ABSTRACT
The secular song of the seventeenth century represents a relatively neglected area of German culture. The presence in it of subtle variations, occasional eroticism, sometimes boisterous humour, rhythmic sparkle and colourful variety of everyday pictures makes it difficult to understand why this should be so. The period over which German secular song-writing is to be examined runs from 1624, the year of publication of Martin Opitz's treatise Das Buch von der deutschen Poeterey, until 1660. As far as literary criticism and literary history is concerned, there are few substantial works primarily dedicated to the study of the song; far more often in histories of literature song-writers are discussed within the framework of lyric poetry generally. A clear overview, with documentation, was published by Heinz Entner in 1984. The chapter demonstrates the way in which German poetry worked its way through to the reform of Martin Opitz which was finally formulated in his Poeterey of 1624.
