Puschman, Adam (EN)

Puschman Adam Zacharias, *1532 Zgorzelec, †4 April 1600 Wrocław, German meistersinger. He learned the tailor’s trade in his hometown, and then set off on a journey through southern Germany, visiting Augsburg and Nuremberg (ca. 1556–60), where Hans Sachs introduced him to the secrets of meistergesang. After returning to Zgorzelec, he worked as a teacher, including at the secondary school founded in 1565. In 1578, he moved to Wrocław. Puschmann’s oeuvre includes 37 model melodies for contrafacts (Töne) and 180 poetic works. He also included seven songs in his Comedie von dem frumen Patriarchen Jacob und seinem sone Joseph und seinen Brudern (performed in Wrocław in 1583). His Singebuch (manuscript lost during World War II), compiled between 1584 and 1588, contained 350 melodies and was one of the largest anthologies of Meistersinger works. In this collection, Puschman also included works by masters of the older generation (including Walther von der Vogelweide) and his treatise Grunttlicher Bericht des deutschen Meister Gesanges (known as Tabulatur). In this dissertation, also published in print (Zgorzelec 1571, revised and expanded Wrocław 21584, 31596, 3rd unique edition, Wrocław, University Library), he presented the rules of versification, rhyming, and meter of meistergesang. The practical application of the treatise during poetry tournaments is evidenced by the inclusion of a chapter with a list of penalty points for various types of poetic transgressions.

Literature: R. Hahn „Die löbliche Kunst”. Studien zu Dichtung und Poetik des späten Meistergesangs am Beispiel Aadam Puschmans (1532–1600), Wrocław 1984; A. Wolański Z tradycji śląskiego śpiewu turniejowego. O meistersingerze z Wrocławia Adamie Puschmanie, «Zeszyty Naukowe Akademii Muzycznej we Wrocławiu» no. 70, 1997; A. Scott Die Meistersinger von Breslau: Adam Puschman and the Breslau Meistersingerordnung of 1598, in: Performance practice: Issues and approaches, eds. T.D. Watkins, Ann Arbor 2009; T. Napp Transferprozesse zwischen Görlitz und Breslau am Beispiel des Meistergesangs im ausgehenden 16. Jahrhundert in: The musical culture of Silesia before 1742: New contexts, new perspectives, eds. R. Pośpiech et al. (Eastern European studies in musicology I), Frankfurt am Main 2013.