Dates & Chronology |
Latin
|
Troubador
|
Trouvere
|
Minnesinger
|
Italy
|
Spain
|
General Traits |
• virtues of royalty • occasions (marriages, coronations) • quasi-sacred • epitaphs • laments • classical poets • love songs • obscene drinking songs • comic folk tales • erotic & moralistic poems |
• poet-musicians, of peasantry &
aristocracy, flourished in southern France • 2500 poems by 450 poets • 300 extant melodies by 42 troubadors • langue d'oc, or occitan (to find, to compose in verse) • second crusades • flourished 1140 - 1220 • driven out by the Albigensian Crusades against 'heretics' |
• aristocratic poets of northern France • langue d'oil • 20 chansonnieres preserved 4000 poems w/ 1700 extant melodies • poetry more sophisticated than that of troubadors • narratives of love, religion, depictions of rustic manners and customs, customs, court of Champagne • love song as core of repertory |
• 2 main types: Minnelied, courtly love Spruchdichtung, a more serious song similar to sirventes • secular song existed before Troubadors' influence • minnesingers preoccupied w/ courtly love • techniques, forms, melodies borrowed from French • texts religious, narratives |
• Sicilian court of Frederick II most
cultured of its day • secular interests • concept of spiritual love for unattainable lady • faithful but fruitless service of a woman, in exchange for a brief glimpse of her, preferably at Mass • metaphysical and ethereal love provided little inspiration for composers, however • originated during time of St. Francis of Assisi (1182 - 1226) • flagellants |
• pay homage to the Virgin Mary • miracles |
Main Types of Song |
• planctus: epitaphs
& laments (religious sequences) • modus: songs sung to well-known melodies • monophonic conductus • chanson de geste • estampie |
• canso: love song • sirventes: song of service (satirical, political); eneug - song of irritation planh: expressed grief • tenso - dispute or debate (dialogue); partimen, joc partit, jeu partit (dialogue of love) • pastorela: seduction and sex between people of all stations, usually the Knight and the Shepherd Girl • chanson de toile: spinning song about fate of the distraught woman • alba: morning song, in which friend warns illicit lovers of approaching dawn • balada, dansa: dance song |
• Narratives: chanson
de geste; lai, descort; pastourelle;
chansons de toille; Mal Mariee • Refain: [rotrouenge]; "Fixed forms": rondeau, ballade, virelai • Instrumental: estampie, ductia |
• tagelied (day song,
like alba) • wachterlied - guardian song • leich (lai) • lied (canzo) • spruch - proverb, fable, or socio-political • frauenstrophe - laments of women • streitgedicht - dispute poem, like tenso • kreuzlied - religio-political • "winter" and "summer" songs • geisslerlieder - religious folk songs accompanying ceremonial rites (black plague) |
• lauda: non-liturgical
hymns of praise & devotion; 150 laude spirituali • laude spirituali • ballata (like virelai) |
• cantigas: villancico- likevirelai, ballata, geisslerlieder: form varies |
Manuscripts |
• Cambridge Songs: 40+ songs,
11th C • Carmina Burana: 200+ songs, including 40+ minnesinger songs; 13th C • Vatican, in latin: 1327 songs • Monte Cassino |
• Le melodie trobadoriche
nel canzoniere provenzale della Biblioteca Ambrosiana R. 71 Sup., ed. Ugo Sesini (Turin, 1942) • Le Chansonnier de l'Arsenal, ed. P. Aubry (Paris, 1909) |
• various collections of troubador songs |
• Jena manuscript: 91 tunes
[13th C] • Colmar manuscript: 109 tunes [c. 1250] • Vienna manuscript: [pieces by "Frauenlob"] • Manessische Handschrift: [13th-14th C], pictures and poems included • Munster fragment [5 melodies by Vogelweide] |
• Cortona manuscript [13th
C]: 46 pieces-simple melodies • 2 Florentine manuscripts [14th C]: 100 more elaborate melodies |
• Siete Canciones de Amor
[13th C] • Cantigas de Santa Maria [c. 1270] |
| Musical Examples |
• O Roma noblis • O admirabile Veneris idolum • Olim sudor Herculis • Sic mea fata • Beata viscera • Sol oritur • Christo psallat • Mors vite propitia • Vexilla Regis produeut • Planctus Karoli • Rex caeli • Planctus cygni • Modus Ottinc • Modus Liebinc |
• Reis glorios • Kalenda Maya • Quan lo rius de la fortuna • Nones meravelha's 'eu chan • L'autrier jost' una sebissa • Non es meravelha |
• Chanson de Roland • Lai de Notre Dame • Lai de l'Ancien et du Nouveau Testament • En un vergier • Bele Douette • A l'entrant d'este • Ja nuns hons pris • Quant voi en la fin d'estey • Il covient qu'en la chandoile • Dex est ausi comme li pellicans • Dame, merci • De touz max • Le Jeu de Robin et Marion |
• Under der linden • Nu al'erst lebe ich mir werde • Ine gesach die heide • Der may • Winder wie ist nu dein kraft • Owe dirre sumerzit; Willekommen Mayenschein • Ez ist huite eyn wunnychilcher tac • Daz Gedeonew wollenvlius • Myn vroud ist gar szugangyn • We, ich han gedacht • Ich warne dich |
• Laude novella sia cantata • Lo'ntellecto divino • Venite a laudare • Santo Lorenzo • Fami cantar |
• Prologo, Gran Dereit' • Maria villosos • Santa Maria amar • Nas mentes senpre teer • Maldito seja quen non loara • Rosa das rosas • A Madre • Mais nos faz sancta Maria • A que serven • Alegria! Alegria! |
| Style Traits |
• strophic (monophonic conductus) w/
some strophes retaining the same music, but some had new music for
each strophe • accompanied by drones • sequences: new music for each stanza, refrains • syllabic, w/ melismatic embellishment • estampies metered regularly • vocal works metered according to text: irregular; neumes indecipherable in many instances • phrases don't necessarily correspond with poetry |
• monophonic, without independent accompaniments • heterophonic • additive melodies, or repeated in a variety of patterns, w/ added melodies for preludes, postludes & ritornellos • melodic range of an 8va, similar to plainchant • syllabic, w/ 2-5 note melismas • rhythm corresponds with text • dance music in regular meters • no common formal structures: diversity • strophic • triple meters of rhythmic modes • drones, vieles, harps |
• additive • return, repetetive, refrains • few formulas for longer texts • syllabic • expansion of lyrical phrases • short melismas • organization of meter corresponds to text? • triple meter? • fluctuating meters? • freedom of performance • continuous development • monophonic/heterophonic texture • regular refrain forms = 2 phrases |
• French models • angular melodies, with triadic skips • Dorian and Phrygian modes, pentatonic • duple meter more common, influenced by language • winter songs have triparitite forms • refrains absent: composers used variations of repetition based on AAB structure • syllabic • # of notes to syllables do not correspond, confused by lateness of available manuscripts • meters more regular (stiff) • melodies adhere more strongly to church modes |
• influence of plainchant, troubadors,
folk songs • derivation from round dance w/ added refrains • recurring refrains after every stanza • ballata form: AbbaA • variety in internal form of melodies: stanza in relation to refrain |
• syllabic, with occasional melissmas • stepwise melodies • dance-like (regular meters) • well-defined cadences • mensural notation reveals triple & duple meters • some change from duple to triple • uniformity of form • large skips between phrases, which are often short • repetetive forms |
| Poetry |
• sequence (paired stanzas, with added
refrains) • stanzas of unequal length, usually each stanza w/ its own rhyme scheme, rhythmic modes |
• vers-any poem to be sung • strophic w/ variety of rhyme schemes • stanzas often identical in structure, with concluding envois, addressed to patron or lady • love poems much more complex than other types • lais & descorts: successive stanzas w/ different rhyme schemes, melodies |
• at first, modeled from troubador poetry • however, more regular patterns were established with the introduction of the fixed forms: Rondeau- ABaAabAB Ballade- aabC Virelai-AbbaA [bbaA, bbaA, ...] • poetry more organized & standardized than music |
• bar form: 3-line stanza AAB, corresponding
w/ music [AABA], phrase endings often the same • Leich: like lai, but more regular double versical repetition occurs • Winter songs: longer lines and stanzas • Summer songs: short simple stanzas |
• poems open with refrain, which is repeated
after each stanza • unity of subject matter, systematic arrangement of Cantigas de Santa Maria, w/ every 10th song being general song of praise • uniformity of form |
|
| Influences |
• sacred, secular interests (Goliards
& Wandering Scholars) • Boethius, Virgil, Horace |
• relative peace • prosperity of the region • wealth of aristocracy • survival of Latin culture • contact w/ Moslems, heretical Visigoths • Church & Inquisition |
• Crusades • travels of the troubadours & jongleurs • marriages among aristocracy • university (Notre Dame) • Musical: plainchant, polyphony, Latin and vernacular poets, churchmen, vagabonds, aristocrats, peasants, Celtic bards |
• intermarriages • troubadour-trouveres • Crusades • principle of chivalry |
• Frederick II sheltered troubadours
from religious purges of Albigensian Crusade, Inquisition • troubadours in general felt to be major influence |
• Interaction among Spanish courts and French rulers: troubadours |
| Performers |
• jongleurs • joculatores • histriones |
• jongleurs |
• jongleurs |
• jongleur-type? |
||
| Composers |
• Venantius Fortunatus (530? - 609) • Philip the Chancellor • Hugh Primas of Orleans • Walter of Chatillon • Archpoet |
• Guilhelm [William] of Poitiers (1071
- 1127) • Cercamon (fl. 1130 - 1150) • Marcabru (fl. 1129 - 50) • Guiraut de Borne (1175 - 1220) • Jaufre Rudel (fl. 1130 - 47) • Peire d'Alvernhe • Bernart de Ventadorn (d. 1180) • Guiraut Requier (1254? - 84) |
• Blondel de Nesle (1150 - 1200) • Richard the Lionhearted (1157 - 1199) • Perrin d'Agincourt (fl. 1250) • Thibaut IV of Navarre (1201 - 1253) • Adam de la Halle (c. 1230 - 1288) • Gillebert de Berneville • Guillaume d'Amiens |
• Spervogel (12th C) • Walther von der Vogelweide (c. 1170 - 1228) • Neidhart von Reuenthal (c. 1190 - c.1240) • Wolfram von Eschenbach (fl. c. 1200 - 20) • Meister Alexander • Tannhauser (c. 1200 - 66) • Meyster Rumelant • Heinrich von Meissen (1260 - 1318) (Frauenlob) • Prinze Wizlaw von Rugen (c. 1268 - 1325) • Count Hugo von Montfort (1357 - 1423) • Oswald von Walkenstein (1357 - 1445) |
• Sordello of Mantua (the seducer) • Peire Vidal (1175? - 1205?) • Raimbaut de Vaqueiras (1155? - 1207?) |
• Martin Codax • Peire Vidal • Alfonso X (1221 - 1284) • Leon • Guiraut Riquier • Gautier de Coincy |