Chanson Flashcards
What is a Chanson?
Chanson is French for song and refers to a genre of secular modal music based on French text. In the 12th and 13th centuries, chansons were usually monophonic but after that, they were polyphonic and usually took on one of the formes fixes. Chansons can be in Strophic form (Middle Ages)
What are trouveres and troubadours?
Medieval French aristocratic poet-musicians who performed and composed songs often on the subject of courtly love (Middle Ages)
What is the difference between a trouvere and a troubadour?
Trouveres lived in northern France and used langue d’oil while troubadours lived in southern France and used langue d’oc (Middle Ages)
What is Strophic Form?
A song structure in which the same music is repeated for every verse of a poem (Middle Ages)
Where were Chansons recorded?
Chansonniers (Middle Ages)
Why were little Chansons written down?
Because Chansons were secular and the population was mostly illiterate, they could not write it down (Middle Ages)
How were instrumental accompaniments added to Chansons?
They were improvised (Middle Ages)
Why is are early Chansons considered monophonic even though they had instrumental accompaniment?
The accompaniment rarely added new material and usually copied the melodic line (Middle Ages)
ALL CHARACTERISTICS OF CET FUT EN MAI
Music Tone: Jolly
Text Tone: Sad
Genre: Chanson
Composer: Moniot d’Arras
Composition date: Late 13th century
Source of text: Secular poem
Language: Old French
Performing forces: Soloist singer and improvised accompaniment
Based on modes (Middle Ages)
Opening Key: F major
Who was Moniot d’Arras?
A French monk who wrote secular and sacred music that was one of the last trouveres (Middle Ages)
