Matthias Eckel
Matthias Eckel’s works turn up in Dresden, Leipzig and the Ducal Court of Saxony, and in the printed collections of Georg Rhau in Nuremburg and Hans Ott in Wittenberg in 1530s and 40s. His religious works are mostly in Latin. Only about ten secular works survive of which this quodlibet a6 is a notable example.
Ich armer Mann
The text below is the gist of the verse appearing in most of the 6 voices. Some of the voices, however, chime in with words and music of different well-known songs as texture and harmony permit. Fun if one knows the interspersed song fragments . . . tough going if one doesn’t.
This is the first of at least three stanzas . . . not sure whether the “Kyrie” appears at the end of each one.
Matthias Eckel "Ich armer Mann"
Ich armer Mann, was hab ich g’than!
dasz ich ein Weib hub ich genommen!
Ich hä es wol unterwegen lan,
ich wär sein noch wol kommen;
wie oft es mich gerewet hat,
das kann ich wol ermessen!
Allzeit musz ich im Hader stan
zum Bett und auch zum Essen.
Wretched, man, what have I done!
I’ve gone and taken a wife!
I should have left it well enough,
But I still would have done it;
how often I have regretted it,
that I can well measure!
I’m always in trouble,
both in bed and also at mealtimes.