I suppose that most people aren't quite interested in roleplaying
devout catholics (or protestants, for that matter). I think Civil War
live-action roleplaying, also known by the acronym LARPing or simply as
reenactment is particularly popular among americans because the events
it depicts are still important to many in the US, and also because the
wargaming aspect is just more interesting to people than just
appreciating a past culture and its aspects.
On Thu, 26 Sep 2019, 18:23 ,
<[1]theoj89...@new-old-mail.cs.dartmouth.edu> wrote:
Tristan:
interesting observation. I think that 'renaissance fairs' in the
US,
from my experience, are most commonly full of an anachronistic
mix of
European medieval AND renaissance stuff, and Viking, and fantasy.
Oddly, None of the fairs that I have attended (I haven't been to
many),
have any significant presence of religious themes, icons,
ceremonies,
etc., even though religion heavily dominated the lives of both
commoners and nobility at those times.
In the US, early American historical events (fairs, historical
places
like Williamsburg, VA, and reenactments) get extremely
historically
correct, often mandating historically correct costumes, food,
lodging,
weapons, tools, etc. US Civil war (1861-65) reenactments continue
to be
most popular around the eastern US and are extremely focused on
authenticity (even to the point of wearing historically accurate
underclothes!).
I would guess that there might be fairs, or events in Europe that
insist on such historical accuracy, but maybe not for renaissance
era?
Or is that just for Germany? Thanks for bringing up this
interesting
topic to explore our regional differences! trj
-----Original Message-----
From: Tristan von Neumann <[2]tristanvonneum...@gmx.de>
To: [3]lute@cs.dartmouth.edu <[4]lute@cs.dartmouth.edu>
Sent: Thu, Sep 26, 2019 9:40 am
Subject: [LUTE] Renaissance/Medieval Fairs
So here's something different for a change.
Why is it that in the US there are "Renfairs", all dedicated to
mainly
the 16th century (and some really stretching it by allowing some
fantasy
elements), while in Germany we only have "Mittelaltermà ¤rkte"
(Medieval
Fairs).
What I don't like about the Medieval Fairs in Germany (though
some are
quite good and only allow painstakingly recreated authentic
stuff), is
the music.
Since we don't know much about instrumental music of the Middle
Ages,
many people take this as an excuse to brutally treat the crowd
with
Techno-like monster beats by huge drums and ear-shattering
bagpiping.
I have very rarely heard "real" Medival Music apart from some
Walter
von
der Vogelweide favourites and the occasional Oswald von
Wolkenstein.
Even the popular "Estampies" are rarely heard, and we rarely get
even
simplified versions of tunes from British Library Add. 29987.
If you're not blasted by bagpipes, there will be bawdy songs in
pseudo-medieval folk style, of course played on totally
inappropriate
instruments.
While I think I would love to take my lute to such an event, I
would be
totally anachronistic, and I do not want to join the "Medieval"
musicians presenting 16th century music like Susato or even
Praetorius
as "medieval".
These events have musically corrupted the ear of the common
audience.
Whenever someone hears 16th century lute music they consider it
"medieval"...
Lucky America: having looked through musical performances at
Renaissance
Fairs, we see many ensembles actually performing appropriate
songs and
dances.
Here's a great example (if the lute player is here: good job you
two)
[5]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RptxRpTiHo
Also madrigal singers:
[6]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYc7AqSTZXY
Anachronisms are sometimes good fun, as the madrigal version of
Katy
Perry shows, but it seems madrigal singers really enjoy the
original
material like Dowland songs or Italian vocal music.
[7]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIsHkuVTzDE
Of course there are some of those folk singers too, but the style
is
more appropriate for the age represented.
So here's the survey - how many of you have at least performed
once at
a
Renaissance Fair in the US (or other countries) - or in case of
Germany,
at a "Mittelaltermarkt"? (are there attempts to establish a
Renaissance
fair beside the Medieval ones?)
How is the response to actual lute music?
To get on or off this list see list information at
[8]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
--
--
References
1. mailto:theoj89...@new-old-mail.cs.dartmouth.edu
2. mailto:tristanvonneum...@gmx.de
3. mailto:lute@cs.dartmouth.edu
4. mailto:lute@cs.dartmouth.edu
5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RptxRpTiHo
6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYc7AqSTZXY
7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIsHkuVTzDE
8. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
