Gautier de Dargies

Gautier de Dargies ("c".1170–"c".1240) [Common circa dates for his birth are 1165 and 1170. He died in or after 1236.] was a trouvère from Dargies. He was one of the most prolific of early trouvères; possibly twenty-five of his lyrics survive, twenty-two with accompanying melodies, in sixteen separate chansonniers. He was a major influence on contemporary and later trouvères, and one of the most recorded of medieval vernacular composers. Seventeen "chansons courtoises" can be assigned indubitably to Gautier, fifteen with music, [The two without music are "En grant aventure ai mise" and "Au commencier du douz tens qui repere" (O'Neill, 93 n2).] and three more are probably his, all with music. [The three dubious "chansons" are "Se j'ai esté", "Au tens gent que reverdoie", and "Quant il ne pert fueille ne flours" (Mary O'Neill [2006] , "Courtly Love Songs of Medieval France: Transmission and Style in the Trouvère Repertoire" [Oxford: Oxford University Press] , 93 n3).] He imported the Occitan genre of the "descort" into Old French and left behind three "descorts" with their melodies. He also participated in two "jeux partis", but only one with music. [His "jeu parti" with Richard de Fournival, "Amis Richart, j'eüsse bien mesiter", has no surviving melody (O'Neill, 93 n5).] His theme everywhere was courtly love.

Gautier appears in documents of the years 1195, 1202, and 1206 as a vavasour. By 1236, his latest appearance in documents, he had achieved the rank of a knight. His military career is obscure, but he probably participated in the Third Crusade when a young man in 1189. [Dargies family had a history of Crusading; relatives had participated in the First Crusade, see Theodore Karp, [http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/10763 "Gautier de Dargies"] , "Grove Music Online". "Oxford Music Online" (accessed 19 July 2008).] Gautier was the son of Sagalo, himself a younger son or scion of a cadet branch of the Dargies family, since Gautier's coat of arms, depicted in the Chasonnier du Roi and the Chansonnier d'Arras both dipslay martlets of gules not sable, the sign of the main branch of a family.See [http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/10763 Karp] .] Gautier had three brothers—Rainaut, Drogo, and Villardus—and a wife, Agnes. He apparently knew Gace Brulé, whom he mentions in three poems. ["Ainc mais ne fis chançon" and "Desque ci ai tous jours chanté" are dedicated to Brulé, who is also mentioned "Or chant novel".]

As a poet and musician, Gautier demonstrates skill and originality in his handling of traditional themes, especially metrically. He experiments with asymmetry and lenghtiness. Melodically, he is highly individual. Four of his melodies are non-repetitive, in two the musical phrase lengths differ from the lyric phrase lengths, and in all of his surviving piece he is not constrained to an octave.

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