Troubadours d’Italie, Italian Troubadours - Trob’Art Ensemble

Ensemble: Trob’Art Ensemble Album: Canso viva - Les Troubadours d’Italie XIIº et XIIIº siècles Video: Ms. 854 • Canso Viva is a work of the maestro, musician and researcher Gérard Zuchetto. In this album poems by some Italian troubadours are brought back to life or of those who had a close link with Italy. Considering the few characters available, I’ll briefly tell facts about some of these troubadours. Raimbaut de Vaqueiras (1165/1207) opens the play: joglar from an early age, he learned the art of trobar at the court of Guilhèm del Bauç. He arrived in Italy in 1190. While he’s in Genoa he writes the famous Sirventes between him and a Genoese woman who refuses his love, insulting his rough “Provençal“ manners. He passes through Tortona and reaches the Malaspina court. Here a new and amusing Sirventes is born with the marquis and troubadour Albertz dei Malaspina who, after having listened to his Sirventes with the Genoese, makes fun of him. Finally in 1192 he arrives in Monferrato where he will be a privileged guest and esteemed troubadour at the court of Bonifacio. The artistic level of the court was very high, there were great troubadours such as Gaucelm Faidit - who’s also present in this collection -, trobairitz, poets and jesters; and it is precisely from a group of jesters that Raimbaut listens for the first time to the estampie Kalenda Maya, milestone of medieval music, to which he will add the words. Raimbaut becomes a close friend of the Marquis, they travel and fight together from Piedmont to Sicily, and falls in love with the Marquis’ sister Beatrice. Lastly he leaves with his friend and they die together in Romania, during the fourth crusade. Ramberti de Buvalel, or rather Rambertino di Guido Buvalelli (1170/1221) originally from Bologna, is the first of the Lombard podestà-troubadours from the 13th century. We have ten Occitan poems by him. He’s included among the first Italian troubadours together with Cossezen and Peire de la Caravana. Shortly after earning a law degree in Bologna, he enters into the good graces of Beatrice d’Este, who is celebrated in all of his poems. He was an enthusiast of the themes of the courtly love and among his many troubadour friends the figure of Elias Cairel stands out, to whom he asked to bring and perform the poem “Toz m’era de chantar gequiz“ at the court of Beatrice d’Este. It was Rambertino’s ability to sing about love that prompted Peire Raimon de Tolosa to dedicate his “De fin’amor son tuit mei pessamen“ to him, which has been described as “one of the best descriptions of courtly love“. “Un cavalier se Jaizia“ is a work of dubious attribution between Gaucelm Faidit and Bertran D’Alamanon, a troubadour of Provençal origin but a regular at he court of Charles I of Anjou in Italy. He wrote several Tensos with his friend Sordel. Exactly to Sordel two compositions from this collection belong. Originally from Mantua, precisely from Goito, Sordel became a jester at a young age. In 1220 he was involved in an inn brawl in Florence and left the city. In 1221 he lived in Ferrara at the court of Azzo II d’Este and there Rambertino Buvalelli taught him the first rudiments of poetic art. In 1225 he moved to Verona from the Count Riccardo di Sambonifacio: the partimens with Guilhem de la Tor in which he defends the theses of courtly love date back to this period. In 1226, he’s again in Verona, he was at the head of the expedition to steal Riccardo di Sambonifacio’s wife Cunizza da Romano on the orders of the woman’s brothers. He married the noblewoman Otta degli Strasso and in 1229 he left the court of the Da Romano to go, following various political events, to Spain, Portugal and Provence, where Count Ramon Berenguer IV elected him a knight giving him some fiefs. In 1245 Ramon Berenguer IV died and Sordel remained with his heir Charles I of Anjou following him in Italy in 1265. His life is full of interesting anecdotes, I recommend you to deepen his figure and his poetry. Peire de la Mula, closes the record, on which there is little information, it is known that he was active in Piedmont and that he could be originally from Mantua. Foulquet de Marsillia, Bonifacio Calvo, Lanfranc Cigala and many other Italian troubadours unfortunately are missing in this splendid work, but Gérard Zuchetto sang their verses in other works by him that I invite you to search, listen and buy. • 1 RAIMBAUT DE VAQUEIRAS, Altas ondas que venez suz la mar 2 BONIFACI DE CASTELLANA, Sitot m’es fort gaya la sazos 3 RAMBERTI DE BUVALEL, Ges de chantar voill gequir 4 En sai la flor plus bella d’autra flor 5 BERTRAN D’ALMANON, Un cavaliers si jaza 6 SORDEL, Puois trobat ai qi conois et enten 7 Ai las e que fan miey huelh 8 PEIRE DE LA MULA, Dels Joglars servir mi laisse • Buy: 🌹Please help this channel with a free donation: