From the 14th century to the 16th, hardly a town in Germany was without music guilds and Meistersingers. Although they lost power then, the last guilds did not disappear until 1830, and the last member died in 1876. They must have passed the long winter evenings pleasantly for they met, and read or sang poems of the minnesingers or new ones composed by the members themselves. These guilds must have been great fun, for they had badges and initiation ceremonies and the kind of celebrations one loves in a club. They had complicated, narrow-minded rules called _Tablatur_ which today seem quite ridiculous, so much has music matured and thrown off the chains which once bound it! When the guilds grew too large to be held in the different homes, the churches became the meeting places for practise and for the contests. The highest praise we can give the Meistersingers is that they carried the love of music and song into every German home and made it a pastime of domestic life. Their influence spread not only through Germany, but throughout all lands. The composers who followed were glad to have their songs from which to draw inspiration for the popular religious songs at the time of the Protestant Reformation. Even though they did not make up any very great words or music, they spread a love for it and made people feel that the following of music as a career was worthy and dignified. It is interesting to know before we close this chapter, that the English, well into the 16th century, after the passing of the troubadours, trouvères, minnesingers and mastersingers, still celebrated the exploits of the day in ballads called the Percy Reliques. VIELLE OR HURDY-GURDY If you had lived in the Middle Ages you would have seen the strolling players traveling around with a queer looking instrument known by many different names,—_vielle_, _organistrum_, _Bauernleier_ (peasant lyre), _Bettlerleier_ (beggar’s lyre) or _hurdy-gurdy_. This was a country instrument, not often seen in cities, and was shaped like the body of a lute without a long neck. It had wire strings, sometimes gut, and a set of keys; the sound was made by turning a little crank at the bottom. The _vielle_ or _hurdy-gurdy_ is a cross between the bowed and the keyed instruments. In the 12th century it was called the _organistrum_, a large instrument which took two men to play. It flourished in the 18th century throughout Europe. And so, now on to folk songs, although we would like to linger in this romantic period of wandering minstrels. CHAPTER IX The People Dance and Sing FOLK MUSIC ALL THE WORLD HAS DANCED AND SUNG