2 - Folder 1 - Medieval Monophony: Secular Music

Question 0

Describe the Troubadours and Trouvères as a whole.

Answer 0

i. Frenchpoet-composers
ii. Usually members of the nobility
iii. Distinguished from menestrels and jongleurs, who were lower-class traveling entertainers
iv. Wrote both words and music of monophonic secular songs
v. Used vernacular languages — local language spoken by common people

Question 1

Who wrote Courtly Love Songs?

Answer 1

1. Troubadours
2. Trouvères
3. Minnesingers

Question 2

Describe Troubadours specifically.

Answer 2

i. Southern France
ii. Wrote in the Langue d’oc (Provençal dialect)
iii. Flourished in the 12th century
1. earlier than trouvères, so less of their music survives

Question 3

Describe Trouvères.

Answer 3

i. Northern France
ii. Wrote in the Langue d’oïl (dialect evolved into modern French)
iii. Flourished in the late 12th and 13th centuries
1. More of their music survives
2. Notation was becoming more common

Question 4

Describe Minnesingers.

Answer 4

i. German knights
ii. Poet-composers modeled on the tradition of troubadours & trouvères
iii. Wrote in Middle German
iv. Flourished in the 13th and 14th centuries

Question 5

What was the style and central theme of Troubadour/Trouvère/Minnesinger songs?

Answer 5

a. Central theme of the poetry was courtly love
i. Idealizedlove of woman from a respectable distance
ii. Minnesingersongs also celebrated duty and faithfulness of knighthood

Question 6

Describe the melodic structure of Troubadour/Trouvère/Minnesinger songs.

Answer 6

i. Monophonic texture
ii. Strophic form
1. Each stanza of the text is set to the same melody
2. Individual stanzas are often in bar form
a. AAB structure for a three-line stanza
b. Appears in some troubadour and trouvère songs
c. More common in songs of the Minnesingers
iii. Uses system of church modes, but with more flexibility
iv. Melodies tend to move stepwise, within a fairly narrow range
v. Rhythms not notated
1. Performance may have been unmetered (like chant) or metered (influence of dance music)

Question 7

Who were some of the important composers of courtly love songs?

Answer 7

a. Bernart de Ventadorn (c. 1150–1180)
i. Troubadour
ii. 48 poems survive; 18 with music
iii. not born into nobility
iv. became a troubadour by virtue of his talent

b. Beatriz de Dia (died c. 1212)
i. Trobairitz (female troubadour)

c. Adam de la Halle (c. 1237–1288)
i. Trouvère
ii. Composer of the famous Jeu de Robin et de Marion (a musical play of courtly love)

d. Walther von der Vogelweide (c. 1170–c. 1230)
i. Most famous of the Minnesingers