BBC Howard Goodall's Story of Music: The Age of Discovery
Part 1
pg 2
Name____________________________________________________________________
Troubadours and Trouveres (The beginning of monophony)
Where did this music orginate?____________________________________________________
Al-Andalus, also known as the Moorish Iberia or Islamic Iberia, was a medieval Muslim state
occupying at its peak most of what are today Spain, Portugal, Andorra and part of southern
France.
Important instruments of the time: Shawms, Rauschpfeifen, Mediaeval and
Renaissance Bagpipes, Hornpipes, Crumhorns, Rackett, Mediaeval Trumpets,
Cowhorns, Cornett, Recorders, Flutes, Gemshorns, Mediaeval Fiddle, Rebec,
Hurdy-Gurdies, Organistrum, Tromba Marina, Mediaeval Harp, Lyre, Psaltery,
Cittern, Mediaeval Lute, Portative Organ, Bells, Dulcimer, Nakers, Tabors and
other percussions.
Along with the text, the important element would be _____________________________.
During the 11th through the 13th centuries, the poet-composers working in the
south and north of France were known, respectively, as Troubadours and
Trouveres. Both names literally mean finders or inventors.
Many of the Troubadours and Trouveres were from the nobility, however a
nonaristocrat might enjoy high social status because of exceptional talent. Many
sang their own songs.
Minstrels also performed Troubadour songs. Minstrels were castle and court
musicians. They were servants. They often created their own ballads but were
famous for memorizing long poems based on myths and legends which were
called “chansons de geste”.
As Troubadours traveled from place to place, they taught songs by rote to other
performers. In the process, variant versions arose. Thus some extant
manuscripts contain different versions of some songs. The manuscript
collection of French songs are called ________________
(songbooks), from the French word chanson (song).
First part of the 11th century, their sung poems were called vers.
distinctive terms were applied:
1. canso (trouvere chanson)
2. pastorela (trouvere pastourelle)
3. alba (trouvere aube)
4. sirventes
5. trouvere chansonde toile
Later,
Their music followed the pulse of the text…hence keeping the ______________.
Trouveres also composed dance songs such as carole, ronde, rondel, and
rondelet. The Troubadours composed the dansa and ballada which grew in to
the French ballade, virelai and the Italian balata. All of these dance forms were
written with specific forms with stanzas (verse) and a refrain (chorus).
Trobairtiz (women troubadours) were active in southern France. At least 18
are known by name but biographies exist for less than half. These women held
unique social positions. They were aristocratic ladies, “the adored things” to and
about whom troubadours wrote poems of courtly love. However, as poets they
met as equals. The Trobairitz verses were not visionary but were intimate in
expression. They discussed love realistically and candidly expressing pride, joy,
admiration, love, rejection, hurt, distaste, and injury. Some poems went as far as
to reveal the human character of the man behind armor.
Rulers and nobles frequently visited Spanish and Portuguese shrines and courts
and took their musicians and poet with them. The Christian kings of Spain made
similar visits to France and Provence. Troubadours traveled independently too.
They influenced the Italians and Germans as well. The 12th and 13th century
German Troubadours were call Minnesanger (professional poet-composer)
The Meistersinger were citizens of German cities who belonged to guilds that
regulated and promoted the composition and performance of songs
(Meisterleider) . They came primarily from lower and middle classes of society,
but talented upper-class citizens were not excluded. Exactly when or where the
first guild was formed is not known. They were mostly active from 14th – 17th
century. The last Meistersinger died in 1922. One of the most important of the
Meistersinger guilds and the only one about which specific information is
available was that at Nuremberg. Richard Wagner depicted this guild in his
opera Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg.
Trouveres and their songs were known in England but engendered no school
there. Extant English monophony is sparse but provides the earliest surviving
keyboard music!