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

*Adam de Givenchi
*Adenet Le Roi (c.1240–c.1300)
*Aubertin d'Airaines
*Aubin de Sézanne
*Baudouin des Auteus
*Benoît de Sainte-Maure
*Blondel de Nesle ("fl" c.1175–1210)
*Carasaus
*Chastelain de Couci ("fl" c.1170–1203; †1203)
*Chardon de Croisilles
*Chrétien de Troyes ("fl". 1160s–80s)
*Colars li Boutellier
*Colin Muset ("fl" c.1230–60)
*Conon de Béthune ("fl" c.1180–c.1220; †1220)
*Ernoul Caupain
*Ernoul le Vieux
*Étienne de Meaux
*Eustache le Peintre de Reims
*Gace Brulé (c.1159-after 1212)
*Gautier de Coincy (1177/8–1236)
*Gautier de Dargies (c.1170–after 1236)
*Gautier d'Espinal († before July 1272)
*Gautier de Soignies
*Gertrude, Duchess of Lorraine (1205-1225)
*Gillebert de Berneville ("fl" c.1255)
*Gilles le Vinier
*Gobin de Reims
*Gontier de Soignies ("fl" c.1180–1220)
*Guibert Kaukesel
*Guillaume d'Amiens
*Guillaume Veau
*Guiot de Dijon ("fl" c.1200–30)
*Guiot de Provins
*Henry le Débonnaire
*Henri de Lacy (1249–1311)
*Hue de la Ferté
*Hugues de Berzé ("fl" c.1150–1220)
*Jacques Bretel
*Jacques de Cambrai
*Jacques de Cysoing
*Jaque de Dampierre
*Jean Bodel
*Jean Renaut
*Jean le Roux
*Jehan de Braine
*Jehan Fremaux
*Jehan de Grieviler
*Jehan de Nuevile
*Jehan de Trie
*Jocelin de Dijon
*Lambert Ferri
*Lorris Acot
*Mahieu le Juif
*Maroie de Dregnau de Lille
*Moniot de Paris ("fl" c.1250–1278)
*Oede de la Couroierie
*Perrin d'Angicourt ("fl" c.1245–50)
*Perrot de Neele
*Philippe de Remy (c.1205–c.1265)
*Pierre de Corbie
*Pierre de Molins
*Pierrekin de la Coupele
*Raoul de Beauvais
*Raoul de Ferier
*Raoul de Soissons (c.1215–1272)
*Richard de Fournival (1201–c.1260)
*Richart de Semilli
*Robert de Blois
*Robert de Reims
*Simon d'Authie
*Sauvage d'Arraz
*Thibaut de Blazon
*Thibaut le Chansonnier (1201–53)
*Thierri de Soissons
*Thomas de Herier
*Vidame de Chartres
*Vielart de Corbie
*Walter of Bibbesworth

Trouvères from Arras

*Adam de la Halle (c.1240–88)
*Andrieu Contredit d'Arras († c.1248)
*Audefroi le Bastart ("fl" c1200–1230)
*Gaidifer d'Avion
*Guillaume le Vinier ("fl" c1220–45; †1245)
*Jacques le Vinier
*Jehan Bretel (c1200–1272)
*Jehan le Cuvelier d'Arras ("fl" c1240–70)
*Jehan Erart († c1259)
*Mahieu de Gant
*Moniot d'Arras ("fl" c1250–75)
*Robert de Castel
*Robert de la Piere

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.