Troubadour

The dazzling culture of the troubadours - the virtuosity of their songs, the subtlety of their exploration of love, and the glamorous international careers some troubadours enjoyed - fascinated contemporaries and had a lasting influence on European life and literature. Apart from the refined love songs for which the troubadours are renowned, the tradition includes political and satirical poetry, devotional lyrics and bawdy or zany poems. It is also in the troubadour song-books that the only substantial collection of medieval lyrics by women is preserved. This book offers a general introduction to the troubadours. Its sixteen newly-commissioned essays, written by leading scholars from Britain, the US, France, Italy and Spain, trace the historical development and setting of troubadour song, engage with the main trends in troubadour criticism, and examine the reception of troubadour poetry. Appendices offer an invaluable guide to the troubadours, to technical vocabulary, to research tools and to surviving manuscripts.

“Ever wondered what that word meant?” “Oh… that was fancy, how did the speaker choose that word?” “Ah… what a powerful speech, wish I am so spontaneous!” As a matter of fact, it puzzles us when we think how someone can speak so eloquently. In fact, we can do it too! But how? Nope, it’s not easy to memorize a 600-page dictionary. Have you ever tried learning… in a fun way? You’ll be amazed at the tenfold better result. Well, the book you have in your hand is a choicest tool to get started! The Troubadour’s Collection is a promise to take you through an amazing world of inspirational poems, where you get to experience being a weekender, view the splash of colors shooting up your first missile, laugh your heads-off at the emperor’s new clothes and dare to walk with the graveyard’s host… and guess what? You would have already picked up new words, improving your vocabulary in a fun way!

"The Music of the Troubadours is the first comprehensive critical study of the extant melodies of the troubadours of Occitania. It begins with an overview of their social and political milieu in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, then provides brief biographies of the troubadours whose music survives. The four manuscripts that transmit this music are described in detail, with attention to their genesis in the overlapping roles of composers, singers, and scribes"--Back cover

This book is a reference volume and a digest of more than a century of scholarly work on troubadour poetry. Written by leading scholars, it summarizes the current consensus on the various facets of troubadour studies. Standing at the beginning of the history of modern European verse, the troubadours were the prime poets and composers of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries in the South of France. No study of medieval literature is complete without an examination of the courtly love which is celebrated in the elaborately rhymed stanzas of troubadour verse, creations whose words and melodies were imitated by poets and musicians all over medieval Europe. The words of about 2,500 troubadour songs have survived, along with 250 melodies, and all have come under intense scholarly scrutiny. This Handbook brings together the fruits of this scrutiny, giving teachers and students an overview of the fundamental issues in troubadour scholarship. All quotations are given in the original Old Occitan and in English. The editors provide a list of troubadour editions and an index, and each chapter includes a list of additional readings.