Micrologus; The Art of the Trouvères

85-01 TROUVÈRES

The troubadours are known as the originators of the concept of courtly love and as the first Europeans to compose songs in their own spoken language. They emerged in the south of France nearly nine centuries ago and used a language which we now call Old Provençal or Occitanian, or, in their own terminology lenga d'oc, meaning the language in which the word oc means "yes.” This term distinguished their tongue from that spoken in Northern France langue d'oil, the language in which oil means "yes" and of course, the ancestor of Modern French—Old French as it is called.

The medieval poets of Northern France did not actually lag behind their southern cousins in the artistic use of their spoken language. We know that as early as the 10th century writers were using Old French for epic poems called chansons de geste—literally "songs about deeds,” basically deeds by heroes of French history and mythology. The Chanson de Roland (the Song of Roland), one of Charlemagne's knights, is perhaps the most famous of the 100 or so surviving examples. They are called "songs" and they appear to have been chanted using short melodic formulas repeated over and over, but so little musical evidence survives that for us they remain essentially poems rather than songs.

Thus the first Old French songs that survive are those in the courtly love tradition of the troubadours except that in Northern France the troubadours were known as trouvères. Both words mean literally "to find or invent"—presumably rhymes and melodies—so poet-composer seems a fair translation of the term.

There is one trouvère song form which seems related to the early chansons de geste. It is called the lai. About 10 of them survive. Originally narrative songs like the chansons de geste— the lais gradually were absorbed into the courtly love tradition. Musically, too, they are related to the chansons de geste, since they consist largely of the repetition of short melodic formulas.

The lai we are going to hear, "A vous Tristan,” maintains the old narrative tradition with its Arthurian setting but since it concerns Tristan and Isolde, the courtly love tradition predominates. In fact, it is written in the form of a letter from Isolde to her lover: "To you, Tristan, true friend that I love and will love all the days of my life, I am sending this letter that I have written with my heart." The setting is anonymous and the performance is by Anne-Marie Lablaude with Gerard Le Vot, harpsichord.

[MUSIC]

Another trouvère song form which is somewhat related to the chanson de geste is the chanson de toile. Often translated as "spinning" or "weaving" songs the chansons de toile are perhaps more accurately described as "picture" songs. Typically, they begin with a description of a woman occupied with hand-work, or reading, or merely daydreaming about her lover. The songs are often sad, and this sadness is usually crystallized in a refrain that returns at the end of each stanza.

Musically the chanson de toile relates to the chanson de geste and the lai in its use of melodic repetition. But here the repeated segments are not short formulas. In fact, they are longer, sometimes highly ornate, virtuosic phrases more demanding vocally than anything else in the whole medieval song repertory.

One of the mysteries about the chanson de toile is whether the focus on the plight of an individual woman implies a performance by a woman. It seems logical, even though there is no direct evidence to support it. The chanson de toile which we will hear is "Bele Doette" (Lovely Doette sits by a window reading a book but her heart isn't in it. She thinks about her lover who has gone to distant tournaments. O what sorrow I bear.) The news comes that her lover has been killed in a jousting, whereupon Doette resolves to found an abbey as a refuge for all men and women who have known pain and suffering in love. The performance is by Esther Lamandier.

[MUSIC]

The total repertory of the trouvères consists of about 2,400 poems, of which 1,700 have surviving melodies. This is a much better survival rate than the troubadour repertory where there are 2,600 poems, but only 275 melodies.

The earliest known trouvères began their activity around the year 1180, nearly a century after the earliest known troubadour Guillaume of Aquitaine. In fact, there is an interesting thread which connects Guillaume with the later trouvères: Guillaume's granddaughter was Eleanor of Acquitaine, who was married, first, to King Louis VII of France then, after an annulment, to King Henry II of England. She herself was patron to the famous troubadour Bernart de Ventadorn; her daughter by Louis VII, Marie of Champagne, was patron to some of the earliest and most important trouvères, including Conon de Béthune and Gace Brulé; her son by Henry II, eventually King Richard the Lion-hearted, was himself a trouvère; another son Geoffrey, was patron to both troubadours and trouvères. Finally, Thibaut, Count of Champagne and eventually King of Navarre, became one of the finest and most prolific of all trouvères. He was Marie's grandson, Eleanor's great-grandson and great-great-great grandson to Guillaume, the first troubadour. Quite a family!

Another of the best-known trouvères during the first generation of their activity was Blondel de Nesle. His fame today rests largely on the apocryphal story of his wandering throughout Europe, singing songs at castle dungeons in order to find the captive Richard the Lion-hearted. That he was highly regarded in the Middle Ages is attested to by the relatively large number of manuscript sources in which his songs are found.

Here is his moving "Onques maiz nus hom ne chanta,” a classic courtly love song, here performed by Benjamin Bagby of Sequentia.

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Besides the lais, chansons de toile and the predominant chansons d’amour, the early trouvère forms include among others the pastourelle—that confrontation between knight and shepherdess; the jeux-parti, in which two trouvères alternate stanzas with opposing viewpoints; and the chanson de croisade (Crusader's Song). This is a rather loose designation, referring to any song which mentions a Crusade, sometimes in exhorting people to join in, or more often describing an unhappy love situation occasioned by the separation.

Among the latter is "Li novious tens" by le Chatelain de Coucy. This gentleman was not one of the great Sires de Coucy—the Lords of Coucy—as celebrated by Barbara Tuchmann in her book, A Distant Mirror, but seems rather to have been overseer of Coucy-le-chateau the town which surrounded the famous fortress itself. Like many of his fellow troubadours and trouvères le Chatelain de Coucy traveled to the Holy Land for the Third Crusade of 1188–91. He later died on his way to the fourth Crusade in the year 1203. “Li novious tens" is one of the less warlike chanson de croisade. (“The new season and May and the violets and the nightingales summon me to sing, and my gentle heart offers me such a sweet gift of love that I dare not refuse. May God allow me to ascend to such honor that I might hold her just once naked in my arms before I go overseas.”) The performance is by James Bowman with the Early Music Consort of London, directed by David Munrow.

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The issues of rhythmicization of the melodies and style of accompaniment are always problemmatic in medieval song. The manuscripts give almost no rhythmic indications at all, and no specifications for accompaniment outside an occasional miniature painting showing a troubadour or trouvère holding some kind of instrument. The rhythm of many of the songs seems to have been quite free, while the strong metrical poetry of others suggests the use of rhythmic modes (as in the performance we just heard). Some scholars feel that the songs should be sung unaccompanied (like the performance of “Bele Doette,” for example), while at the opposite extreme, others point to the close involvement of the trouvères in the Crusades suggesting a strong Arab influence in instrumentation and performance style.

The next piece we will hear is interesting because it demonstrates a trend in the repertory towards more precise notation of rhythm. It is not completely clear, but sufficiently so to reveal the basic rhythmic character and phrasing. The text speaks of love but not in a melancholy way. In fact the refrain is almost irreverent: "I feel, God, I feel with pleasure the pains of love." “Li joliz temps d' estey,” performed by Richard Levitt with the Studio der Frühen Musik, directed by Thomas Binkley.

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The final period of the trouvères saw a rise in the number of middle-class practitioners of the art; the earlier ones had been mostly of noble blood. Other new trends included the simplification of the melodies, and the emergence of the formes fixes (literally "fixed forms”), poetical-musical forms which adhered to some standard repetition pattern.

The foremost trouvère of this time, the late 13th century, was Adam de la Halle. He is associated with the town of Arras which was a hub of late trouvère activity, and in fact the scene of several song contests—Puys, as they were called. Adam's two greatest claims to fame are his authorship of plays with music—including the renowned Play of Robin and Marion, and his experimentation in polyphonic music with precisely measured notation. He did this not only in the prevailing genre of the motet, but also in the vernacular song repertory that had been monophonic since its appearance 200 years before.

We are about to hear Adam de la Halle's polyphonic rondeau "Tant con je vivray." The text will give some idea of the pattern of repetitions:

“As long as I live I will never love another; I will never leave you As long as I live. Rather I shall serve you: To this task I have dedicated myself totally, loyally, As long as I live I will never love another.”

[MUSIC: ‘Tant con je vivray " sung by Ensemble Sequentia]

Adam de la Halle was the last great trouvère. He died either in 1285 or after 1306 (we are not sure) but at any rate, sometime around 1300. This is just about the time of the birth of Guillaume de Machaut, the great French poet-composer of the 14th century and the rightful heir to the trouvère tradition.