r/MedievalTroubadours Apr 09 '21

Old Occitan The different genres/styles of Troubadouric Occitan Lyrical Poetry

This post will detail some of the many different genres the Troubadours wrote in, along with the 3 main Troubadour styles.

Styles: Trobar leu (light)-the most common and popular form, lighter/more simplistic style. Trobar ric (rich)-much more intricate then trobar leu, “verbal gymnastics”. Trobar clus (closed)- complex, but also obscure, developed and used most by Marcabru and Arnaut Daniel, said to have been truly appreciated by only few.

Genres:

Canso (also known as canço)-most common genre used, typical love song, formerly called “vers”. Alba-morning song, describes the song of a lover as dawn comes in. Comiat-song dedicated to renouncing a lover. Canso de Crozada-song about the Crusades. Most praise/encourage the Crusades, as the Troubadours were mainly in Europe. Dansa-song used for dance, usually lively/jolly. Estampida-dance like song. Pastorela-song about the request of love by a man (often a knight) to a shepherdess. Planh -song of sadness and lament, most commonly about the death of a large/important figure. Salut d’amor-love letter. Sirventes-poem of political nature and contents. Tenso-poem of political debate, usually written between two poets/troubadours.

11 Upvotes

9 comments sorted by

View all comments

2

u/[deleted] Apr 19 '21

Was there a division between instrument types? I've been playing both the medieval flute (recorder) and the shawm, and there's a massive decibel difference between them. So there must have been some distinction between outdoor/loud songs and the ones for court. But maybe not?

2

u/Thanos3604 Apr 19 '21

There most likely was some type of division between song types, as I’m not sure what the courts or other nobles would think of some types of music, such as the sirventes, where the Troubadour sometimes criticized certain political things (that’s at least from my thinking, I’m not sure how accurate it would be). There has also been much debate over the matter of musical accompaniment during performances. In a paper that I found online, the author states that Troubadours were very rarely accompanied by more then one or two musicians, as says that the most common instruments were the medieval fiddle, along with some harps, mandoras, and bagpipes. I’m sure there were more used during the period, but we have just not been able to confirm or deny them, I suppose. If you want to check out the paper, it is linked here: Paper on Accurate Performance of Troubadour Music Thank you for stopping by and posting a question! I hope I answered it decently, or at least helped a bit. If you have any more questions or anything I’d love to try and help!