Secular Flashcards
bard
Celtic poet-singers who performed at banquets and other occasions. Often accompanied themselves on an instrument such as harp or fiddle. Middle Ages
Allemande
Highly stylized dance in binary form, quadruple meter, beginning on an upbeat. Popular during the Renaissance and Baroque; often the first dance in a suite.
Jongleurs
lower-class musicians who traveled earning an uncertain living by performing tricks, telling stories and singing or playing instruments. Middle ages
minstrel
13th century musician who was typically employed by a court for at least a portion of the year. More specialized than Jongleurs
troubadours/troubairitz
12th century poet-composers from Southern France. Used the Occitan language. Bernart de Ventadorn and Comtessa de Dia
trouveres
12th century poet-composers from Northern France. Used the Old French language.
chansonniers
Songbooks that preserved troubadour poems and songs. 2,600 poems survive - approximately 250 survive with melodies
contrafactum
The middle age process of writing new text for an existing melody.
Minnesinger
German poet-musicians active from the 12th into the 14th centuries modeled after the French troubadours. Language was Middle High German.
Stollen / Abgesang
The sections of a minnelieder. The A section - Stollen - follows the same meter, rhyme scheme and melody. The B section - Abgesang - is longer and may replicate some of the stollen melody.
carole
French circle dance from the middle ages, very few melodies survive
estampie
medieval instrumental dance with several sections repeated with open and closed endings. French estampies are in triple meter with short sections
cantata
By the mid 16th century this term represented a secular composition with continuo for solo voice that had several sections utilizing recitative and arias. Strozzi - Lagrime mie - unrequited love.
