The dialect poems of P. Maurus Lindemayr OSB (1723-1783)

P. Maurus Lindemayr, a Benedictine monc of Lambach known as `father of literature in Upperaustrian dialect` and innovator of the Benedictine theatre, is with his `peasant songs` considered the most important Austrian dialect poet of the 18th century. All the more astonishing it is that his lyrical work is only in extracts on hand. Until now, it wasn`t even known in research that more than a half of his poems, in spite of their former popularity, remained unpublished for different reasons. Actually this poems belong - beside their indisputable poetic quality - in many regards to the most remarkable documents of the everyday culture and everyday discourses in the rural regions of Upperaustria during the Maria Theresian-Josephine era. Their themes give insight into the rural and petty bourgeois life in view of drastic reforms and events, they are unique pieces of evidence for the contemporary state of language use and, moreover, in their settings they illustrate the possibilities of the music life in the Austrian monasteries of the 18th century. That they are of excellent interest not only for literature and musicology but also for other disciplines like dialectology, ethnology or history has been oftentimes emphasized in research. The first synopsis of all known tradition carriers as well as numerous text and music manuscripts, which were new discovered during extensive prestudies, makes now possible the scientific examination of the complete corpus which contains 25 poems (and over 200 verses) more than assumed until now and whose musical versions are treated for the first time. In this way Lindemayr`s lyrical work can show itself in an unexpected versatility - a versatility which should allow to draw a more differentiated picture of early dialect literature and folk song art in Austria.

P. Maurus Lindemayr, a Benedictine monc of Lambach known as `father of literature in Upperaustrian dialect` and innovator of the Benedictine theatre, is with his `peasant songs` considered the most important Austrian dialect poet of the 18th century. All the more astonishing it is that his lyrical work is only in extracts on hand. Until now, it wasn`t even known in research that more than a half of his poems, in spite of their former popularity, remained unpublished for different reasons. Actually this poems belong - beside their indisputable poetic quality - in many regards to the most remarkable documents of the everyday culture and everyday discourses in the rural regions of Upperaustria during the Maria Theresian-Josephine era. Their themes give insight into the rural and petty bourgeois life in view of drastic reforms and events, they are unique pieces of evidence for the contemporary state of language use and, moreover, in their settings they illustrate the possibilities of the music life in the Austrian monasteries of the 18th century. That they are of excellent interest not only for literature and musicology but also for other disciplines like dialectology, ethnology or history has been oftentimes emphasized in research. The first synopsis of all known tradition carriers as well as numerous text and music manuscripts, which were new discovered during extensive prestudies, makes now possible the scientific examination of the complete corpus which contains 25 poems (and over 200 verses) more than assumed until now and whose musical versions are treated for the first time. In this way Lindemayr`s lyrical work can show itself in an unexpected versatility - a versatility which should allow to draw a more differentiated picture of early dialect literature and folk song art in Austria.