Resumen de Singen und Wiegen: Das Weihnachtslied ‘Ecce mundi gaudia’ im Wienhäuser Liederbuch
This article discusses the song ‘Ecce mundi gaudia’ in the Wienhäuser Song Book (c. 1500) in its literary and cultural context. The song derives from a group of Christmas carols found in manuscripts belonging to women connected with the Devotio Moderna movement in the triangle Zwolle (The Netherlands)–Cologne–Wienhausen (Germany). In all instances well-known material about Jesus’s infancy or youth is embedded within an existing Latin frame. Unlike similar songs, the Wienhäuser song ‘Ecce mundi gaudia’ has a second refrain containing words typically found in lullabies, which might indicate a Christmas cradling tradition. Several sources witness that cradling could end up in a dance around the Christmas cradle, even in church. Probably the Wienhäuser song ‘Ecce mundi gaudia’ accompanied a tradition of cradling at Christmas in Wienhausen.
