Biography of Meister Alexander (Part 2)

Just as I mentioned in earlier an entry, we do not know much about Alexander, because there are not many clue left to trace back his biography, and like that he made it to the circle of the mysterious composers of the Middle Ages. Let us see what we know about him based on the entry of Oxford Music Online:

All we know is that Meister Alexander (a.k.a. Der Wilde Alexander) was a German, (presumably Alleman) poet-composer, active from the mid- to late 13th-century. He is not attested in official documents or mentioned in contemporary literature, which makes difficult to piece together his biography. The only biographical clues are certain allusions in his poetry to historical events between 1285 and 1288 but more recent study shows additional allusions to events from 1247 to 1252. In two manuscripts he is named ‘der wilde Alexander’, perhaps because of his unusual style or his restless itinerant life, and in the Jenaer Liederhandschrift he is called ‘Meister Alexander’. But the Meistersinger did not regard him as one of the 12 masters. Alexander was one of the most important Minnesinger and composers of Sprüche after the time of Walther von der Vogelweide. In the surviving sources he is represented mainly by 24 Spruch strophes, but also by two Minnelieder and one Leich. 

In his Spruch poetry he is criticical with his own time and strafes his contemporaries and the deeds of his time, with reference both to the life of the individual and putting his opinion into religious and political context. His Minnesang compositions are still belonging to the chivalrous hohe Minne; yet the the motifs he uses points towards classical Minnesang, with a tendency to idealize,and  given a new life by his highly personal, vagabond and passionate style. Alexander’s lyric poetry resembles to the style of classical courtly poetry, but still tainted by his own powerful, dark, allegorical style. 

The originality and forward-looking form of his melodies reflect his poetic skill and these suggest a high level of education. Alexander’s musical style is similar to that of classical Minnesang; but at the same time the melodies show a more modern and refined stylistic intent, and some suggest early 14th-century style in their extensive melismas (see for example Sîôn trûre's opening melisma).

Source of this blog entry: Oxford Music Online's entry on "Alexander, Meister"