minstrel: Troubador [sp?] Music

[Sarah Lane-Dorrance]

>>		Would anyone here be willing to refer some good quality
>>works to me, and where I could get them?  I'm wanting to start writing
>>period stuff, especially period to my persona, and all I'm finding is
>>either Renn stuff or the Lorena McKinnett ball-park.  There's GOT to be
>>more than that!    If anyone knows of non-celtic, preferably French or
>>English troubador [troubadour? how is that spelled?] music, I'd greatly
>>appreciate it!

The Loiseau-Lyre label specializes in early music, and there are several
CD's that have trobar or trobar-influenced lyrics on them. I recommend this
label because the artists on it usually perform incredibly lively,
vigourous, vital pieces; there is an immediacy to the performance that is
sometimes lacking on other labels. The instrumental performance is also
usually superior, and often uses period instruments.

My favourite, so far, is a two-CD set called "The Pilgrimage to Santiago."
It's very intense. 

>Music of the Crusades  by the Early Music Consort of London.  I don't like
>this CD quite as much, but it does have some nice songs.

Agreed. There is also a good textual criticism inside the sleeve, if you're
into that sort of thing. CD's are probably the best way to get lyrics and
songs that you can actually *perform to music*. The musicians who performed
do all the research and hard work for you. Finding sheet music can sometimes
be a bit of a chore.

There are a few good books out there about the troubadours, some of which
put the orgnal Occitan lyrics next to the English translation; a visit to a
local or nearby university library will yield a plethora of books. However,
finding music is different...Not to repeat the obvious (and I imagine I am
already doing just that), but the genocide that occurred during the
Albigensian crusades did not spare the musically or poetically talented; and
many lyrics and most musical notations were lost in the purges. Many of the
surviving lyrics do not have sheet music attached, and vice versa. That's
not to say that redactions of original musical manuscripts are not out
there, mind you. If you happen to be near a music library, especially if
your local college or university or conservatory has a keen interest in
early music, you may be in luck. In addition, some of the books written
about trobar lyric sometimes include musical notation.

The Compleat Anachronist has at least two issues devoted to the poetry and
music of the trobari and the trouveres.

As for other early music...You're in luck. There's a medieval music craze
going on right now, and Hildegard von Bingen is, well, hip. So is Gregorian
chant. Ecclesiastical music of that era is a force that ought to be
contended with, at any rate...There are also medieval versions (that is,
ORIGINAL versions) of the Carmina Burana out there, which bridge the gap
between secular and ecclesiastical very effectively (bawdy songs about
secular life, written by an anonymous monk/student or series of clerks and
monks) and perform quite nicely as well. As for books written about
Hildegard von Bingen, translations of the Carmina Burana, etc...you should
have no trouble at all finding them.

Fortuna bona,



Sarah Lane-Dorrance/Iseut la Gaunt-Roussie, called Midori         
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