Related Searches
Definitions
trouvère
Nearby Words
trouvère [troo-vair; Fr. troo-ver]  

trouvère

  [troo-vair; Fr. troo-ver]

One of a school of poets that flourished in northern France from the 11th to the 14th century. Trouvères were the counterparts in the language of northern France (the langue d'oïl) to the Provençal troubadour. Of either aristocratic or humble origins, they were originally connected with feudal courts but later found middle-class patrons. Noted for such forms as the chanson de geste, their works are generally narratives; their basic subject was courtly love. Trouvères pleased their audiences by combining stylized themes and traditional metrical forms rather than by originality of expression. The lyrics were intended to be sung, by the poet alone or accompanied by a hired musician.

Learn more about trouvère with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
Trouvère
Trouvère (MWCD: /trü'ver, trü'vər/), sometimes spelled trouveur, is the Northern French (langue d'oïl) form of the word troubadour (as spelled in the langue d'oc). It refers to poet-composers who were roughly contemporary with and influenced by the troubadours but who composed their works in the northern dialects of France. The word trouvère comes from the Old French trovere, from the Provençal word trobaire, meaning 'to find or invent (rhetorically)'. The first known trouvère was Chrétien de Troyes (fl. 1160s-80s) (Butterfield, 1997) and the trouvères continued to flourish until about 1300. Some 2130 trouvère poems have survived; of these, at least two-thirds have melodies.

The popular image of the troubadour or trouvère is that of the itinerant musician wandering from town to town, lute on his back. Such people existed, but they were called jongleurs and minstrels — poor musicians, male and female, on the fringes of society. The troubadours and trouvères, on the other hand, represent aristocratic music making. They were either poets and composers who were supported by the aristocracy or, just as often, were aristocrats themselves, for whom the creation and performance of music was part of the courtly tradition. Among their number we can count kings, queens, and countesses. The texts of these songs are a natural reflection of the society that created them. They often revolve around idealized treatments of courtly love ("fine amors", see grand chant) and religious devotion, although many can be found that take a more frankly earthy look at love.

The performance of this style of music is a matter of conjecture. Some scholars suggest that it should be performed in a free rhythmic style and with limited use of accompanying instruments (especially those songs with more elevated text). Other scholars, as well as many performers, believe that instrumental accompaniment and a more rhythmic interpretation is equally valid.

Johannes de Grocheio, a Parisian musical theorist of the early fourteenth century, believed that trouvère songs inspired kings and noblemen to do great things and to be great: "This kind of song is customarily composed by kings and nobles and sung in the presence of kings and princes of the land so that it may move their minds to boldness and fortitude, magnanimity and liberality..." (Page, 1997)

List of trouvères

Trouvères from Arras

Reference works

  • Akehurst, F. R. P. and Judith M. Davis, eds. A Handbook of the Troubadours. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995. ISBN 0 52 007976 0.
  • Butterfield, Ardis. "Monophonic song: questions of category", Companion to Medieval & Renaissance Music. Oxford University Press, 1997. ISBN 0 19 816540 4.
  • O'Neill, Mary (2006). Courtly Love Songs of Medieval France: Transmission and Style in the Trouvère Repertoire. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0 19 816547 1.
  • Page, Christopher. "Listening to the trouvères". Early Music. Vol. 25, No. 4, November 1997.
  • Goldin, Frederick, translator. Lyrics of the Troubadours and Trouvères: An Anthology and a History. Gloucester, MA: Peter Smith, 1983. ISBN 0 84 465036 6.
  • Hasenohr, Geneviève and Michel Zink, eds. Dictionnaire des lettres françaises: Le Moyen Age. Collection: La Pochothèque. Paris: Fayard, 1992. ISBN 2 25 305662 6.

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia © 2001-2006 Wikipedia contributors (Disclaimer)
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Last updated on Friday September 19, 2008 at 23:05:59 PDT (GMT -0700)
View this article at Wikipedia.org - Edit this article at Wikipedia.org - Donate to the Wikimedia Foundation

Search another word or see trouvèreon Dictionary | Thesaurus |Spanish
  • Please Login or Sign Up to use the Recent Searches feature
FAVORITES
RECENT