Peire d'Alvernhe
Peire d'Alvernhe or d'Alvernha
Life
According to his
According to an accusation of fellow troubadour
Peire lived a long into old age, and performed penance before dying.[5]
Poetry
Peire wrote mostly cansos, which, as his vida points out, were called vers in his day.[5] He also invented the "pious song" and wrote six such poems dealing with serious themes of religion, piety, and spirituality.[9] Even in his more profane works, however, one can detect the moralising influence of Marcabru, with whom in whose old age he was possibly acquainted. One of Marcabru's late songs is a satire of an early one by Peire d'Alvernhe.[4] Marcabru's complexity was also imparted to Peire.[4]
On the topic of
E quan canorgues si mes
Pey d'Alvernh'en canongia,
a Dieu per que.s prometia
entiers que peuys si fraysses?
Quar si feys, fols joglars es
per que l'entiers pretz cambia.[13]
Peire's aesthetic philosophy esteemed the "whole song" (vers entiers), which is what he termed his completed pieces, denigrating all others' works as incomplete and imperfect.[14] Nonetheless, from Marcabru Peire picked up a notion of the trobar braus as a legitimate format for "rough" themes.[14]
One anonymous song of the Fifth Crusade, Lo Senhre que formet lo tro, written between Spring 1213 and July 1214 has been attributed to Peire d'Alvernhe, but the dating makes that impossible.[15] In a tenso between a Bernart (probably Bernart de Ventadorn) and an unnamed Peire, perhaps Peire d'Alvernhe, the latter argues that "it is not becoming for ladies to make love-pleas; it is fitting that men plead with them and beg their mercy."[16]
By far, however, Peire's most famous work is Chantarai d'aquest trobadors, a sirventes written at
Chantarai d'aquest trobadors is near universally regarded today as playful parody and not as a work of serious literary or artistic criticism.[20] The obscurity of most of the ridiculed poets and the attack upon such personal characteristics as appearance and manners has been cited in support of the view that the parody was done in the presence of all twelve victims, further supporting the conclusion that the parody was good-natured.[21] Besides the criticism of a personal nature, many of the criticism launched by Peire allude to the works of the others, notably those of Bernart de Ventadorn and Raimbaut d'Aurenga.[22]
Music
Peire's vida acclaimed him an accomplished singer and the greatest composer of melodies for verses yet known.[5][23] Peire's famous Chantarai d'aquest trobadors contains a final tornada indicating its musical nature, though its own melody has not survived:
Lo vers fo faitz als enflabotz |
This verse was made to the bagpipe |
Only two of Peire's melodies still exist: one of Dejosta.ls breus jorns e.ls lonc sers,[25] a canso, and another of his tenso.[4] Modern notations of both are provided in Aubrey, The Music of the Troubadours.
On the whole, Peire's music is more melismatic than that typical of the troubadours and it mimics the trobar clus style of his lyrics.[26]
References
Bibliography
- d'Alvernha, Peire. Liriche. Alberto del Monte (trans. and ed.) Turin: Loescher-Chiantore, 1955.
- Aubrey, Elizabeth. "References to Music in Old Occitan Literature." Acta Musicologica, 61:2 (May–Aug., 1989), pp. 110–149.
- Aubrey, Elizabeth. The Music of the Troubadours. Indiana University Press, 1996. ISBN 0-253-21389-4.
- Egan, Margarita (ed. and trans.) The Vidas of the Troubadours. New York: Garland, 1984. ISBN 0-8240-9437-9.
- Gaunt, Simon, and Kay, Sarah. "Appendix I: Major Troubadours" (pp. 279–291). The Troubadours: An Introduction. Simon Gaunt and Sarah Kay, edd. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. ISBN 0-521-57473-0.
- Harvey, Ruth. "Courtly culture in medieval Occitania" (pp. 8–27). The Troubadours: An Introduction. Simon Gaunt and Sarah Kay, edd. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. ISBN 0-521-57473-0.
- Lang, H. R. "The Relations of the Earliest Portuguese Lyric School with the Troubadours and Trouvères." Modern Language Notes, 10:4 (Apr., 1895), pp. 104–116.
- Léglu, Catherine. "Moral and satirical poetry" (pp. 47–65). The Troubadours: An Introduction. Simon Gaunt and Sarah Kay, edd. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. ISBN 0-521-57473-0.
- Paterson, Linda. "Fin'amor and the development of the courtly canso" (pp. 28–46). The Troubadours: An Introduction. Simon Gaunt and Sarah Kay, edd. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. ISBN 0-521-57473-0.
- Pattison, Walter T. "The Background of Peire D'Alvernhe's Chantarai D'Aquest Trobadors." Modern Philology, 31:1 (Aug., 1933), pp. 19–34.
- Pattison, Walter T. "The Troubadours of Peire D'Alvernhe's Satire in Spain." PMLA, 50:1 (Mar., 1935), pp. 14–24.
- Puckett, Jaye. "Reconmenciez novele estoire: The Troubadours and the Rhetoric of the Later Crusades." Modern Language Notes, 116:4, French Issue. (Sep., 2001), pp. 844–889.
- Shapiro, Marianne. "The Provençal Trobairitz and the Limits of Courtly Love." Signs, 3:3 (Spring, 1978), pp. 560–571.
- Spence, Sarah. "Rhetoric and hermeneutics" (pp. 164–180). The Troubadours: An Introduction. Simon Gaunt and Sarah Kay, edd. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. ISBN 0-521-57473-0.
Notes
- ^ In French his name is Pierre d'Auvergne.
- ^ a b c Gaunt and Kay, 287.
- ^ a b Egan, 72.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Aubrey, The Music of the Troubadours, 8.
- ^ a b c d e f Egan, 71.
- ^ Lang, 105.
- ^ Pattison, "The Background of Peire D'Alvernhe's Chantarai D'Aquest Trobadors", 29.
- ^ Aubrey, The Music of the Troubadours, 9.
- ^ Léglu, 53.
- ^ a b c Paterson, 37–38.
- ^ Paterson, 32.
- ^ Léglu, 49.
- ^ Léglu, 54–55. Translation: "And when Peire d'Alvernha became a canon in a canonry, why did he promise himself wholly to God, if he was to break later on? Since he did so, he's a foolish jongleur because he changed his whole reputation."
- ^ a b Spence, 172.
- ^ Puckett, 885.
- ^ Shapiro, 563.
- Peire de Monzo, Peire Rogier, and Raimbaut d'Aurenga.
- ^ Pattison, "The Troubadours of Peire D'Alvernhe's Satire in Spain".
- ^ Aubrey, The Music of the Troubadours, 17.
- ^ Pattison, "The Background of Peire D'Alvernhe's Chantarai D'Aquest Trobadors", 19.
- ^ Pattison, "The Background of Peire D'Alvernhe's Chantarai D'Aquest Trobadors", 20.
- ^ For Bernart, see Harvey, 21–22. For Raimbaut, see Pattison, "The Background of Peire D'Alvernhe's Chantarai D'Aquest Trobadors", 21–22.
- ^ Aubrey, "References to Music", 124.
- ^ Aubrey, "References to Music", 118.
- ^ Also spelled Deioste as bries jors or Deiosta.ls breus iorns.
- ^ Aubrey, The Music of the Troubadours, 235.
External links
- Peire d'Alvernha: Complete Works at Trobar. org