Ougenweide was a German

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. I ...

band. They are notable for being pioneers of the

medieval folk rock Medieval folk rock, medieval rock or medieval folk is a musical subgenre that emerged in the early 1970s in England and Germany which combined elements of early music with rock music. It grew out of the British folk rock and progressive folk move ...

subgenre. (In German) The name comes from

Middle High German Middle High German (MHG; german: Mittelhochdeutsch (Mhd.)) is the term for the form of German spoken in the High Middle Ages. It is conventionally dated between 1050 and 1350, developing from Old High German and into Early New High German. Hig ...

''ougenweide'' (Augenweide - ''feast for the eyes'').

Band history

The beginning

The predecessor band was formed in 1969; it was composed of Frank Wulff, Michael Steinbeck, Jürgen Isenbart, and Brigitte Blunck. Ougenweide was founded in spring 1970 in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...

as a

folk rock Folk rock is a hybrid music genre that combines the elements of folk and rock music, which arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music revival. Performers s ...

band. The band is named after a song by Neidhart von Reuental, the first joint composition by Ougenweide. From the beginning the band wanted to set to music old poems and songs, but they never completely restricted themselves to the Medieval. The band was influenced by the Rock music scene of Hamburg of the 1960s.

Successful years

The second album of Ougenweide ''All die weil ich mag'' from 1974 used texts from the

Merseburg Incantations The Merseburg charms or Merseburg incantations (german: die Merseburger Zaubersprüche) are two medieval magic spells, charms or incantations, written in Old High German. They are the only known examples of Germanic pagan belief preserved in the ...

. This sound recording of the ''Merseburger Zaubersprüche'' was covered later by many bands, including Die Irrlichter, who were awarded a prize in the 5th Falkensteiner Minnesangturnier by Ougenweide (who served as patrons and jury) in 2010, and by the medieval metal group

In Extremo In Extremo (Latin for ''At the Edge''; abbreviated InEx or IE) is a German Medieval metal band originating from Berlin. The band's musical style combines metal with Medieval traditional songs, blending the sound of the standard rock/metal inst ...

. The music is often incorrectly thought to originate in the Middle Ages, but goes back to Ougenweide. They also used texts or text-fragments by

Walther von der Vogelweide Walther von der Vogelweide (c. 1170c. 1230) was a Minnesänger who composed and performed love-songs and political songs (" Sprüche") in Middle High German. Walther has been described as the greatest German lyrical poet before Goethe; his hundr ...

Heinrich von Mügeln Heinrich may refer to: People * Heinrich (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) * Heinrich (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) *Hetty (given name), a given name (including a list of peo ...

and Johann Wolfgang Goethe. 1975 Ougenweide appeared on stage with

Fairport Convention Fairport Convention are an English folk rock band, formed in 1967 by guitarists Richard Thompson and Simon Nicol, bassist Ashley Hutchings and drummer Shaun Frater (with Frater replaced by Martin Lamble after their first gig.) They started o ...

Steeleye Span Steeleye Span are a British folk rock band formed in 1969 in England by Fairport Convention bass player Ashley Hutchings and established London folk club duo Tim Hart and Maddy Prior. The band were part of the 1970s British folk revival, and we ...

Planxty Planxty were an Irish folk music band formed in January 1972, consisting initially of Christy Moore (vocals, acoustic guitar, bodhrán), Andy Irvine (vocals, mandolin, mandola, bouzouki, hurdy-gurdy, harmonica), Dónal Lunny (bouzouki, guit ...

Amazing Blondel Amazing Blondel are an English acoustic progressive folk band, containing Eddie Baird, John Gladwin, and Terry Wincott. They released a number of LPs for Island Records in the early 1970s. They are sometimes categorised as psychedelic folk or a ...

Alan Stivell Alan Stivell (; born Alan Cochevelou on 6 January 1944) is a French, Breton and Celtic musician and singer, songwriter, recording artist, and master of the Celtic harp. From the early 1970s, he revived global interest in the Celtic (specifically ...

and

Konstantin Wecker Konstantin Alexander Wecker (born 1 June 1947, Munich) is a German singer-songwriter; he also works as a composer, author, and actor. Life and work Classically educated at the Wilhelmsgymnasium, Wecker got one of his first jobs as a songwriter a ...

. They worked together with

Peter Rühmkorf Peter Rühmkorf (25 October 1929 – 8 June 2008) was a German writer who significantly influenced German post-war literature. Rühmkorf's literary career started in 1952 in Hamburg with the magazine ''Zwischen den Kriegen'' ("Between the Wars") ...

for a film about the life of Walther von der Vogelweide.

The split and reunions

After struggling with musical direction, Ougenweide gave their last performances early in 1985 before splitting up. Then, with the Tessera string quartet and the a cappella quintet Time Of Roses, they briefly reunited in 1996 to record "Sol", an album of covers of old European medieval folk songs. But after only giving sporadic performances, they split up again. The classic lineup reunited in 2004 to give a one-off hour performance and then the band reunited two years after with several new members afterwards. Frank Wulff stopped performing with the group in 2009 due to suffering from cancer, however he did record one more album with the group in 2010, Herzsprung, before passing away prior to the album's release. The group briefly carried on without him but hasn't performed since 2011.

Discography

Studio albums

* ''Ougenweide'', 1973 * ''All die weil ich mag'', 1974 * ''Ohrenschmaus'', 1976 * ''Eulenspiegel'', 1976 * ''Frÿheit'', 1978 * ''Ousflug'', 1979 * ''Ja-Markt'', 1980 * ''Noch aber ist April'', 1981 * ''Sol'', 1996 * ''Herzsprung'', 2010

Live albums

* ''Ungezwungen'', 1977, 2007 * ''Wol mich der Stunde'', 2004 * ''Ouwe war'', 2005

Compilations

* ''Liederbuch Ougenweide'', 1979, 1988 * ''Lieder aus 9 Jahrhunderten'', 1983 * ''Ougenweide'' / ''All die weil ich mag'', 2006 * ''Ohrenschmaus'' / ''Eulenspiegel'', 2006 * ''Walther von der Vogelweide - Saget mir ieman: waz ist Minne?'', 2007 * ''Frÿheit'' / ''Ousflug'', 2007 * ''Ja-Markt'' / ''Noch aber ist April'', 2007

References

{{Authority control Medieval folk rock groups German progressive rock groups