Songs of the Women Trouveres

by Eglal Doss-Quinby, Joan Tasker Grimbert, Wendy Pfeffer

This groundbreaking anthology brings together for the first time the works of women poet-composers, or trouveres, in northern France in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Refuting the long-held notion that there are no extant Old France lyrics by women from this period, the editors of the volume present songs attributed to eight named female trouveres along with a varied selection of anonymous compositions in the feminine voice that may have been composed by women. This book includes the Old French texts of seventy-five compositions, English translations, extant music for eighteen monophonic songs and nineteen polyphonic motets, and a substantial introduction.

Genres: Music

283 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2001

Reviews

[Ella]

Read for FRN 320: Women Defamed and Women Defended

[Lily · Rating 5 out of 5]

That’s my prof!!! ❤️‍🔥

[Liss Carmody · Rating 3 out of 5]

The introduction to this book was extremely informative, yet very understandable for myself, a lay person where musical notation and form and history are concerned. Once you get into the section that actually includes the compilation of lyrics, this is a very quick read, as most of the lyrics are simple and pertain to love or thwarted love. That said, this is a very dense book if you intend to study the musical notations at length (I did not) or examine the translations. I appreciated that the music was included where available and that the original French was preserved, but I was reading casually so I glossed over much of the more scholarly detail here.