Altdeutsches Liederbuch: Volkslieder der Deutschen nach Wort und Weise aus dem 12. bis zum 17. Jahrhundert

The Altdeutsches Liederbuch was compiled by the German musicologist and composer Franz Magnus Böhme and published in 1877. Böhme dedicated his life to the preservation of German folk traditions, motivated by a romanticized desire to catalog the cultural heritage of the German-speaking people before the rapid modernization of the late 19th century rendered these traditions obsolete.

Böhme’s editorial approach was highly rigorous for its time, as he sought to provide both the original lyrical text and the traditional melodic arrangements of folk songs spanning from the 12th to the 17th century. The collection was widely regarded by contemporary scholars as a definitive resource for historical German musicology, establishing a foundational reference point for the academic study of vernacular song and maintaining its relevance in archives to this day.