Minnesinger

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Minnesinger (Ger.). ‘Singer(s) of love’. Ger. equivalent of troubadours, flourishing in 12th-and 13th-cent. guilds. Mainly of aristocratic orig. in contrast to Meistersinger who were of merchant class. Among the most celebrated Minnesinger were Walther von der Vogelweide (d 1230), Neidhardt von Reuenthal (c.1180–1240), Heinrich von Meissen (Frauenlob, d 1318), Hermann, the Monk of Salzburg (c.1350–1410), and Oswald von Wolkenstein (c.1377–1445). Wagner's Tannhäuser and Strauss's Guntram are operas dealing with the Minnesinger class.

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