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• 1 media/a troubadour plaing his fiddle.jpg media/Song_of_Guiraut_Riquier.jpg media/Troub musci.jpg 2016-01-17T19:01:07-08:00 Troubadour 20 image_header 2016-03-18T10:32:36-07:00 Troubadours entertained nobility by performing poetry and music in the 11^th through 13^th centuries.  The groups originated in Occitania, a region including southern France, northern Italy, and northern Spain.  Since the word troubadour is masculine in its etymology, we call a female troubadour a trobairitz.  The trobairitz were the first female composers of Western secular music.  Troubadour poets from the south of France wrote lyrics in Provencal.  Troubadours from the north of France wrote in French.  Troubadour poetry is lyrical, and marked by intricate meter and rhyme.  Chivalry and courtly love are the main themes of troubadour songs.  The lyrics could be vulgar, and the Roman Catholic Church denounced them; however, many priests and bishops became known as troubadours, most famously, Fouquet de Marseille, Archbishop of Toulouse; Dante praised his love songs. 
  After establishing the troubadour style of music, many genres, defined by rules of composition developed.  Genres include the morning song, a song renouncing a lover, a song about the Crusades, a lover’s apology, a lament, a song complaining about a lady’s behavior and character, a boasting song, and a traveller’s complaint.  Early Medieval troubadours usually stayed for long periods under the patronage of one wealthy noble; however, some travelled from village to village, abroad, and even accompanying knights on Crusade.  Many of the troubadours who travelled on Crusade were aristocrats.  Noble troubadours include the King of Navarre, the King of Spain, and Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, the mother of Richard the Lionheart.  The earliest troubadour was the Duke of Aquitaine, who came from high nobility.  Cercamon and Marcabru, who are of unknown origins, and Jaufre Rudel, a prince, followed him.  Some troubadours denounced wealth and lived as poor knights or knights templar.  Later, troubadours could belong to lower classes, including the middle class merchants, tradesmen, and others who worked with their hands.  Many possessed a clerical education, the foundation for their ability to compose. Troubadour songs were usually monophonic.  Fewer than 300 of an estimated 2,500 melodies survive.  About 2,600 poems or fragments of poems by about 450 identifiable troubadours survive.  The troubadours greatly influenced music and poetry and mass appeal and appreciation for these art forms.