Bernart de Ventadorn

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Bernart de Ventadorn (also Bernard de Ventadour or Bernat del Ventadorn; c. 1130–1140 – c. 1190–1200) was a French poet-composer troubadour of the classical age of troubadour poetry.[1] Generally regarded as the most important troubadour in both poetry and music,[1] his 18 extant melodies of 45 known poems in total is the most to survive from any 12th-century troubadour.[2] He is remembered for his mastery as well as popularization of the trobar leu style, and for his prolific cançons, which helped define the genre and establish the "classical" form of courtly love poetry, to be imitated and reproduced throughout the remaining century and a half of troubadour activity.[3]

Now thought of as "the Master Singer," he developed the

cançons into a more formalized style which allowed for sudden turns.[3] Bernart was known for being able to portray his women as divine agents in one moment and then, in a sudden twist, as Eve – the cause of man's initial sin. This dichotomy in his work is portrayed in a "graceful, witty, and polished" medium.[3]

Life and career

According to the troubadour

Peire d'Alvernha, indicates that he was the son of either a servant, a soldier, or a baker, and his mother was also either a servant or a baker. From evidence given in Bernart's early poem Lo temps vai e ven e vire, he most likely learned the art of singing and writing from his protector, viscount Eble III of Ventadorn
. He composed his first poems to his patron's wife, Marguerite de Turenne.

Forced to leave Ventadour after falling in love with Margerite, he traveled to

Raimon V, Count of Toulouse; later still he went to Dordogne, where he entered a monastery. Most likely he died there.[4]

Works

Bernart is unique among secular composers of the twelfth century in the amount of music which has survived: of his forty-five poems, eighteen have music intact, an unusual circumstance for a troubadour composer (music of the

Boncompagno wrote in his Antiqua rhetorica that "How much fame attaches to the name of Bernard de Ventadorn, and how gloriously he made cansos and sweetly invented melodies, the world of Provence very much recognises."[5]

Cultural references

On screen, Bernart was portrayed by actor Paul Blake in the BBC TV drama series The Devil's Crown (1978).

In the final fragment (Canto CXX) of his epic poem The Cantos, American expatriate poet Ezra Pound, who had a lifelong fascination with the trouveres and troubadours of Provence and southern France, quotes from Bernart's Can vei la lauzeta mover twice.

References

Citations

  1. ^ a b Falck 2001, § para. 1.
  2. ^ Falck 2001, § para. 4.
  3. ^ a b c Wilhelm 1990, p. 46.
  4. ^ a b Wilhelm 1990, p. 69.
  5. ^ Quanti nominis quanteve fame sit Bernardus e Ventator, et quam gloriosa fecerit canciones et dulcisonas invenerit melodias, multe orbis provincie reconoscunt. Ipsum ergo magnificentie vestre duximos conmendandum (Boase, 5).

Sources

  • Falck, Robert (2001). "Bernart de Ventadorn".
    ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0. (subscription or UK public library membership
    required)
  • Wilhelm, James J., ed. (1990). Lyrics of the Middle Ages:An anthology. New York:
    ISBN 978-0-8240-7049-6
    .

Further reading

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to Bernart de Ventadorn.
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