News by song.
Text: Noëmi Kern
Before we had mass media, people’s voices were instrumental in disseminating news. A research project looks at vocal culture in the early modern period.
Whether extremely loud, highly original or right on topic, those aiming to grab our attention need a strategy. Influencers and journalists are all too aware of this fact; and it’s not just since news and content have become available around the clock and in endless variations. Even during the early modern period between 1600 and 1800, street singers trumpeted songs detailing current events at the top of their lungs.
“Between the 16th and 18th centuries, songs were one of the most popular forms of news media in Europe,” explains Jan-Friedrich Missfelder. He is Professor of History and heads the research project “Vocal Power. The Vocality of Early Modern Media.”
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Naturally, there aren’t any recordings to document the songs from that period. So, Missfelder and his research team must find other ways of reconstructing how voices were used back then. Contemporary illustrations and descriptions confirm that these street singers both performed “news songs” and sold pamphlets containing the lyrics. This way, people could find out what was going on in their area as well as in other places. They could also purchase the lyrics and sing the songs themselves — like reposting a meme on social media.
These so-called song pamphlets emerged around 1500. The invention of the printing press in the mid-15th century laid the groundwork for this trend and was an important step in the development of mass media. News media, such as flyers or newspapers, became much easier to produce and disseminate more widely. Yet orality, or verbal expression, remained a key method of sharing news. “The media world of the early modern period was vocal, through and through,” says Missfelder.
News songs didn’t adhere to specific artistic standards — the intent was to entertain and share information. The melody of the song was noted on the cover of the pamphlet, for example: “Sing to the tune of ‘William Tell.’” Clearly this was enough context for the singers, and they had no need of written music. “There were ‘hit’ melodies that a lot of people knew. Combined with the written text, this made it easier for the contents to be reproduced and disseminated,” explains Missfelder. So, anyone could act as a multiplier.
Sensationalism and politics.
In this way, stories traveled across regions, too. For example, a 1565 song pamphlet telling the story of a homicide in Basel was printed as far away as Dresden. The song comprised just under 60 verses, and the performance would have taken around 45 minutes. Would anyone even listen to that today? It’s certainly possible. After all, the true crime genre has enjoyed immense popularity for many years.
News songs didn’t adhere to specific artistic standards — the intent was to entertain and share information. The melody of the song was noted on the cover of the pamphlet, for example: “Sing to the tune of ‘William Tell.’” Clearly this was enough context for the singers, and they had no need of written music. These song pamphlets weren’t just for news — they were entertainment, too. Aside from tales of murder, other thematic favorites included natural disasters and stories of miracles like blood rain or comet sightings. “These types of stories weren’t only about the news — they were intended as correctives and generally imbued with a moral. Natural disasters were signs from God,” says Missfelder. Yet most of the songs were indeed news songs and reported on current theaters of war, negotiations and political developments.
Fear of uprisings.
Of course, the ruling class often felt threatened by the songs in circulation, given their explosive political power. Accordingly, attempts were made to prevent these songs from spreading, as was the case in the village of Eschenbach in the canton of Lucerne. In 1712, a certain song was making the rounds in Eschenbach — and it displeased the lords of Lucerne. The song in question accused them of excessive leniency toward the Reformed towns of Zürich and Bern during the Second War of Villmergen. Lucerne councilor Ludwig Cysat aimed to discover who had circulated the song pamphlets and performed their contents. Records of the interrogation reveal that the village innkeeper had played a key role.
Consequently, Lucerne’s rulers attempted to quell these political protest songs by confiscating and burning the pamphlets. While they may have prevented the lyrics from spreading, they were unable to silence the voices that sang them. “This underscores the power of the voice in the society of the early modern period,” says Missfelder.
Infotainment and the feeling of closeness.
So, what about today? In today’s extremely digitalized world, Missfelder believes that orality has again assumed a pivotal role. Podcasts and audiobooks are popular modes of acoustic infotainment, and voice messages are supplanting texts as vehicles for communication. “That almost certainly has something to do with efficiency; we can do other things while we’re listening. But the direct nature of the voice also represents a presence and conjures a certain feeling of closeness, even when we’re temporally and spatially disconnected from one another,” says Missfelder.
More articles in this issue of UNI NOVA (May 2025).