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"At ligne Døden fra Lübeck"
Wednesday, May 20th, 2009 04:07 pmTo dussem dantse rope ik al gemene
Pawes keiser unde alle creaturen
Arm ryke groet unde kleine
Tredet vort went iu en helpet nen truren
Men dencket wol in aller tyd
Dat gy gude werke myt iu bringen
Unde juwer sunden werden quyd
Went gy moten na myner pypen springen.*
Last Saturday, my Middle High German course,![[info]](https://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
niaseath, other guests, and I went on an excursion to look at the Totentanzkapelle in Lübeck as well as an exhibition of modern-day hommages to the danse macabre from Lübeck in the St. Annen-Museum. We had a really lovely day enthusing about late medieval art, modern art, the church service and the beautiful church with other course members and our Professor.
While searching for the text of the Totentanz online I found this wonderful Danish site (click that link, you know you want to! Though be warned, it means goodbye to the rest of your day), which, in its introduction, mentions that the idiom "like death warmed over" is "at ligne Døden fra Lübeck" in Danish, which means, "like death from Lübeck".
"Death from Lübeck" used to look like this before the mural was destroyed in WWII:
...although that is the 1701 version, the original is believed to have looked something like this (Tallinn-fragment):
----
*To this dance I call everybody, / pope, emperor, and all creatures / poor, rich, great and small./ Step forward, because grieiving does not help you,/ but remember, at all times,/ to bring good works and deeds with you / and all your sins will be good again / because you must all dance to my pipe.
Pawes keiser unde alle creaturen
Arm ryke groet unde kleine
Tredet vort went iu en helpet nen truren
Men dencket wol in aller tyd
Dat gy gude werke myt iu bringen
Unde juwer sunden werden quyd
Went gy moten na myner pypen springen.*
Last Saturday, my Middle High German course,
niaseath, other guests, and I went on an excursion to look at the Totentanzkapelle in Lübeck as well as an exhibition of modern-day hommages to the danse macabre from Lübeck in the St. Annen-Museum. We had a really lovely day enthusing about late medieval art, modern art, the church service and the beautiful church with other course members and our Professor.While searching for the text of the Totentanz online I found this wonderful Danish site (click that link, you know you want to! Though be warned, it means goodbye to the rest of your day), which, in its introduction, mentions that the idiom "like death warmed over" is "at ligne Døden fra Lübeck" in Danish, which means, "like death from Lübeck".
"Death from Lübeck" used to look like this before the mural was destroyed in WWII:
...although that is the 1701 version, the original is believed to have looked something like this (Tallinn-fragment):
----
*To this dance I call everybody, / pope, emperor, and all creatures / poor, rich, great and small./ Step forward, because grieiving does not help you,/ but remember, at all times,/ to bring good works and deeds with you / and all your sins will be good again / because you must all dance to my pipe.
