Troubadour
(Redirected from Troubador)
Categories: Medieval literature | Medieval music | Musicians | Music occupations | Defunct occupations
- For the article about the night club in West Hollywood, California, see: Troubadour (nightclub).
A troubadour was a composer and performer of songs during the Middle Ages in Europe.
The word troubadour comes from the Occitan verb "trouber," which means "to find." The word is used to designate musicians who spoke Occitan (or langue d'oc) and whose style spread to the trouvères in the north of France, who spoke langues d'oïl. The custom began in France during the 9th century; the earliest being William, IX Duke of Aquitaine (1071-1127, also Guillaume d'Aquitaine). The style flourished in the ninth century and was often imitated in the thirteenth. Many troubadours traveled for great distances, aiding in the transmission of trade and news.
The texts of troubadour songs deal mainly with themes of chivalry and courtly love. Many songs addressed a married lover, perhaps due to the prevalence of arranged marriages at the time. The aubade formed a popular genre.
Similar roles were filled in different times and regions by persons known as minstrels and jongleurs. The German Minnesingers are closely related to, and inspired by, troubadours, but have distinctive features of their own.
Troubadours whose works have survived to the present day include Arnaut Daniel and Jaufré Rudel.
See also
- List of troubadours
- Provençal literature
- Sestina
- Kyrielle
- Envoi
- Minstrel
- Medieval music
- A Million Open Doors
Additional reading
- Ardis Butterfield (1997). "Monophonic song: questions of category", Companion to Medieval & Renaissance Music. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0198165404.
Other uses
- De Troubadour, sung by Lennie Kuhr, was one of the winning songs in the Eurovision Song Contest 1969.
- The Troubadour Theater Company is a Shakespearean acting troupe that performs productions of Shakespeare plays put to rock music from the 1970s.
- In some games in Intelligent Systems's Fire Emblem series, a Troubadour is a class, depicted as a healer on horseback.ca:Trobador
da:Troubadour de:Troubadour es:Trovador eo:Trobadoro fr:Troubadour gl:Trobadorismo he:טרובדור (מוזיקה) nl:Troubadour ja:トルバドゥール oc:Trobador pl:Trubadurzy pt:Trovadorismo sl:Trubadur