TECHNIQUE
Provençal literature contains examples of almost every poetical _genre_.
Epic poetry is represented by Girart of Roussillon,[12] a story of long
struggles between Charles Martel and one of his barons, by the Roman de
Jaufre, the adventures of a knight of the Round Table, by Flamenca, a
love story which provides an admirable picture of the manners and
customs of the time, and by other fragments and _novelas_ or shorter
stories in the same style. Didactic poetry includes historical works
such as the poem of the Albigeois crusade, ethical or moralising
_ensenhamens_ and religious poetry. But the dominating element in
Provençal literature is lyrical, and during the short classical age of
this literature lyric poetry was supreme. Nearly five hundred different
troubadours are known to us at least by name and almost a thousand
different stanza forms have been enumerated. While examples of the fine
careless rapture of inspiration are by no means wanting, artificiality
reigns supreme in the majority of cases. Questions of technique receive
the most sedulous attention, and the principles of stanza construction,
rime correspondence and rime distribution, as evolved by the [23]
troubadours, exerted so wide an influence upon other European literature
that they deserve a chapter to themselves.
There was no formal school for poetical training during the best period
of Provençal lyric. When, for instance, Giraut de Bornelli is said to
have gone to "school" during the winter seasons, nothing more is meant
than the pursuit of the trivium and quadrivium, the seven arts, which
formed the usual subjects of instruction. A troubadour learned the
principles of his art from other poets who were well acquainted with the
conventions that had been formulated in course of time, conventions
which were collected and systematised in such treatises as the Leys
d'Amors during the period of the decadence.
The love song or _chanso_ was composed of five, six or seven stanzas
(_coblas_) with, one or two _tornadas_ or _envois_. The stanza varied in
length from two to forty-two lines, though these limits are, of course,
exceptional. An earlier form of the _chanso_ was known as the _vers_; it
seems to have been in closer relation to the popular poetry than the
more artificial _chanso_, and to have had shorter stanzas and lines; but
the distinction is not clear. As all poems were intended to be sung, the
poet was also a composer; the biography of Jaufre Rudel, for instance,
says that this troubadour "made many poems with good tunes but poor [24]
words." The tune known as _son_ (diminutive sonnet) was as much the
property of a troubadour as his poem, for it implied and would only suit
a special form of stanza; hence if another poet borrowed it,
acknowledgment was generally made. Dante, in his _De Vulgari
Eloquentia_, informs us concerning the structure of this musical
setting: it might be continuous without repetition or division; or it
might be in two parts, one repeating the other, in which case the stanza
was also divided into two parts, the division being termed by Dante the
_diesis_ or _volta_; of these two parts one might be subdivided into two
or even more parts, which parts, in the stanza, corresponded both in
rimes and in the arrangement of the lines. If the first part of the
stanza was thus divisible, the parts were called _pedes_, and the
musical theme or _oda_ of the first _pes_ was repeated for the second;
the rest of the stanza was known as the _syrma_ or _coda_, and had a
musical theme of its own. Again the first part of the stanza might be
indivisible, when it was called the _frons_, the divided parts of the
second half being the _versus_; in this case the _frons_ had its own
musical theme, as did the first _versus_, the theme of the first
_versus_ being repeated for the second. Or, lastly, a stanza might [25]
consist of _pedes_ and _versus_, one theme being used for the first
_pes_ and repeated for the second and similarly with the _versus_.
Thus the general principle upon which the stanza was constructed was that of
tripartition in the following three forms:--
I
1st line }
2nd " } Pes
3rd " etc. }
1st line }
2nd " } Pes
3rd " etc. }
Diesis or Volta
1st line } Syrma
2nd " } or Coda
3rd " etc. }
II
1st line }
2nd " } Frons
3rd " etc. }
Diesis or Volta
1st line }
2nd " } Versus
3rd " etc. }
1st line }
2nd. " } Versus
3rd " etc. }
III
1st line }
2nd " } Pes
3rd " etc. }
1st line }
2nd " } Pes
3rd " etc. }
Diesis or Volta
1st line }
2nd " } Versus
3rd " etc. }
1st line }
2nd. " } Versus
3rd " etc. }
These forms were rather typical than stringently binding as Dante
himself notes (_De Vulg. El._, ii, 11); many variations were [26]
possible. The first seems to have been the most popular type. The poem might also
conclude with a half stanza or _tornada_, (French _envoi_). Here, as in
the last couplet of the Arabic _gazul_, were placed the personal
allusions, and when these were unintelligible to the audience the
_joglar_ usually explained the poem before singing it; the explanations,
which in some cases remain prefixed to the poem, were known as the
_razos_.
Troubadour poems were composed for singing, not for recitation, and the
music of a poem was an element of no less importance than the words.
Troubadours are described as composing "good" tunes and "poor" words, or
vice versa; the tune was a piece of literary property, and, as we have
said, if a troubadour borrowed a tune he was expected to acknowledge its
origin. Consequently music and words were regarded as forming a unity,
and the structure of the one should be a guide to the structure of the
other. Troubadour music is a subject still beset with difficulties[13]:
we possess 244 tunes written in Gregorian notation, and as in certain
cases the same poem appears in different MSS. with the tune in
substantial agreement in each one, we may reasonably assume that we have
an authentic record, as far as this could be expressed in Gregorian
notation. The chief difference between Troubadour and Gregorian music
lies in the fact that the former was syllabic in character; in other [27]
words, one note was not held over several syllables, though several
notes might be sung upon one syllable. The system of musical time in the
age of the troubadours was based upon the so-called "modes," rhythmical
formulae combining short and long notes in various sequences. Three of
these concern us here. The first mode consists of a long followed by a
short note, the long being equivalent to two short, or in 3/4 time
[Illustration: musical notation.]. The second mode is the reverse of
the first [Illustration: musical notation.]. The third mode in modern
6/8 time appears as [Illustration: musical notation.]. The principle of
sub-division is thus ternary; "common" time or 2/4 time is a later
modification. So much being admitted, the problem of transposing a tune
written in Gregorian notation without bars, time signature, marks of
expression or other modern devices is obviously a difficult matter. J.
Beck, who has written most recently upon the subject, formulates the
following rules; the musical accent falls upon the tonic syllables of
the words; should the accent fall upon an atonic syllable, the duration
of the note to which the tonic syllable is sung may be increased, to
avoid the apparent discordance between the musical accent and the tonic
syllable. The musical accent must fall upon the rime and the rhythm [28]
adopted at the outset will persist throughout the poem.
Hence a study of the words will give the key to the interpretation of
the tune. If, for instance, the poem shows accented followed by
unaccented syllables or trochees as the prevalent foot, the first "mode"
is indicated as providing the principle to be followed in transposing
the Gregorian to modern notation. When these conditions are reversed the
iambic foot will prevail and the melody will be in the second mode. It
is not possible here to treat this complicated question in full detail
for which reference must be made to the works of J. Beck. But it is
clear that the system above outlined is an improvement upon that
proposed by such earlier students of the subject as Riemann, who assumed
that each syllable was sung to a note or group of notes of equal time
value. There is no evidence that such a rhythm was ever employed in the
middle ages, and the fact that words and music were inseparable in
Provençal lyrics shows that to infer the nature of the musical rhythm
from the rhythm of the words is a perfectly legitimate method of
inquiry.
A further question arises: how far do the tunes correspond with the
structure of the stanza as given by Dante? In some cases both tune and
stanza correspond in symmetrical form; but in others we find stanzas [29]
which may be divided according to rule conjoined with tunes which
present no melodic repetition of any kind; similarly, tunes which may be
divided into pedes and coda are written upon stanzas which have no
relation to that form. On the whole, it seems that the number of tunes
known to us are too few, in comparison with the large body of lyric
poetry existing, to permit any generalisation upon the question. The
singer accompanied himself upon a stringed instrument (_viula_) or was
accompanied by other performers; various forms of wind instruments were
also in use. Apparently the accompaniment was in unison with the singer;
part writing or contrapuntal music was unknown at the troubadour period.
As has been said, the stanza (_cobla_) might vary in length. No poetical
literature has made more use of rime than Provençal lyric poetry. There
were three typical methods of rime disposition: firstly, the rimes might
all find their answer within the stanza, which was thus a self-contained
whole; secondly, the rimes might find their answer within the stanza and
be again repeated in the same order in all following stanzas; and
thirdly, the rimes might find no answer within the stanza, but be
repeated in following stanzas. In this case the rimes were known as
_dissolutas_, and the stanza as a _cobla estrampa_. This last
arrangement tended to make the poem a more organic whole than was
possible in the first two cases; in these, stanzas might be omitted
without necessarily impairing the general effect, but, when _coblas
estrampas_ were employed, the ear of the auditor, attentive for the [30]
answering rimes, would not be satisfied before the conclusion of the
second stanza. A further step towards the provision of closer unity
between the separate stanzas was the _chanso redonda_, which was
composed of _coblas estrampas_, the rime order of the second stanza
being an inversion of the rime order of the first; the tendency reaches
its highest point in the _sestina_, which retained the characteristic of
the _chanso redonda_, namely, that the last rime of one stanza should
correspond with the first rime of the following stanza, but with the
additional improvement that every rime started a stanza in turn,
whereas, in the _chanso redonda_ the same rime continually recurred at
the beginning of every other stanza.
Reference has already been made to the _chanso_. A poetical form of much
importance was the _sirventes_, which outwardly was indistinguishable
from the _chanso_. The meaning of the term is unknown; some say that it
originally implied a poem composed by "servants," poets in the service
of an overlord; others, that it was a poem composed to the tune of a [31]
_chanso_ which it thus imitated in a "servile" manner. From the _chanso_
the _sirventes_ is distinguished by its subject matter; it was the
vehicle for satire, moral reproof or political lampooning. The
troubadours were often keenly interested in the political events of
their time; they filled, to some extent, the place of the modern
journalist and were naturally the partisans of the overlord in whose
service or pay they happened to be. They were ready to foment a war, to
lampoon a stingy patron, to ridicule one another, to abuse the morality
of the age as circumstances might dictate. The crusade _sirventes_[14]
are important in this connection, and there were often eloquent
exhortations to the leaders of Christianity to come to the rescue of
Palestine and the Holy Sepulchre. Under this heading also falls the
_planh_, a funeral song lamenting the death of a patron, and here again,
beneath the mask of conventionality, real emotion is often apparent, as
in the famous lament upon Richard Coeur de Lion composed by Gaucelm
Faidit.
Reference has been already made to the _tenso_, one of the most
characteristic of Provençal lyric forms. The name (Lat. _tentionem_)
implies a contention or strife, which was conducted in the form of a
dialogue and possibly owed its origin to the custom in early vogue among
many different peoples of holding poetical tournaments, in which one [32]
poet challenged another by uttering a poetical phrase to which the
opponent replied in similar metrical form. Such, at any rate, is the
form of the _tenso_; a poet propounds a theme in the first stanza and
his interlocutor replies in a stanza of identical metrical form; the
dispute usually continues for some half dozen stanzas. One class of
tenso was obviously fictitious, as the dialogue is carried on with
animals or even lifeless objects, such as a lady's cloak, and it is
possible that some at least of the discussions ostensibly conducted
between two poets may have emanated from the brain of one sole author.
Sometimes three or four interlocutors take part; the subject of
discussion was then known as a _joc partit_, a divided game, or
_partimen_, a title eventually transferred to the poem itself. The most
varied questions were discussed in the _tenso_, but casuistical problems
concerning love are the most frequent: Is the death or the treachery of
a loved one easier to bear? Is a lover's feeling for his lady stronger
before she has accepted him or afterwards? Is a bad noble or a poor but
upright man more worthy to find favour? The discussion of such questions
provided an opportunity of displaying both poetical dexterity and also
dialectical acumen. But rarely did either of the disputants declare
himself convinced or vanquished by his opponents' arguments the question [33]
was left undecided or was referred by agreement to an arbitrator.
A poetical form which preserves some trace of its popular origin is the
_pastorela_[15] or pastoral which takes its name from the fact that the
heroine of the piece was always a shepherdess. The conventional opening
is a description by a knight of his meeting with a shepherdess, "the
other day" (_l'autrier_, the word with which the poem usually begins). A
dialogue then follows between the knight and the shepherdess, in which
the former sues for her favours successfully or otherwise. The irony or
sarcasm which enables the shepherdess to hold her own in the encounter
is far removed from the simplicity of popular poetry. The _Leys d'Amors_
mentions other forms of the same genre such as _vaqueira_ (cowherd),
_auqueira_ (goose girl), of which a specimen of the first-named alone
has survived. Of equal interest is the _alba_ or dawn-song, in which the
word _alba_ reappeared as a refrain in each verse; the subject of the
poem is the parting of the lovers at the dawn, the approach of which is
announced by a watchman or by some faithful friend who has undertaken to
guard their meeting-place throughout the night. The counterpart of this
form, the _serena_, does not appear until late in the history of
Provençal lyric poetry; in the _serena_ the lover longs for the [34]
approach of evening, which is to unite him with his beloved.
Other forms of minor importance were the _comjat_ in which a troubadour
bids a lady a final farewell, and the _escondig_ or justification in
which the lover attempts to excuse his behaviour to a lady whose anger
he had aroused. The troubled state of his feelings might find expression
in the _descort_ (discord), in which each stanza showed a change of
metre and melody. The _descort_ of Raimbaut de Vaqueiras is written in
five dialects, one for each stanza, and the last and sixth stanza of the
poem gives two lines to each dialect, which Babel of strange sounds is
intended, he says, to show how entirely his lady's heart has changed
towards him. The _ballata_ and the _estampida_ were dance-songs, but
very few examples survive. Certain love letters also remain to us, but
as these are written in rimed couplets and in narrative style, they can
hardly be classified as lyric poetry.
In conclusion, a word must be said concerning the dispute between two
schools of stylists, which is one of the most interesting points in the
literary history of the troubadours.[16] From the earliest times we find
two poetical schools in opposition, the _trobar clus_ (also known as
_car, ric, oscur, sotil, cobert_), the obscure, or close, subtle style
of composition, and the _trobar clar (leu, leugier, plan), the clear,
light, easy, straightforward style. Two or three causes may have [35]
combined to favour the development of obscure writing. The theme of love
with which the _chanso_ dealt is a subject by no means inexhaustible;
there was a continual struggle to revivify the well-worn tale by means
of strange turns of expression, by the use of unusual adjectives and
forced metaphor, by the discovery of difficult rimes (_rimes cars_) and
stanza schemes of extraordinary complexity. Marcabrun asserts, possibly
in jest, that he could not always understand his own poems. A further
and possibly an earlier cause of obscurity in expression was the fact
that the _chanso_ was a love song addressed to a married lady; and
though in many cases it was the fact that the poem embodied compliments
purely conventional, however exaggerated to our ideas, yet the further
fact remains that the sentiments expressed might as easily be those of
veritable passion, and, in view of a husband's existence, obscurity had
a utility of its own. This point Guiraut de Bornelh advances as an
objection to the use of the easy style: "I should like to send my song
to my lady, if I should find a messenger; but if I made another my
spokesman, I fear she would blame me. For there is no sense in making
another speak out what one wishes to conceal and keep to oneself." The [36]
habit of alluding to the lady addressed under a _senhal_, or pseudonym,
in the course of the poem, is evidence for a need of privacy, though
this custom was also conventionalised, and we find men as well as women
alluded to under a _senhal_. It was not always the fact that the
_senhal_ was an open secret, although in many cases, where a high-born
dame desired to boast of the accomplished troubadour in her service, his
poems would naturally secure the widest publication which she could
procure. A further reason for complexity of composition is given by the
troubadour Peire d'Auvergne: "He is pleasing and agreeable to me who
proceeds to sing with words shut up and obscure, to which a man is
afraid to do violence." The "violence" apprehended is that of the
_joglar_, who might garble a song in the performance of it, if he had
not the memory or industry to learn it perfectly, and Peire d'Alvernhe
(1158-80) commends compositions so constructed that the disposition of
the rimes will prevent the interpolation of topical allusions or
careless altercation. The similar safeguard of Dante's _terza rima_ will
occur to every student.
The social conditions again under which troubadour poetry was produced,
apart from the limitations of its subject matter, tended to foster an
obscure and highly artificial diction. This obscurity was attained, as
we have said, by elevation and preciosity of style, and was not the
result of confusion of thought. Guiraut de Bornelh tells us his method [37]
in a passage worth quoting in the original--
Mas per melhs assire
mon chan,
vau cercan
bos motz en fre
que son tuit cargat e ple
d'us estranhs sens naturals;
mas no sabon tuich de cals.
"But for the better foundation of my song I keep on the watch for words
good on the rein (_i.e._ tractable like horses), which are all loaded
(like pack horses) and full of a meaning which is unusual, and yet is
wholly theirs (naturals); but it is not everyone that knows what that
meaning is".[17]
Difficulty was thus intentional; in the case of several troubadours it
affected the whole of their writing, no matter what the subject matter.
They desired not to be understood of the people. Dean Gaisford's reputed
address to his divinity lecture illustrates the attitude of those
troubadours who affected the _trobar clus_: "Gentlemen, a knowledge of
Greek will enable you to read the oracles of God in the original and to
look down from the heights of scholarship upon the vulgar herd." The
inevitable reaction occurred, and a movement in the opposite direction
was begun; of this movement the most distinguished supporter was the
troubadour, Guiraut de Bornelh. He had been one of the most successful [38]
exponents of the _trobar clus_, and afterwards supported the cause of
the _trobar clar_. Current arguments for either cause are set forth in
the _tenso_ between Guiraut de Bornelh and Linhaure (pseudonym for the
troubadour Raimbaut d'Aurenga).
(1) I should like to know, G. de Bornelh, why, and for what reason, you
keep blaming the obscure style. Tell me if you prize so highly that
which is common to all? For then would all be equal.
(2) Sir Linhaure, I do not take it to heart if each man composes as he
pleases; but judge that song is more loved and prized which is made easy
and simple, and do not be vexed at my opinion.
(3) Guiraut, I do not like my songs to be so confused, that the base and
good, the small and great be appraised alike; my poetry will never be
praised by fools, for they have no understanding nor care for what is
more precious and valuable.
(4) Linhaure, if I work late and turn my rest into weariness for that
reason (to make my songs simple), does it seem that I am afraid of work?
Why compose if you do not want all to understand? Song brings no other
advantage.
(5) Guiraut, provided that I produce what is best at all times, I care
not if it be not so widespread; commonplaces are no good for the
appreciative--that is why gold is more valued than salt, and with song [39]
it is even the same.
It is obvious that the disputants are at cross purposes; the object of
writing poetry, according to the one, is to please a small circle of
highly trained admirers by the display of technical skill. Guiraut de
Bornelh, on the other hand, believes that the poet should have a message
for the people, and that even the fools should be able to understand its
purport. He adds the further statement that composition in the easy
style demands no less skill and power than is required for the
production of obscurity. This latter is a point upon which he repeatedly
insists: "The troubadour who makes his meaning clear is just as clever
as he who cunningly conjoins words." "My opinion is that it is not in
obscure but in clear composition that toil is involved." Later
troubadours of renown supported his arguments; Raimon de Miraval
(1168-1180) declares: "Never should obscure poetry be praised, for it is
composed only for a price, compared with sweet festal songs, easy to
learn, such as I sing." So, too, pronounces the Italian Lanfranc Cigala
(1241-1257): "I could easily compose an obscure, subtle poem if I
wished; but no poem should be so concealed beneath subtlety as not to be
clear as day. For knowledge is of small value if clearness does not
bring light; obscurity has ever been regarded as death, and brightness [40]
as life." The fact is thus sufficiently demonstrated that these two
styles existed in opposition, and that any one troubadour might practise
both.
Enough has now been said to show that troubadour lyric poetry, regarded
as literature, would soon produce a surfeit, if read in bulk. It is
essentially a literature of artificiality and polish. Its importance
consists in the fact that it was the first literature to emphasise the
value of form in poetry, to formulate rules, and, in short, to show that
art must be based upon scientific knowledge. The work of the troubadours
in these respects left an indelible impression upon the general course
of European literature.