Instrumental Folk Music
Even fewer sources on instrumental folk music in the Tyrol than on the Volkslied are known. While the often long texts of songs were written out by the singers to aid their memories, writing down the melodies was foregone out of ignorance of notation and because of the ability to remember, accompany, and vary effortlessly what had once been heard and to invent something new. The few musicians’ manuscripts that have survived since the end of the 18th century often contain pieces that do not stem from the musical tradition of a place but were for instance heard abroad or from itinerant musicians traveling through. A remarkable collection of sacred and secular folk songs and instrumental tunes is found in a manuscript from a farmstead in Tassach near Platt in Passeier that was compiled towards the end of the 18th century. Music books dating from the 19th century have been preserved from, e.g., Hötting/Innsbruck and Erl that provide insights into materials for music making at the time. Johann Martin Kerle (1811-1893) in Weißenbach in the Lechtal played violin and clarinet in his spare time. He started his own collection of music for marches and dances, in copies in his own hand and in purchased copies.[29] Among the later collectors who strove to write out instrumental music, the pharmacist Eduard Lucerna (1869-1944) in Gries near Bozen, the doctor Franz Moll (1868-1947) in Brixen, and the professor of music of the teachers’ college in Innsbruck, Josephus Weber (1878-1968) stand out especially as doing a great service.[30]
The pre-musical range of sound in folk music in the Tyrol has hardly received any attention, despite the fact that it was of great importance at work and in local customs. In the farming life of most of the population, archetypal musical instruments such as the goat’s horn (Bockshorn), alphorn, willow pipe (Weidenpfeife) and elementary musical instruments such as jingle bell (Schelle), bell, whip (Peitsche), a whizzer, bull-roarer or thunder stick (Schwirrholz), and a stick and chain (Ringelstock) had plenty of different uses.[31] Goatherds (“Goaßer”) would round up their herd with a goat’s horn or communicate with comrades at a distance by means of established signals. The “Saltner” (watchmen in the vineyards) in the Etsch region called for help with an animal’s horn in case of need. The straight long form of the alphorn would have been used mainly for sending out news in Alpine regions; at least this can be documented for the “Strebtuter,” a horn in the Sarn valley. It is still used there today, besides the goat’s horn, for “Klöckln.” The Goaßerhorn, a trumpet-like curved horn made of coniferous wood and wrapped in birch bark, used during “Schleicherlaufen” (procession of masked figures) in Telfs, refers to its earlier use as a signaling instrument when pasturing livestock. The Tyrolean man of letters Beda Weber reports in 1838 about a “horn” in the parish church of Lavant, said to have been used instead of bells “once” to summon the congregation to divine services. This was probably an alphorn. In Heiligkreuz/Gadertal the long straight form of alphorns were used at the Heiligkreuzkofel “to wake up the thunder.” When the alphorns were blown, the eightfold echo on this spot is said to have been especially impressive.[32]
Whips, sticks with chains, bells, cow or jingle bells served to help out at work in breeding livestock, but were also used for noise-making customs based on the belief in the repellent power of noise, e.g. in the Lower Inn Valley for “Grasausläuten” and “Ålmerafahren,” in Telfs for “Schleicherlaufen,” in Imst for “Schemenlaufen,” and in the Wipptal for “Schellenschlagen” (the names of the local customs refer to: making the grass grow, processions of masked figures, striking bells to end the winter). [33] Rattles could take over the function of church bells, as could “Goaßln” (huge whips) in the Meran region. Rattles and other noise-making implements were used at “Poltermetten” or “Pumpermetten” (divine services with rattle accompaniment) in church. In the inner Passeier, on the Seiser Alm, in the Eisacktal and Wipptal, speedy mowers showed they had finished their work by scraping the back of their scythes with the whetstone. Making this noise was called “Bär anmachen,”“Bock ausgeigen” or “Hund au’geigen” (teasing the bear, fiddling out the billy goat or the dog). “Sechterklopfen” marking time by beating a wooden bucket helped to keep the daily activities on the mountain meadows punctual.[34]
Other noise-making implements, such as out-of-tune brass instruments, pans, pot lids and the like, were to facilitate courtship and chasing out “evil spirits” from the future household in South Tyrolean marriage customs, and to help denounce offenders at the people’s court (Volksgericht), e.g. “Faule-Weib-Singen” (making fun of a lazy woman) in the Wipptal and upper Eisacktal. They were also used for “Puchlmusik” (a people’s court) in the Ebbs region.[35] Bladder and strings, or boombass (Teufelsgeigen, devil’s fiddles) provided the beat. In the early 18th century the lads in one valley came together from several places on the signal of a goat’s horn when they went to call on their girls.[36] Noise instruments were also used in Christmas customs.[37]
The music played by folk musicians consisted mainly of dances. An indispensable instrument for dance music in many areas had long been the violin. In the Zillertal, the Iseltal and the Passeiertal this tradition lasted into the mid-20th century.[38] The Brüder Raffl, brothers from the Großtallnerhof farmstead in Passeier, were famous violinists all over the valley in the second half of the 19th century; the “Tallner Geigenmusik” consisted of a first violin, a “second violin or viola that was tuned one octave lower,” two accompanying violins and a cello.[39] Usually the dulcimer, harp and bass violin (“Bassettl”) had accompanying functions.
The diatonically tuned eastern Tyrolean dulcimer (Hackbrett) belonged to the standard composition of every dance orchestra mainly in the Iseltal and Lienzer Becken.[40] The harp was used as an instrument with a volume of sound, for instance in the “Zillertaler Hochzeitsmusik” group, with two violins and one bass. It was played solo later in the Lower Inn Valley and in the Brixen Valley, as well as in the Zillertal.[41]
In the Brixen region, the zither was in use as early as the second half of the 17th century; the “Zither”inventoried in the estate of Archduke Ferdinand II of Tyrol (†1595) was, however, a cittern (Cister) in today’s terminology. At dances and other occasions, people in the Burggrafenamt, Villnößtal and Pustertal liked to play the “Raffele,” a zither that has no diapasons but only finger-board strings over chromatic or diatonic frets that are struck with a plectrum with a tremolo.[42] In the 19th century, the zither advanced to the prototype of the instrument accompanying the Nationalsänger.
Mendicant musicians would earn a few kreuzer with a hurdy-gurdy (Drehleier) and (single action) accordion (Ziehharmonika) in the 19th century.[43] The accordion gradually supplanted the violins in dance orchestras.[44] Only in the 19th century did the guitar come in demand throughout as a folk music instrument, as did the clarinet. In the Trentino on the other hand, the guitar came into use as early as in the 17th and 18th centuries in combination with the lute in dance bands. Small ensembles sometimes combined it with one violin and one bass.[45] The fife (Schwegel), a transverse flute often made by the musicians themselves, was not only an attribute of the Tyrolean riflemen but also in evidence in most huts on mountain meadows around 1800 and in variable ensembles, e.g. with violin, dulcimer, and bass in the 19th century.[46] “Two original Tyrolean melodies” that were probably passed down from the riflemen’s fifers and drummers were incorporated around 1824 by Johann Baptist Gänsbacher in his symphonic poem “Schützenfreuden: Ein karakteristisches Tongemälde für vollständiges Orchester mit obligatem Stutzen, Drommel und Pfeifen [...]”(Riflemen’s Joys: a characteristic tonal picture for complete orchestra with the obligatory rifle, drum and fifes).[47] Up to the beginning of the 20th century, intimate tones were drawn from the Jew’s harp. At the court in Innsbruck at the time of Emperor Maximilian it provided “many an entertainment” in the hand and mouth of the court jester. Examples are known dating from the end of the 15th century, for instance from Seefeld.[48] The Innsbruck director of court music Johann Heinrich Hörmann (1694-1763) included a Jew’s harp besides flutes, violins and basso continuo in his “Parthia ab VIII instrumentis” of around 1730.[49] The “Hölzerne Glachter” (wooden xylophone) was another folk instrument that was adopted at court: the estate of Archduke Sigmund Franz (†1665) listed “ein hilzes Glächter Instrumentl.” Nationalsänger turned it from a common instrument accompanying the dance into a feature item.[50]
Fussnoten
[29] Karl HORAK, Instrumentale Volksmusik aus Tirol (Volksmusik in Tirol: Quellen, Dokumente und Studien 2), Innsbruck 1985, p. 10, 15ff, 65ff, 77ff, 100ff, 287ff, 295ff;
Robert Lach, Eine Tiroler Liederhandschrift aus dem 18. Jahrhundert (Akademie der Wissenschaften in Wien, Philosophisch-historische Klasse, Sitzungsberichte 198/5), Vienna 1923. – See also Part VI.1 “Secular Folk Song” in the present text.
[30] Karl HORAK, Instrumentale Volksmusik aus Tirol (Volksmusik in Tirol: Quellen, Dokumente und Studien 2), Innsbruck 1985, p. 117ff, 160ff, 220ff, 302f, 306f, 315f. - For Lucerna, particularly his “Sinfonietta” for small orchestra “nach alten deutschen Weisen” (based on old German tunes), see EDUARD Lucerna 1869-1944, Bozen: Haydn-Orchester 1994.
[31] On the identification of this instrument, see Manfred SCHNEIDER, “Bemerkungen zu den Ringelstöcken der Hirten in Weihnachtskrippen aus Tirol,” Festgabe für Erich Egg zum 65. Geburtstag, Innsbruck 1985, p. 95.
[32] Manfred SCHNEIDER, “Allgemeine Bemerkungen zu prämusikalischen Schallgeräten bei Arbeit und Brauch in Tirol,” Beiträge zur Volksmusik in Tirol, ed. Walter Deutsch and Manfred Schneider, Innsbruck 1978, p. 82f, 91;
A. A. SCHMIDL, Handbuch für Reisende nach Tirol, Salzburg und Erzherzogthum Oesterreich, Stuttgart 1840, p. 37;
Manfred SCHNEIDER, “Die Bedeutung der Weihnachtskrippe für die Musikalische Volkskunde,” Der Krippenfreund 64 (1977) p. 44;
Beda WEBER, Das Land Tirol; Mit einem Anhange: Vorarlberg; Ein Handbuch für Reisende 2, Innsbruck 1838, p. 165;
Josef PITSCHEIDER, “Der Waldtuter,” Der Schlern 20 (1946) p. 235f. -
Cf. Karl Magnus KLIER, Volkstümliche Musikinstrumente in den Alpen, Kassel, Basel 1956, p. 18f, 26. -
Karl Felix WOLFF, [review of: Franz Huter, Südtirol, Bozen 1958] Der Schlern 32 (1958) p. 301;
Manfred SCHNEIDER, “Musik und Weihnacht in Tirol,” Ein Kind ist uns geboren, ein Sohn ist uns geschenkt: Weihnacht in der Tiroler Kunst, exh. cat. on the occasion of the XII. Weltkrippenkongress in Innsbruck in the Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum, Innsbruck [1985], p. 60ff;
Franz MAYR, “Das Alphorn im Wallfahrtsort Heiligkreuz,” Der Schlern 33 (1959) p. 431ff.
[33] Manfred SCHNEIDER, “Allgemeine Bemerkungen zu prämusikalischen Schallgeräten bei Arbeit und Brauch in Tirol,” Beiträge zur Volksmusik in Tirol, ed. Walter Deutsch and Manfred Schneider, Innsbruck 1978, p. 82, 85;
Manfred SCHNEIDER, “Bemerkungen zu den Ringelstöcken der Hirten in Weihnachtskrippen aus Tirol,” Festgabe für Erich Egg zum 65. Geburtstag, Innsbruck 1985, p. 110;
Ludwig STEUB, Lyrische Reisen, Stuttgart 1878, p. 277;
Maria HAUSER, “Vom Almerafahren,” Tiroler Heimatblätter 9 (1931) p. 343;
Erika HUBATSCHEK, “Um Arbeit und Brauch des Tiroler Bergbauern,” Veröffentlichungen des Museum[s] Ferdinandeum 26/29 (1946/49) p. 599;
Simon MARGREITER, “Vom Grasausläuten in Radfeld,” Tiroler Heimatblätter 12 (1934) p. 198;
Wolfgang PFAUNDLER, Fasnacht in Tirol: Telfer Schleicherlaufen, Wörgl 1981, p. 11;
Rudolf SINWEL, “Das Schellenschlagen,” Tiroler Heimatblätter 4 (1926) p. 83f.
[34] O. von REINSBERG-DÜRINGSFELD, Culturhistorische Studien aus Meran, Leipzig 1874, p. 32;
“Die POLTERMETTE,” Tiroler Heimatblätter 5 (1927) p. 102;
Manfred SCHNEIDER, “Allgemeine Bemerkungen zu prämusikalischen Schallgeräten bei Arbeit und Brauch in Tirol,” Beiträge zur Volksmusik in Tirol, ed. Walter Deutsch and Manfred Schneider, Innsbruck 1978, p. 83ff;
Erika HUBATSCHEK, “Um Arbeit und Brauch des Tiroler Bergbauern,” Veröffentlichungen des Museum[s] Ferdinandeum 26/29 (1946/49) p. 599, 604.
[35] Johannes BAUR, Volksfrommes Brauchtum Südtirols (Schlern-Schriften 192), Innsbruck, Munich 1959, p. 112f;
Engelbert RUNGGALDIER, “‘Das faule Weib singen’: Eine kulturhistorische Skizze,” Der Schlern 13 (1932) p. 536f;
Richard WOLFRAM, Schwerttanz und Männerbund, Kassel 1936, p. 236.
[36] Franz HATTLER SJ, Missionsbilder aus Tirol: Geschichte der ständigen Jesuitenmission von 1719-1784, Innsbruck 1899, p. 79.
[37] Manfred SCHNEIDER, “Musik und Weihnacht in Tirol,” Ein Kind ist uns geboren, ein Sohn ist uns geschenkt: Weihnacht in der Tiroler Kunst, exh. cat. on the occasion of the XII. Weltkrippenkongress in Innsbruck in the Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum, Innsbruck [1985], p. 38ff.
[38] Karl HORAK, “Die Geige als Volksmusikinstrument in Tirol,” Walter Deutsch and Gerlinde Haid, eds, Die Geige in der europäischen Volksmusik (Schriften zur Volksmusik 3), Vienna 1975, p. 176ff;
Karl HORAK, “Die Geige in der Tiroler Volksmusik,” Das Fenster 14 (1974) p. 1441ff;
Karl HORAK, “Die Geige in der alpenländischen Volksmusik,” Sänger- und Musikantenzeitung 15 (1972) p. 27ff;
Karl HORAK, “Der Volkstanz im Burggrafenamt,” Jahrbuch des österreichischen Volksliedwerkes 12 (1963) p. 76;
Luis WALLNÖFER, “Die Geige in Passeier,” Der Schlern 17 (1936) p. 192f;
Rainer GSTREIN, “Innovationsprozesse in der instrumentalen Volksmusik - dargestellt am Beispiel der Tanzmusik-Ensembles in Österreich in der ersten Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts,” Jahrbuch des österreichischen Volksliedwerkes 34 (1985) p. 50. -
Cf. Geigenmusik aus Tirol: Boarische - Landler – Polkas; Sammlung Helmut Leisz, ed. Tiroler Volksliedwerk, Innsbruck 2001.
[39] Luis WALLNÖFER, “Die Geige in Passeier,” Der Schlern 18 (1937) p. 192f. -
Cf. Geigenmusik aus Tirol: Boarische - Landler – Polkas; Sammlung Helmut Leisz, ed. Tiroler Volksliedwerk, Innsbruck 2001.
[40] Florian PEDARNIG, “Das Hackbrett in Osttirol,” Beiträge zur Volksmusik in Tirol, ed. Walter Deutsch and Manfred Schneider, Innsbruck 1978, p. 171ff;
Karl Magnus KLIER, Volkstümliche Musikinstrumente in den Alpen, Kassel, Basel 1956, p. 52;
Karl HORAK, “Beiträge zur Volksmusik Tirols,” Jahrbuch des österreichischen Volksliedwerkes 4 (1955) p. 86f.
[41] Karl HORAK, “Beiträge zur Volksmusik Tirols,” Jahrbuch des österreichischen Volksliedwerkes 4 (1955) p. 81ff;
Peter KOSTNER, Die Volksharfe in Tirol: Historische und instrumentenkundliche Aspekte, diploma thesis, Hochschule Mozarteum Salzburg / Abteilung X Musikerziehung in Innsbruck, Innsbruck 1991, p. 12ff.
[42] Karl Magnus KLIER, Volkstümliche Musikinstrumente in den Alpen, Kassel, Basel 1956, p. 84;
Franz WALDNER, “Zwei Inventarien aus dem XVI. und XVII. Jahrhundert über hinterlassene Musikinstrumente und Musikalien am Innsbrucker Hofe,” Studien zur Musikwissenschaft 4 (1916) p. 129;
Alois BAURSCHAFTER, “Von der Musikalität im Burggrafenamt,” Meraner Jahrbuch 7 (1948) p. 54f;
Karl HORAK, “Beiträge zur Volksmusik Tirols,” Jahrbuch des österreichischen Volksliedwerkes 4 (1955) p. 85f.
[43] Ludwig STEUB, Lyrische Reisen, Stuttgart 1878, p. 6.
[44]Karl HORAK, “Der Volkstanz im Burggrafenamt,” Jahrbuch des österreichischen Volksliedwerkes 12 (1963) p. 76.
[45] Walter SENN, “Musik in Tirol: Älteste Nachrichten - Heldenlieder - Minnesänger - Spielleute,” Erläuterungen zur Kulturkarte von Tirol: Historische Stätten und Kulturdenkmale, ed. Ernest Troger, Vienna [1967], p. 29;
Rainer GSTREIN, “Innovationsprozesse in der instrumentalen Volksmusik - dargestellt am Beispiel der Tanzmusik-Ensembles in Österreich in der ersten Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts,” Jahrbuch des österreichischen Volksliedwerkes 34 (1985) p. 53. -
Cf. Stefan HACKL, “Die Guitaromanie in Tirol: Geschichte der Gitarre an einem Nebenschauplatz,” Gitarre & Laute 1 (1996) p. 21ff. -
Cf. Stefan HACKL, “Die Zigeunerstimmung bei den Gitarristen des Tiroler Unterlandes,” Jahrbuch des österreichischen Volksliedwerkes 46 (1997) p. 86ff. -
Clemente LUNELLI, “I processi per balli suoni e mascherate in Vallagarina nei secoli XVII e XVIII,” Atti dell’Accademia Roveretana degli Agiati, Contributi della Classe di Scienze umane di Lettere ed Arti a[nno] 240 (1990), p. 183ff.
[46] Adalbert KOCH, “Die Tiroler Schützenschwegel (Zusammenfassung),” Beiträge zur Volksmusik in Tirol, ed. Walter Deutsch and Manfred Schneider, Innsbruck 1978, p. 168f;
Adalbert KOCH, ed., “Sechs Tiroler Schützenmärsche für Schwegel und Trommel aus der Zeit der Freiheitskämpfe,” Tiroler Heimatblätter 11 (1933) p. 31ff;
Karl Magnus KLIER, Volkstümliche Musikinstrumente in den Alpen, Kassel, Basel 1956, p. 30;
Karl Magnus KLIER, “Von der Alttiroler Volksmusik,” Tiroler Heimatblätter 7 (1929) p. 109;
Hermann EGGER, Die Entwicklung der Blasmusik in Tirol, typescript, PhD Innsbruck 1952, p. 25f;
Karl HORAK, “Beiträge zur Volksmusik Tirols,” Jahrbuch des österreichischen Volksliedwerkes 4 (1955) p. 77ff;
Karl HORAK, “Tirol als Volkslied- und Volksmusiklandschaft,” Jahrbuch des österreichischen Volksliedwerkes 16 (1967) p. 31;
Rainer GSTREIN, “Innovationsprozesse in der instrumentalen Volksmusik - dargestellt am Beispiel der Tanzmusik-Ensembles in Österreich in der ersten Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts,” Jahrbuch des österreichischen Volksliedwerkes 34 (1985) p. 50.
[47] Manfred SCHNEIDER, Tiroler Schützenfreuden, CD booklet, Innsbruck: Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum 2001, p. 4.
[48] Walter SENN, “Maximilian und die Musik,” [catalog entries], exh. cat.Maximilian I. Innsbruck, Innsbruck 1969, p. 76;
Karl HORAK, “Beiträge zur Volksmusik Tirols,” Jahrbuch des österreichischen Volksliedwerkes 4 (1955) p. 88;
Karl HORAK, “Tirol als Volkslied- und Volksmusiklandschaft,” Jahrbuch des österreichischen Volksliedwerkes 16 (1967) p. 31;
Karl HORAK, “Volkslied und Volksmusik,” Die tirolische Nation 1790-1820, exh. cat. Landesausstellung im Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum, Innsbruck 1984, p. 149;
Hildegard HERRMANN-SCHNEIDER, “Spätmittelalterliche Maultrommelfunde in Nordtirol,” Volksmusik - Wandel und Deutung, Festschrift Walter Deutsch zum 75. Geburtstag, ed. Gerlinde Haid et al. (Schriften zur Volksmusik 19), Vienna, etc. 2000, p. 283ff.
[49] Walter SENN, “Der Innsbrucker Hofmusiker Johann Heinrich Hörmann (1694-1763),” Tiroler Heimatblätter 50 (1975) p. 85ff.
[50] Franz WALDNER, “Zwei Inventarien aus dem XVI. und XVII. Jahrhundert über hinterlassene Musikinstrumente und Musikalien am Innsbrucker Hofe,” Studien zur Musikwissenschaft 4 (1916) p. 132;
Karl HORAK, “Beiträge zur Volksmusik Tirols,” Jahrbuch des österreichischen Volksliedwerkes 4 (1955) p. 87f.
