Parzival (1198-1210; published, 1783), a romance in verse that was part of the Arthurian cycle of romances. Parzival combines the glorification of knighthood with the preaching of religious atonement and renunciation. The same spirit is embodied in Wolfram’s unfinished romances Willehalm and Titurel and also in his songs of the alba genre.

WORKS

[Werke,] parts 1-5. Published by A. Leitzmann, Halle an der SaaleTübingen, 1953-58.

REFERENCES

Ivanov, K. A. Trubadury, truvery i minnezingery, 2nd ed. Petrograd, 1915.
Lowet, R. Wolfram von Eschenbachs Parzival im Wandel der Zeiten. Munich [1955].
Hohenstein, L. Die Nachte in St. Wendelin: Der Lebensroman Wolframs von Eschenbach. Rudolstadt, 1969.

N. B. VESELOVSKAIA