Оккитанские трубадурки XII-XIII веков

Occitan female troubadours of the 12th and 13th centuries

The trobairitz were Occitan female troubadours of the 12th and 13th centuries, active from around 1170 to approximately 1260. Trobairitz is both singular and plural. It comes from the Provençal word trobar, the literal meaning of which is "to find", and the technical meaning of which is "to compose". The word trobairitz is used very rarely in medieval Occitan, as it does not occur in lyrical poetry, grammatical treatises or in the biographies (vidas) of the trobairitz or troubadours. It does occur in the treatise Doctrina d'acort by Terramagnino da Pisa, written between 1282 and 1296. He uses it as an example of a word the plural and singular of which are the same. Trobairitz composed, wrote verses, and performed for the Occitan noble courts. They are exceptional in musical history as the first known female composers of Western secular music; all earlier known female composers wrote sacred music. The trobairitz were part of courtly society, as opposed to their lower class counterparts the joglaressas. Although troubadours sometimes came from humble origins—Bernart de Ventadorn might have been the son of a castle's baker—the trobairitz were usually nobly born. The most important trobairitz were Alamanda de Castelnau, Azalais de Porcairagues, Maria de Ventadorn, Tibors, Castelloza, Garsenda de Proença, Gormonda de Monpeslier, and the Comtessa de Diá.

There are very few extant sources of information on the individual trobairitz. Almost all information which exists about them come from their vidas (biographies) and razós (contextual explanations of the songs), the brief descriptions that were assembled in song collections called chansonniers. The vidas are notoriously unreliable, since they frequently consisted of little more than romanticized extrapolations from the poems of the trobairitz themselves. The names of about twenty female poets from the 12th and 13th centuries survive, with an estimated thirty two works attributed to the trobairitz. Only one survives with musical notation intact, "A chantar" by Comtessa de Diá (see below). Some works which are anonymous in the sources are ascribed by certain modern editors to women, as are some works which are attributed to men in the manuscripts. For comparison, of the 460 male troubadours, about 2600 of their poems survive. Of these, about one in 10 survive with musical notation intact.

Throughout the 13th century, women of the court were expected to be able to sing, play instruments, and write jocs partis, or partimen (a debate or dialogue in the form of a poem). The cultivation of these womanly skills may have led to the writings of the trobairitz. The trobairitz may also have arisen due to the power women held in southern France during the 12th and 13th centuries. Women had far more control over land ownership, and Occitan society was far more accepting of women than were most other societies of the time. During the Crusades many men were away, which left women with more administrative responsibility, and thus, power. Nevertheless, this society was not "feminist", nor was fin' amor, which exalted women while at the same time circumscribing many aspects of their lives and behavior. The tension between the suppression of women present in the poetry of the troubadours and similar themes in the poetry of the trobairitz is a major source of discussion for modern commentators. Trobairitz poetry pertaining to love tended to offer a less idealized conception of the subject than the poetry of their male counterparts, with a more conversational and less flourished style of writing intended to more closely emulate a more grounded vision of relationships. The trobairitz wrote in the canso (strophic song) and tenso (debate poem) genres. Besides cansos and tensos, trobairitz also wrote sirventes (political poems), planh (lament), salut d’ amor (a love letter not in strophic form), alba (dawn songs), and balada (dance songs). Judging by what survives today, the trobairitz wrote no pastorelas or malmariee songs, unlike their troubadour counterparts.

The number of works attributed to the trobairitz is estimated at thirty two songs, but ranges anywhere from 23 to 46. Some of these were between men, and some were between a man and a woman. Some modern editors attribute these solely to the man who originated the exchange, and some attribute them to both the man and the woman involved. There is a long history of attributing these solely to men, even when all evidence points to the contrary. Since poetry was highly stylized, it is difficult to determine when a poet speaking as a woman actually was a woman, or a man speaking as a woman. This adds to the difficulty of attribution, especially of anonymous writers. There is some debate as to whether or not the poems by the trobairitz represent genuine feminine voices, since they worked within the highly circumscribed conventions of the troubadours.

Manuscript du Roi (F Pn fr. 844, c. 1246–1254)
Chansonnier cangé (F Pn fr. 845); F Pn n. a. fr. 21677; F AS 657 (c1278); V CVbav Reg. Lat. 1490
Chansonnier de Noailles (F Pn fr. 12615)

John Stevens, Ardis Butterfield, Theodore Karp. "Troubadours, trouvères", Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (accessed February 11, 2006), grovemusic. com (subscription access). Judith Tick. "Women in music, 500–1500", Grove Music Online. Maria V. Coldwell. "Azalais de Porcairagues", Grove Music Online. Elizabeth Aubrey. "Comtessa de Dia", Grove Music Online. Maria V. Coldwell. "Castelloza", Grove Music Online.