"from the words of the verse, and as such appeared as a brief rhythmic interlude in the middle of the longer, more chantlike organum. In the 12th century, traveling noblemen and musicians called troubadours began traveling southern France. Inspired by the Code of Chivalry, troubadours composed and performed vernacular songs (in contrast to the older tradition, dating back to the 10th century, of goliards. Provence was the region with the most troubadours, but the practice soon spread north and aristocrats like Adam de la Halle became the first trouvères. Contemporaneous with the troubadours was the rise of the trouvères, another"
"Pérotin Pérotin (""fl. c."" 1200, died 1205 or 1225), also called Perotin the Great, was a European composer, believed to be French, who lived around the end of the 12th and beginning of the 13th century. He was the most famous member of the Notre Dame school of polyphony and the ars antiqua style. He was one of very few composers of his day whose name has been preserved, and can be reliably attached to individual compositions; this is due to the testimony of an anonymous English student at Notre Dame known as Anonymous IV, who wrote about him and"
"Gautier d'Espinal Gautier d'Espinal (also d'Epinal, d’Épinal or d'Espinau) (died before July 1272) was a French composer and trouvère poet of the 13th century. Grove states that while details of his life are lacking, some documents of the time mention a Gautier d'Espinal active between 1232 and 1272, but it is uncertain if this is the trouvère, as some of the songs attributed to him suggest an earlier date. Most likely Gautier was one of the seigneurs of the city of Epinal. However, Robert Lug's more recent (2007) study of the Saint-Germain-des-Prés chansonnier (Trouvère MS U) shows that Gautier is"
"poets were greatly influenced by poetic traditions from the Hispano-Arab world. The Occitan or Provençal poets were called troubadours, from the word ""trobar"" ""to find, to invent"". Lyric poets in Old French are called ""trouvères"". By the late 13th century, the poetic tradition in France had begun to develop in ways that differed significantly from the troubadour poets, both in content and in the use of certain fixed forms. The new poetic (as well as musical: some of the earliest medieval music has lyrics composed in Old French by the earliest composers known by name) tendencies are apparent in the"
"Solage Solage (or Soulage), possibly Jean So(u)lage (fl. late 14th century) was a French composer, and probably also a poet. He composed the most pieces in the Chantilly Codex, the principal source of music of the ""ars subtilior"", the manneristic compositional school centered on Avignon at the end of the century. Nothing is known about Solage's life, beyond what can be inferred from the texts to his music. Even his name is a puzzle. One possibility is that the single name ""Solage"" is a nickname or pseudonym, similar to others known from the period, such as Grimace or Hasprois ."
"Mathieu Gascongne Mathieu Gascongne (first name also Matthieu or Matthias; last name also Gascogne, Gascongus, Gascone, Gasconia, and Guascogna; fl. early 16th century) was a French composer of the Renaissance. Contemporaries, such as Adrian Willaert (as quoted by the renowned Venetian theorist Zarlino) grouped him with Josquin, Ockeghem, and Jean Mouton as among the finest composers of the time. Compared with those others, however, little of his output has survived. Little is known for certain about his life, and there are two principal theories regarding where he lived and worked. The first is that he was associated with the French"
"Rutebeuf Rutebeuf (or Rustebuef) (fl. 1245 – 1285) was a French trouvère (poet-composers who worked in France's northern dialects). He was born in the first half of the 13th century, possibly in Champagne (he describes conflicts in Troyes in 1249); he was evidently of humble birth, and was a Parisian by education and residence. His name is not mentioned by his contemporaries. He frequently plays in his verse on the word ""Rutebeuf"", which was a ""nom de plume"", and is variously explained by him as derived from ""rude boeuf"" and ""rude oeuvre"" (""coarse ox"" or ""rustic piece of work""). Paulin"
"Richart de Semilli Richart de Semilli (""floruit"" late 12th or early 13th century) was a trouvère, probably from Paris, which he mentions three times in his extant works. These number ten in one ""chansonnier"" (with a few also copied into related manuscripts), and one anonymous song, """", which has sometimes been attributed to him by modern scholars, but of which most of the first strophe and music are missing. Unusually for a trouvère, Richart used the same poetic structure and melody for his """" and """", and also for """" and """". Even within his pieces his melodies make heavy"
"which have been preserved in several manuscripts, although only twenty-seven are generally considered to be his. His poetry is lyrics in the high style of the ""grand chant"". Gontier de Soignies Gontier de Soignies was a medieval trouvère and composer who was active from around 1180 to 1220. Gontier was from the region of Soignies in the County of Hainaut, a region that was then a state of the Holy Roman Empire. His life is mostly unknown, although in his works he alludes to travels in France and Burgundy, as well as the protection of the Count Palatine. One of"
"Rodolphe Mathieu Joseph Rodolphe Mathieu (10 July 1890 – 29 June 1962) was a Canadian composer, pianist, writer on music, and music educator. ""The Canadian Encyclopedia"" states, ""Considered too avant-garde for his time because of Debussy's influence on his music, Mathieu gained recognition too late to inspire the generation that followed."" The pianist Léo-Pol Morin was one of the few important exponents of his work, notably including Mathieu's ""Chevauchée"" and ""Trois Préludes"" in his concert repertoire. Mathieu's song ""Un peu d'ombre"" (1913) was included in a number of recitals given by Marguerite Bériza and Sarah Fischer in Europe. Born in"
"Artus Aux-Cousteaux Artus Aux-Cousteaux (""Hautcousteaux"", ""Haultcousteau"", ""Arthur d'Auxcousteaux""; c. 1590-1656) was a French singer and composer, active in Picardy and Paris. He was born in Picardy in either Beauvais (according to Charles Magnin) or Saint-Quentin (according to Charles Gomart). His family coat of arms contains a pun on his name; it is ""Azur à trois cousteaux, d'argent garnis d'or"" (""Azure on three sides, of silver decorated with gold""). He was a singer in the church of Noyon, of which fact there is a record in the library of Amiens. Then he became ""Maistre de la Sainte Chapelle"" at Paris. According"
"Colin Muset Colin Muset (""fl"". ""c"". 1210–50 or 1230–70) was an Old French trouvère and a native of Lorraine. He made his living in the Champagne by travelling from castle to castle singing songs of his own composition and playing the vielle. These are not confined to the praise of courtly love that formed the usual topic of the trouvères, but contain many details of a jongleur's life. His complete works are eighteen: nine attributed in chansonniers, three self-referencing, and six whose attributions are based on modern scholarship (one of which is held to be mis-attributed in the manuscripts). Twenty"
"Guillaume de Machaut Guillaume de Machaut (; sometimes spelled Machault; c. 1300 – April 1377) was a medieval French poet and composer. He is regarded by many musicologists as the greatest and most important composer of the 14th century. Machaut is one of the earliest composers on whom substantial biographical information is available, and Daniel Leech-Wilkinson called him ""the last great poet who was also a composer"". Well into the 15th century, Machaut's poetry was greatly admired and imitated by other poets, including Geoffrey Chaucer. Machaut composed in a wide range of styles and forms. He is a part of"
"have not survived. The songs are virelais, ballades, rondeaux and diz entés; they include word painting more in the style of the later 14th-century composers than those of the 13th century; they are simple, charming, and debauchery is not a prominent theme. Jehan de Lescurel Jehan de Lescurel (also ""Jehannot de l'Escurel""; fl. early 14th century) was a medieval poet and composer. Nothing is known of his life other than that he was the son of a merchant in Paris, and he probably received his musical training at the Notre Dame cathedral. For many years, it has been presumed he"
"was the ""Gascon school"" of Cercamon, Peire de Valeira, and Guiraut de Calanso. Cercamon was said by his biographer to have composed in the ""old style"" (""la uzansa antiga"") and Guiraut's songs were ""d'aquella saison"" (""of that time""). This style of poetry seems to be attached to early troubadours from Gascony and was characterised by references to nature: leaves, flowers, birds, and their songs. This Gascon ""literary fad"" was unpopular in Provence in the early 13th century, harming the reputation of the poets associated with it. In the late 13th century a school arose at Béziers, once the centre of"
"in Southern France and Provence—including Toulouse, Poitiers, and the Aquitaine region—where ""langue d'oc"" was spoken (Occitan language); in their turn, the Provençal poets were greatly influenced by poetic traditions from the Hispano-Arab world. The Occitan or Provençal poets were called troubadours, from the word ""trobar"" (to find, to invent). Lyric poets in Old French are called ""trouvères"", using the Old French version of the word (for more information on the ""trouvères"", their poetic forms, extant works and their social status, see the article of that name). The occitan troubadours were amazingly creative in the development of verse forms and poetic"
"were prosar collections from various places in Southern France. During the 12th century, only a very few composers of the school are known by name, and the new poetic experiments were not only in Latin, they obviously inspired as well courtly poetry of the Troubadours. Even if St-Martial poetry (versus, tropes and sequences) was almost entirely in Latin, some melodies collected in the manuscripts of the Abbey were also used to compose Old Occitan poetry. Before the collections of the chansonniers, there are already contemporary Old Occitan songs with musical notation for all stanzas which has been written at the"
"Pierre Fontaine (composer) Pierre Fontaine (; c. 1380 – c. 1450) was a French composer of the transitional era between the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance, and a member of the Burgundian School of composers. While he was well-known at the time, most of his music has probably been lost. All of his surviving music is secular, and all his compositions are chansons. He was born in Rouen and is presumed to have had his early musical training there. By 1403 he was a singer at the large and splendid chapel of Philip the Bold, and after it was"
"Philidor Philidor (""Filidor"") or Danican Philidor was a family of musicians that served as court musicians to the French kings. The original name of the family was Danican (D'Anican) and was of Scottish origin (Duncan). Philidor was a later addition to the family name, given first to Michel the elder by Louis XIII because his oboe playing reminded the king of an Italian virtuoso oboist named Filidori. Both Michel the younger and Jean played in the Grande Écurie (literally, the Great Stable; figuratively, the Military Band) in Paris. Later members of the family were known as composers as well. One"
"Raoul de Beauvais Raoul de Beauvais (""fl."" mid-13th century) was a trouvère from northeast of Paris. His period of activity is estimated based on his works being clumped with those of other mid-13th-century trouvères in the chansonniers. Six songs are attributed to him, with three also being (probably wrongly) attributed to Jehan Erart. They exhibit great variety of poetical and musical form. All six songs contain refrains. Both ' and ' (also attributed to Erart) are ""pastourelles"". Especially interesting is the contrast between stanza and refrain in "" (also attributed to Erart). Each four-line stanza contains three open cadences (every"
"Gregorian plainchant gave birth to polyphony, which appeared in the works of French Notre Dame School (Léonin and Pérotin). Later it evolved into the ""ars nova"" (Philippe de Vitry, Guillaume de Machaut) and the musical genres of late Middle Ages. An important composer during the 12th century was the nun Hildegard of Bingen. The most significant secular movement was that of the troubadours, who arose in Occitania (Southern France) in the late 11th century. The troubadours were often itinerant, came from all classes of society, and wrote songs on a variety of topics, though with a particular focus on courtly"
"""chansons de geste"" such as ""The Song of Roland"". Those Old French lines invariably had a caesura after the fourth syllable. This line was adopted with more flexibility by the troubadours of Provence in the 12th century, notably Cercamon, Bernart de Ventadorn, and Bertran de Born. In both Old French and Old Provençal, the tenth syllable of the line was accented and feminine endings were common, in which case the line had eleven syllables. Italian poets such as Giacomo da Lentini, Boccaccio, Petrarch, and Dante adopted this line, generally using the eleven-syllable form (""endecasillabo"") because most Italian words have feminine"
"Jehan de Lescurel Jehan de Lescurel (also ""Jehannot de l'Escurel""; fl. early 14th century) was a medieval poet and composer. Nothing is known of his life other than that he was the son of a merchant in Paris, and he probably received his musical training at the Notre Dame cathedral. For many years, it has been presumed he was hanged on May 23, 1304, along with three other young clerics of Notre Dame, including Oudinet Pisdoé, for ""debauchery"" and ""crimes against women"" . Recent research has shown that ""Jehan de Lescurel"" was a rather common name in early fourteenth-century Paris,"
"""descorts"", one ""lai"", and one cynical ""tenson"" with Jacques d'Amiens. The nickname ""Muset"" may derive from his inspiration (""muse"") or from his habit of ""muser"" (wandering about, wasting time). Colin Muset Colin Muset (""fl"". ""c"". 1210–50 or 1230–70) was an Old French trouvère and a native of Lorraine. He made his living in the Champagne by travelling from castle to castle singing songs of his own composition and playing the vielle. These are not confined to the praise of courtly love that formed the usual topic of the trouvères, but contain many details of a jongleur's life. His complete works"
"text in several parts. From the 1330s and onwards, emerged the polyphonic style, which was a more complex fusion of independent voices. Polyphony had been common in the secular music of the Provençal troubadours. Many of these had fallen victim to the 13th-century Albigensian Crusade, but their influence reached the papal court at Avignon. The main representatives of the new style, often referred to as ""ars nova"" as opposed to the ""ars antiqua"", were the composers Philippe de Vitry and Guillaume de Machaut. In Italy, where the Provençal troubadours had also found refuge, the corresponding period goes under the name"
"only piece of Bertran's music to survive. Only one melody by the Monge himself—for a ""canso"" entitled ""Ara pot ma dona saber""—survives. Nonetheless, this lone piece of work is characterised by phrase variation and motivic transformation, with an unexpected ending. The poem ""S'eu vos voill tan gen lauzar"" was appended to a set of four by the Monge in the 13th century, but it is probably a work of Jausbert de Puycibot. Monge de Montaudon The (Lo) Monge de Montaudon (meaning ""monk of Montaudon"") (fl. 1193–1210), born Pèire de Vic, was a nobleman, monk, and troubadour from the Auvergne, born"
"Aucassin and Nicolette Aucassin et Nicolette (12th or 13th century) is an anonymous medieval French ""chantefable"", or combination of prose and verse (literally, a ""sung story"", similar to a ""prosimetrum""). The work probably dates from the late 12th or early 13th century, and is known from only one surviving manuscript, discovered in 1752 by medievalist Jean-Baptiste de La Curne de Sainte-Palaye (BnF, Fonds Français 2168). Stylistically, the ""chantefable"" combines elements of many Old French genres, such as the ""chanson de geste"" (e.g., ""The Song of Roland""), lyric poems, and courtly novels—literary forms already well-established by the 12th century. It is"
"him. His known works include thirty-six chansons (literally, ""songs""), forty-six ""rondets de carole"", eighteen ""jeux-partis"", fourteen ""rondeaux"", five motets, one ""rondeau-virelai"", one ""ballette"", one ""dit d'amour"", and one ""congé"". Adam de la Halle Adam de la Halle, also known as Adam le Bossu (Adam the Hunchback) (1245–50 – 1285–88?, or after 1306) was a French-born trouvère, poet and musician. Adam's literary and musical works include chansons and jeux-partis (poetic debates) in the style of the trouvères; polyphonic rondel and motets in the style of early liturgical polyphony; and a musical play, ""Jeu de Robin et Marion"" (c. 1282–83), which is"
"Matheus de Perusio, Philipoctus de Caserta, Jacob Senleches, and Trebor. Other composers associated with the style include: Ars subtilior Ars subtilior (more subtle art) is a musical style characterized by rhythmic and notational complexity, centered on Paris, Avignon in southern France, also in northern Spain at the end of the fourteenth century. The style also is found in the French Cypriot repertory. Often the term is used in contrast with ""ars nova"", which applies to the musical style of the preceding period from about 1310 to about 1370; though some scholars prefer to consider the ""ars subtilior"" a subcategory of"
"is evident in his considerable body of motets, lais, virelais, rondeaux, and ballades. Towards the end of the fourteenth century a new stylistic school of composers and poets centered on Avignon in southern France developed; the highly mannered style of this period is often called the ""ars subtilior"", though some scholars choose to consider it a late development of the ars nova rather than breaking it out as a separate school. This strange but interesting repertory of music, limited in geographical distribution (southern France, Aragon and later Cyprus), and clearly intended for performance by specialists for an audience of connoisseurs,"
"11th and 12th century poets exploiting local ecclesiastical traditions, and were not developed from earlier poems dating back perhaps to the lifetime of Guillaume of Toulouse, the saint of Gellone. As established in the various texts, the Monglane family tree is generally as follows (spelling of names varies from text to text): No less than thirteen historical personages bearing the name of William (Guillaume) have been thought by various critics to have their share in the formation of the legend. William, count of Provence, son of Boso II, again delivered southern France from a Saracen invasion by his victory at"
"and one is in Flemish. Most are for three voices, although there are a few for four. Antoine Busnois Antoine Busnois (also Busnoys) (c. 1430 – 6 November 1492) was a French composer and poet of the early Renaissance Burgundian School. While also noted as a composer of motets and other sacred music, he was one of the most renowned 15th-century composers of secular chansons. He was the leading figure of the late Burgundian school after the death of Guillaume Dufay. While details of his early life are largely conjectural, he was probably from the vicinity of Béthune in the"
"recorded only the outline of the melody, and it was not until the 11th century that Guido d'Arezzo invented a more modern musical notation system that the exact notes of the melodies were preserved. Most Troubadour songs were monophonic. Troubadour songs were written from 1100-1350 and they were usually poems about chivalry or courtly love with the words set to a melody. Aristocratic troubadours and trouvères typically played in courtly performances for kings, queens, and countesses. Poets and composers in the 14th century produced many songs which can be seen as extensions of the Provençal Troubador tradition, such as secular"