Eccard: Newe deutzsche Lieder

This volume is the first scholarly performing edition of the twenty-four German partsongs found in Johannes Eccard's Newe deutzsche Lieder (Mühlhausen, 1578), and sixteen of the pieces appear here for the first time in a modern edition. This collection connects Augsburg and Eccard's Fugger dedicatees to the potent musical atmosphere of Munich and the court where Lassus (Eccard's teacher) was kapellmeister for over thirty years. Unlike more prolific contemporaries like Lechner, de Vento, and Lassus, Eccard published only five collections during his life, and the Newe deutzsche Lieder is his only publication devoted exclusively to secular music. Eccard has been known previously for his Lutheran hymns and chorales. The texts encompass a wide range of moods and subjects from expressions of simple sentiments to salacious double entendre and are mostly based on traditional German lieder. In these pieces Eccard combined the tune-bound German Tenorlied style with madrigal-influenced Netherlands polyphony.