A troubadour ( English: / ˈ t r uː b ə d ʊər , - d ɔːr / , French: [tʁubaduʁ] ; Occitan : trobador [tɾuβaˈðu] ) was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100–1350). Since the word troubadour is etymologically masculine, a female equivalent is usually called a trobairitz .
129-445: Cornelis Vreeswijk ( Swedish pronunciation ; Dutch pronunciation ; 8 August 1937 – 12 November 1987) was a Dutch-born Swedish singer-songwriter and poet. He emigrated to Sweden with his parents in 1949 at the age of twelve. He was educated as a social worker and hoped to become a journalist, but became increasingly involved in music, performing at events for students with idiosyncratic humor and social engagement. Vreeswijk
258-604: A book of poetry, both entitled Till Fatumeh . He travelled one last time to the Netherlands to see his family, returned to Stockholm and died soon afterwards. Main article – Cornelis Vreeswijk's Swedish discography Anthology Also appears on Troubadour The troubadour school or tradition began in the late 11th century in Occitania , but it subsequently spread to the Italian and Iberian Peninsulas . Under
387-592: A burgher of Béziers. Joan Esteve and Bernart both composed in support of the French in the Aragonese Crusade . The Béziers poets are a shining example of the transformation of Occitania in the aftermath of the Albigensian Crusade, but also of the ability of troubadours to survive it. Troubadours, at least after their style became established, usually followed some set of "rules", like those of
516-471: A considerable manuscript legacy of poems which have been published since. He also became an important musical interpreter of the works of other people, recording the songs of Carl Michael Bellman , Evert Taube , and Lars Forssell . His fresh, bluesy renderings of Bellman and Taube, who had up to then been classics belonging to the "harmless" tradition that Vreeswijk despised, were artistic and commercial successes which extended his fanbase. The choice of Bellman
645-540: A costumed theatre concert, directed by Nikolaj Cederholm with Fredman's Epistles and Fredman's Songs arranged by Kåre Bjerkø for guitar, electric guitar, double bass, cello, tuba, clarinet, drumkit and percussion, keyboards, accordion, and five voices. Bellman has been translated into at least 20 languages, including English, most notably by Paul Britten Austin , and German, including by Hannes Wader . German Communist leader Karl Liebknecht liked Bellman's songs and translated some into German. Hans Christian Andersen
774-472: A couple of new ones. One of his songs, "De nozem en de non" ("The Greaser and the Nun"), was released as a single, without much popular success. His first Dutch album was only released in 1972, after ten successful Swedish albums. 100,000 copies of Cornelis Vreeswijk were sold, and the single "Veronica" became a big hit after it was picked up by the pirate radio station Veronica . His old song "De nozem en de non"
903-649: A courtly entertainer (as opposed to popular or low-class one) and a troubadour was a poet and composer. Despite the distinctions noted, many troubadours were also known as jongleurs, either before they began composing or alongside. Aimeric de Belenoi , Aimeric de Sarlat , Albertet Cailla , Arnaut de Mareuil , Elias de Barjols , Elias Fonsalada , Falquet de Romans , Guillem Magret , Guiraut de Calanso , Nicoletto da Torino , Peire Raimon de Tolosa , Peire Rogier , Peire de Valeira , Peirol , Pistoleta , Perdigon , Salh d'Escola , Uc de la Bacalaria , Uc Brunet , and Uc de Saint Circ were jongleur-troubadours. A vida
1032-527: A deliberate break with what he was later to describe as a Swedish song tradition of pretty singing and harmless lyrics, "a hobby for the upper classes". Influenced by jazz and blues and especially by the singing style and social criticism of Georges Brassens , Vreeswijk "speak-sings" his "insults", and compels his listeners to pay close attention to the words. His translation of Allan Sherman 's masterpiece " Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh " remains beloved to Swedes as "Brev från kolonien" (Letter from
1161-461: A distinction was definitely being made between an inventor of original verse and the performers of others'. The latter were called joglars in both Occitan and Catalan, from the Latin ioculatores , giving rise also to the French jongleur , Castilian juglar , and English juggler , which has come to refer to a more specific breed of performer. The medieval jongleur/joglar is really a minstrel . At
1290-409: A lot as their male counterparts, with the general exceptions of their poetic style and their provenance. They wrote predominantly cansos and tensos ; only one sirventes by a named woman, Gormonda de Monpeslier , survives (though two anonymous ones are attributed to women). One salut d'amor , by a woman ( Azalais d'Altier ) to a woman ( Clara d'Anduza ) is also extant and one anonymous planh
1419-478: A master improviser. Bellman's songs continue to be performed and recorded by musicians from Scandinavia and in other languages, including English, French, German, Italian, and Russian. Several of his songs including Gubben Noak and Fjäriln vingad are known by heart by many Swedes. His legacy further includes a museum in Stockholm and a society that fosters interest in him and his work. Carl Michael Bellman
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#17327909414741548-509: A metaphorical bad trip) and "Blues för Fatumeh", both addressing heavy drug addiction. Even though in this period Vreeswijk was a prey of tabloid scandal and in the news for his drinking problem and his debts (about both of which he spoke with frankness) rather than for his achievements, he remained highly productive. He is also known as the co-writer of the Hep Stars song "Speleman" which was released for their album Songs We Sang 68 . Towards
1677-567: A national cemetery in Stockholm. It was broadcast live on Swedish television. In 2010, Cornelis , a movie about his life, premiered in Swedish cinemas. Norwegian singer Hans Erik Dyvik Husby (previously in Turbonegro ) played the role of Vreeswijk. In 1966, the Dutch broadcasting organisation VARA invited Vreeswijk to the Netherlands. He translated several of his songs into Dutch, and wrote
1806-401: A person named Bellman, an antihero or modern-day trickster with little or no connection to the poet. The first known Bellman joke is in a book from 1835, which quoted a letter written in 1808 by a contemporary of Bellman. 19th-century Bellman jokes were told by adults and focused on Bellman's life at court; they often related to sex. In the 20th century, the 'Bellman' character became generic,
1935-439: A poem appears to be about on its surface is rarely what is intended by the poet or understood by audiences "in the know". The clus style was invented early by Marcabru but only favoured by a few masters thereafter. The trobar ric style is not as opaque as the clus , rather it employs a rich vocabulary, using many words, rare words, invented words, and unusual, colourful wordings. Modern scholars recognise several "schools" in
2064-648: A poem" by regular phonetic change . This reconstructed form is based on the Latin root tropus , meaning a trope . In turn, the Latin word derives ultimately from Greek τρόπος ( trópos ), meaning "turn, manner". Intervocal Latin [p] shifted regularly to [b] in Occitan (cf. Latin sapere → Occitan saber , French savoir "to know"). The Latin suffix -ātor , -ātōris explains the Occitan suffix, according to its declension and accentuation : Gallo-Romance * tropātor → Occitan trobaire (subject case) and * tropātōre → Occitan trobador (oblique case). There
2193-439: A potential Andalusian origin for his works. The scholars attempted to translate the lines in question, though the medievalist Istvan Frank contended that the lines were not Arabic at all, but instead the result of the rewriting of the original by a later scribe. Scholars like Ramón Menéndez Pidal stated that the troubadour tradition was created by William, who had been influenced by Moorish music and poetry while fighting with
2322-537: A pre-existing Latin corpus must merely be lost to us. That many troubadours received their grammatical training in Latin through the Church (from clerici , clerics) and that many were trained musically by the Church is well-attested. The musical school of Saint Martial's at Limoges has been singled out in this regard. "Para-liturgical" tropes were in use there in the era preceding the troubadours' appearance. This theory or set of related theories has gained ground in
2451-461: A priest, but he fell ill with a fever, and on recovering found he could express any thought in rhyming verse. His parents appointed a tutor called Ennes who Bellman called "a genius". Bellman was taught French, German, Italian, English, and Latin. He read Horace and Boileau ; Ennes taught him to write poetry and to translate French and German hymns. He was familiar with stories from the Bible including
2580-512: A quarter century earlier, or Guilleuma de Rosers , who composed a tenso with Lanfranc Cigala , known between 1235 and 1257. There exist brief prose biographies— vidas —for eight trobairitz: Almucs de Castelnau (actually a razo ), Azalais de Porcairagues , the Comtessa de Dia, Castelloza, Iseut de Capio (also a razo ), Lombarda, Maria de Ventadorn , and Tibors de Sarenom. Three main styles of Occitan lyric poetry have been identified:
2709-495: A single poet; an alba or canso could be written with religious significance, addressed to God or the Virgin; and a sirventes may be nothing more than a political attack. The maldit and the comiat were often connected as a maldit-comiat and they could be used to attack and renounce a figure other than a lady or a lover, like a commanding officer (when combined, in a way, with the sirventes ). Peire Bremon Ricas Novas uses
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#17327909414742838-421: A trope", the trope being a poem where the words are used with a meaning different from their common signification, i.e. metaphor and metonymy . This poem was originally inserted in a serial of modulations ending a liturgic song. Then the trope became an autonomous piece organized in stanza form. The influence of late 11th-century poets of the "Loire school", such as Marbod of Rennes and Hildebert of Lavardin ,
2967-477: A variety of ways, lived, and travelled in many different places, and were actors in many types of social context. The troubadours were not wandering entertainers. Typically, they stayed in one place for a lengthy period of time under the patronage of a wealthy nobleman or woman. Many did travel extensively, however, sojourning at one court and then another. The earliest known troubadour, the Duke of Aquitaine, came from
3096-399: Is trobadors , found in a 12th-century Occitan text by Cercamon . The French word itself is borrowed from the Occitan trobador . It is the oblique case of the nominative trobaire "composer", related to trobar "to compose, to discuss, to invent" ( Wace , Brut , editions I. Arnold, 3342). Trobar may come, in turn, from the hypothetical Late Latin * tropāre "to compose, to invent
3225-565: Is a brief prose biography, written in Occitan , of a troubadour. The word vida means "life" in Occitan. In the chansonniers , the manuscript collections of medieval troubadour poetry, the works of a particular author are often accompanied by a short prose biography. The vidas are important early works of vernacular prose nonfiction. Nevertheless, it appears that many of them derive their facts from literal readings of their objects' poems, which leaves their historical reliability in doubt. Most of
3354-616: Is an alternative theory to explain the meaning of trobar as "to compose, to discuss, to invent". It has the support of some historians , specialists of literature, and musicologists to justify the troubadours' origins in Arabic Andalusian musical practices. According to them, the Arabic word ṭaraba "music" (from the triliteral root ṭ–r–b ط ر ب "provoke emotion, excitement, agitation; make music, entertain by singing" as in طرب أندلسي , ṭarab ʾandalusī ) could partly be
3483-432: Is best known for two collections of poems set to music, Fredman's epistles ( Fredmans epistlar ) and Fredman's songs ( Fredmans sånger ). Each consists of about 70 songs. The general theme is drinking, but the songs "most ingeniously" combine words and music to express feelings and moods ranging from humorous to elegiac , romantic to satirical . Bellman's patrons included King Gustav III of Sweden, who called him
3612-448: Is clear, for example from the poetry of Bertran de Born , that jongleurs were performers who did not usually compose. They often performed the troubadours' songs: singing, playing instruments, dancing, and even doing acrobatics. In the late 13th century Guiraut Riquier bemoaned the inexactness of his contemporaries and wrote a letter to Alfonso X of Castile , a noted patron of literature and learning of all kinds, for clarification on
3741-482: Is considered one of the most influential and successful troubadours in Sweden. In 2010, the Swedish drama film Cornelis was made about his life, directed by Amir Chamdin . Cornelis Vreeswijk was born and grew up in the Netherlands. He emigrated to Sweden with his parents in 1949 at the age of twelve. He left school in 1955 and went to sea, where he passed the time playing the blues. He returned to Sweden in 1959. He
3870-402: Is debatable: peguesca (nonsense), espingadura ( flageolet song), libel (legal petition), esdemessa (leap), somni (dream), acuyndamen (challenge), desirança (nostalgia), aniversari (anniversary), serena (serene). Carl Michael Bellman Carl Michael Bellman ( Swedish pronunciation: [ˈkɑːɭ ˈmîːkaɛl ˈbɛ̌lːman] ; 4 February 1740 – 11 February 1795)
3999-429: Is described as the son of a noble jongleur, presumably a petty noble lineage. Later troubadours especially could belong to lower classes, ranging from the middle class of merchants and "burgers" (persons of urban standing) to tradesmen and others who worked with their hands. Salh d'Escola and Elias de Barjols were described as the sons of merchants and Elias Fonsalada was the son of a burger and jongleur. Perdigon
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4128-514: Is just peripheral. Käte Axhausen has "exploited" this theory and A. J. Denomy has linked it with the Arabist (through Avicenna ) and the Cathar (through John Scotus Eriugena ). The earliest troubadour whose work survives is Guilhèm de Peitieus, better known as Duke William IX of Aquitaine (1071–1126). Peter Dronke, author of The Medieval Lyric , however, believes that "[his] songs represent not
4257-423: Is seen as evidence. This theory has been developed away from sociological towards psychological explanation. This theory may relate to spring folk rituals. According to María Rosa Menocal , Alfred Jeanroy first suggested that folklore and oral tradition gave rise to troubadour poetry in 1883. According to F. M. Warren, it was Gaston Paris , Jeanroy's reviewer, in 1891 who first located troubadour origins in
4386-409: Is stressed in this connexion by Brinkmann. This theory is one of the more intellectualising. The "ennobling effects of love" in specific have been identified as neoplatonic . It is viewed either as a strength or weakness that this theory requires a second theory about how the neoplatonism was transmitted to the troubadours; perhaps it can be coupled with one of the other origins stories or perhaps it
4515-451: Is usually assigned a female authorship. They wrote almost entirely within the trobar leu style; only two poems, one by Lombarda and another Alais, Yselda, and Carenza , are usually considered to belong to the more demanding trobar clus . None of the trobairitz were prolific, or if they were their work has not survived. Only two have left us more than one piece: the Comtessa de Dia, with four, and Castelloza , with three or four. One of
4644-579: Is worth anything. When referring to themselves seriously, troubadours almost invariably use the word chantaire ("singer"). The early study of the troubadours focused intensely on their origins. No academic consensus was ever achieved in the area. Today, one can distinguish at least eleven competing theories (the adjectives used below are a blend from the Grove Dictionary of Music and Roger Boase's The Origins and Meaning of Courtly Love ): The sixteenth century Italian historian Giammaria Barbieri
4773-454: The Leys d'amors (compiled between 1328 and 1337). Initially all troubadour verses were called simply vers , yet this soon came to be reserved for only love songs and was later replaced by canso , though the term lived on as an antique expression for the troubadours' early works and was even employed with a more technically meaning by the last generation of troubadours (mid-14th century), when it
4902-629: The trobar leu (light), trobar ric (rich), and trobar clus (closed). Likewise there were many genres , the most popular being the canso , but sirventes and tensos were especially popular in the post-classical period. The English word troubadour was borrowed from the French word first recorded in 1575 in a historical context to mean "langue d'oc poet at the court in the 12th and 13th century" ( Jean de Nostredame , Les vies des plus célèbres et anciens Poètes provençaux , p. 14 in Gdf. Compl.). The first use and earliest form of troubador
5031-530: The trobar leu (light), trobar ric (rich), and trobar clus (closed, hermetic ). The first was by far the most common: the wording is straightforward and relatively simple compared to the ric and literary devices are less common than in the clus . This style was the most accessible and it was immensely popular. The most famous poet of the trobar leu was Bernart de Ventadorn . The trobar clus regularly escapes modern scholarly interpretation. Words are commonly used metaphorically and symbolically and what
5160-655: The Apocrypha , many of which found their way into the songs he composed in later life. However, expenses including the Swedish tradition of hospitality left the family with no money to start him off in life with a journey to the south of Europe, such as to Spain to visit his uncle, Jacob Martin Bellman, who was the Swedish Consul in Cádiz . Carl Michael translated a French book by Du Four and dedicated it to his uncle, but
5289-491: The Cluniac Reform ) and Guido Errante. Mario Casella and Leo Spitzer have added " Augustinian " influence to it. The survival of pre-Christian sexual mores and warrior codes from matriarchal societies, be they Celtic , Germanic , or Pictish , among the aristocracy of Europe can account for the idea (fusion) of "courtly love". The existence of pre-Christian matriarchy has usually been treated with scepticism as has
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5418-563: The Imperial court , and the scraps of Plato then available to scholars have all been cited as classical influences on troubadour poetry. According to this thesis, troubadour poetry is a reflection of Cathar religious doctrine. While the theory is supported by the traditional and near-universal account of the decline of the troubadours coinciding with the suppression of Catharism during the Albigensian Crusade (first half of
5547-540: The Reconquista . However, George T. Beech states that there is only one documented battle that William fought in the Iberian Peninsula, and it occurred towards the end of his life. Beech adds that while the sources of William's inspirations are uncertain, he and his father did have individuals within their extended family with Iberian origins, and he may have been friendly with some Europeans who could speak
5676-405: The cittern , becoming the most famous player of this instrument in Sweden. His portrait by Per Krafft shows him playing an oval instrument with twelve strings, arranged as six pairs. His first songs were "parody songs", a common form of entertainment at the time. Between 1769 and 1773, Bellman wrote 65 of 82 of his Epistles, as well as many poems. He attempted to publish the poems in 1772, but
5805-494: The etymon of the verb trobar . Another Arabic root had already been proposed before: ḍ–r–b ( ض ر ب ) "strike", by extension "play a musical instrument". In archaic and classical troubadour poetry, the word is only used in a mocking sense, having more or less the meaning of "somebody who makes things up". Cercamon writes: Peire d'Alvernha also begins his famous mockery of contemporary authors cantarai d'aquest trobadors , after which he proceeds to explain why none of them
5934-739: The podestà -troubadours to follow Rambertino, four were from Genoa: the Guelphs Luca Grimaldi , who also served in Florence, Milan, and Ventimiglia , and Luchetto Gattilusio , who served in Milan, Cremona , and Bologna, and the Ghibellines Perceval Doria , who served in Arles , Avignon , Asti , and Parma , and Simon Doria , sometime podestà of Savona and Albenga . Among the non-Genoese podestà -troubadours
6063-485: The vidas were composed in Italy in the 1220s, many by Uc de Saint Circ . A razo (from Occitan for "reason") was a similar short piece of Occitan prose detailing the circumstances of a particular composition. A razo normally introduced the poem it explained; it might, however, share some of the characteristics of a vida . The razos suffer from the same problems as the vidas in terms of reliability. Many are likewise
6192-632: The 13th century), support for it has come in waves. The explicitly Catholic meaning of many early troubadour works also works against the theory. The troubadour lyric may be a development of the Christian liturgy and hymnody . The influence of the Song of Songs has even been suggested. There is no preceding Latin poetry resembling that of the troubadours. On those grounds, no theory of the latter's origins in classical or post-classical Latin can be constructed, but that has not deterred some, who believe that
6321-453: The 20th century. It is more a methodological approach to the question than a theory; it asks not from where the content or form of the lyric came but rather in what situation or circumstances did it arise. Under Marxist influence, Erich Köhler , Marc Bloch , and Georges Duby have suggested that the "essential hegemony" in the castle of the lord's wife during his absence was a driving force. The use of feudal terminology in troubadour poems
6450-462: The 65 Fredman's songs ( Fredmans sånger , 1791). Their themes include the pleasures of drunkenness and sex . Against this backdrop, Bellman deals with themes of love, death, and the transitoriness of life. The settings of his songs reflect life in 18th-century Stockholm , but often refer to Greek and Roman mythological characters such as the goddess of love, Venus (or her Swedish equivalent, Fröja ), Neptune and his retinue of water-nymphs,
6579-601: The Arabic language. Regardless of William's personal involvement in the tradition's creation, Magda Bogin states that Arab poetry was likely one of several influences on European "courtly love poetry", citing Ibn Hazm 's " The Ring of the Dove " as an example of a similar Arab tradition. Methods of transmission from Arab Iberia to the rest of Europe did exist, such as the Toledo School of Translators , though it only began translating major romances from Arabic into Latin in
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#17327909414746708-485: The Epistles; Britten Austin comments that Ulla is at once a nymph of the taverns and a goddess of a rococo universe of graceful and hot imaginings. The songs are "most ingeniously" set to music, the melodies accentuated by the bold construction of music, word pictures and choice of words, while the music brings out a hidden dimension not seen if the words are simply read as verse. The poems themselves, far from being
6837-661: The Netherlands was the impression that he was a bit old-fashioned. Because of his long stay in Sweden, though he never became a citizen, the Dutch pronunciation and idiom that he had learned to speak in his youth were out-of-date in the seventies and eighties. Although he was fluent in both Dutch and Swedish, the latter became his primary language. His Stockholm-accented Swedish was famously witty and expressive. He gave his last concert in Uppsala in September 1987, suffering from liver cancer and diabetes. He recorded his last album and
6966-422: The bank job, and seems quickly to have fallen into financial difficulty: "a jungle of debts, sureties and bondsmen began to proliferate around him." The character of bailiff Blomberg appears in his songs (e.g. FS 14), constantly trying to track down debtors and seize all their property. The law allowed the bankrupt only one way to escape from debtors' prison: to leave Sweden. In 1763, Bellman ran away to Norway. From
7095-527: The beach at Långholm, was in Bellman's time called Lilla Sjötullen (The Small Lake-Customs House) where farmers from Lake Mälaren had to pay a toll on the goods they were taking to market in Stockholm's Gamla stan . The place is mentioned in Epistle No. 48, Solen glimmar blank och trind . The Bellman Society ( Bellmansällskapet ), founded in Stockholm on the anniversary of Bellman's birth in 1919, fosters interest in Bellman and supports research into
7224-538: The beginnings of a tradition but summits of achievement in that tradition." His name has been preserved because he was the Duke of Aquitaine , but his work plays with already established structures; Eble II of Ventadorn is often credited as a predecessor, though none of his work survives. Orderic Vitalis referred to William composing songs about his experiences on his return from the Crusade of 1101 (c. 1102). This may be
7353-469: The brilliant improvisations that they appear, are striking in their "formal virtuosity". They may be drinking songs in name, but in structure they are tightly woven into a precise metre, situating the "frenzied bacchanalia within a strict and decorous rococo frame." The musicologist James Massengale writes that the technique of reusing tunes in musical parody had already been overused and had fallen into disrepute by Bellman's time, just as his subject matter
7482-405: The complexity of the musical-poetic problem; his poems were not simply talented improvisations." and points out that Bellman was "also interested in concealing this complexity", with the discrepancies between the music and the poetry " apparently resolved". Bellman was a gifted entertainer and mimic. He was able to go into a room apart and behind a half-open door mimic twenty or thirty people at
7611-540: The countryside. The Orphei Drängar Vocal Society , named after a phrase in Epistle 14, was founded in Uppsala in 1853; the song became their trademark. The Epistles and Songs were published in chapbooks , sung at festivals and performed in a variety of concerts and entertainments. Figures such as Fredman, Ulla Winblad and Movitz, as well as Bellman himself were painted on tavern walls and memorabilia such as plates, beer tankards and hipflasks . Curiously, Bellman
7740-831: The debt, knowing he was penniless: he owed a total of almost 4,000 Riksdaler. On 11 February 1795, he died in his sleep in his house in Gamla Kungsholmsbrogatan. He was buried in Klara churchyard with no gravestone, its location now unknown. The Swedish Academy belatedly placed a memorial in the churchyard in 1851, complete with a bronze medallion by Johan Tobias Sergel . King Gustav III called Bellman " Il signor improvisatore " (The master improviser). Bellman has been compared with poets and musicians as diverse as Shakespeare and Beethoven . Åse Kleveland notes that he has been called "Swedish poetry's Mozart , and Hogarth ", observing that The comparison with Hogarth
7869-421: The disease had already killed his mother, and by the winter of 1792, he was seriously ill. As well as being ill, he was imprisoned—after struggling with debts and haunted by the threat of ruin and imprisonment all his life—"for a wretched[ly small] debt of 150 Rdr ". The rumour was that a former Customs colleague, E. G. Nobelius, had had his advances to Louise Bellman rejected, and in revenge had sued Bellman for
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#17327909414747998-463: The earliest reference to troubadour lyrics. Orderic also provides us (1135) with what may be the first description of a troubadour performance: an eyewitness account of William of Aquitaine. Picauensis uero dux ... miserias captiuitatis suae ... coram regibus et magnatis atque Christianis coetibus multotiens retulit rythmicis uersibus cum facetis modulationibus . (X.21) Then the Poitevin duke ...
8127-491: The end of his life his reputation soared again, aided by the televising of some highly regarded nightclub shows, and by Agneta Brunius' TV documentary Balladen om den flygande holländaren ( The Ballad of the Flying Dutchman ) in 1986. By the time of his death from liver cancer at the age of fifty, Vreeswijk had become an icon of the Swedish music scene, and he was honored with burial at the cemetery of Katarina kyrka ,
8256-763: The ever less employable "Polaren Pär" ("My Buddy Pär"), but he was an actor on the stage, receiving considerable critical acclaim, most notably as Pilate in the Swedish version of Jesus Christ Superstar , and as Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof . He participated in Melodifestivalen (the Swedish preselection for the Eurovision Song Contest ) in 1972 with "Önskar du mig, så önskar jag dig", which finished sixth. He also appeared in movies, including Svarta Palmkronor ( Black Palm Trees , 1968), which
8385-573: The festive dances of women hearkening the spring in the Loire Valley . This theory has since been widely discredited, but the discovery of the jarchas raises the question of the extent of literature (oral or written) in the 11th century and earlier. Hans Spanke analysed the intertextual connexion between vernacular and medieval Latin (such as Goliardic ) songs. This theory is supported by Reto Bezzola, Peter Dronke, and musicologist Jacques Chailley . According to them, trobar means "inventing
8514-557: The first female composers of secular music in the Western tradition. The word trobairitz was first used in the 13th-century Romance of Flamenca and its derivation is the same as that of trobaire but in feminine form. There were also female counterparts to the joglars : the joglaresas . The number of trobairitz varies between sources: there were twenty or twenty-one named trobairitz, plus an additional poet known only as Domna H. There are several anonymous texts ascribed to women;
8643-423: The following troubadours note their clerical status: Aimeric de Belenoi , Folquet de Marselha (who became a bishop), Gui d'Ussel , Guillem Ramon de Gironella , Jofre de Foixà (who became an abbot), Peire de Bussignac , Peire Rogier , Raimon de Cornet , Uc Brunet , and Uc de Saint Circ . The Occitan words trobador and trobaire are relatively rare compared with the verb trobar (compose, invent), which
8772-467: The greatest composer of melodies to ever live, and Bertran de Born , the master of the sirventes , or political song, which became increasingly popular in this period. The classical period came to be seen by later generations, especially in the 14th and 15th centuries and outside of Occitania, as representing the high point of lyric poetry and models to be emulated. The language of the classic poets, its grammar and vocabulary, their style and themes, were
8901-487: The height of troubadour poetry (the "classical period"), troubadours are often found attacking jongleurs and at least two small genres arose around the theme: the ensenhamen joglaresc and the sirventes joglaresc . These terms are debated, however, since the adjective joglaresc seems to imply "in the manner of the jongleurs ". Inevitably, however, pieces of these genres are verbal attacks at jongleurs , in general and in specific, with named individuals being called out. It
9030-537: The high nobility. He was followed immediately by two poets of unknown origins, known only by their sobriquets, Cercamon and Marcabru , and by a member of the princely class, Jaufre Rudel . Many troubadours are described in their vidas as poor knights. It was one of the most common descriptors of status. Berenguier de Palazol , Gausbert Amiel , Guilhem Ademar , Guiraudo lo Ros , Marcabru , Peire de Maensac , Peirol , Raimon de Miraval , Rigaut de Berbezilh , and Uc de Pena are all so described. Albertet de Sestaro
9159-422: The hint was ignored. Deep in debt, at the end of 1757 the family sent Carl Michael to Sweden's central bank Riksbanken as an unpaid trainee. He had no aptitude for numbers, instead discovering the taverns and brothels which were to figure so largely in his songs. As the banking career was not working out – and as trainees were (after a period with a relaxed regime) again required to sit an exam, for which Bellman
9288-526: The historian Michael Roberts . In English, the most thorough treatment of Bellman's life is also by Britten Austin. Van Loon's The Last of the Troubadours: The Life and Music of Carl Michael Bellman (1740–1795) was inspired by a visit to Sweden, and tried to introduce the unknown Bellman to an American audience, but critics felt his version of twenty of the songs was "stiff and often ungraceful", not doing justice to their composer. Bellman
9417-555: The ideal to which poets of the troubadour revival in Toulouse (creation of the Consistori del Gay Saber in 1323) and their Catalan and Castilian contemporaries aspired. During the classical period the "rules" of poetic composition had first become standardised and written down, first by Raimon Vidal and then by Uc Faidit . The 450 or so troubadours known to historians came from a variety of backgrounds. They made their living in
9546-567: The influence of the troubadours, related movements sprang up throughout Europe: the Minnesang in Germany, trovadorismo in Galicia and Portugal , and that of the trouvères in northern France. Dante Alighieri in his De vulgari eloquentia defined the troubadour lyric as fictio rethorica musicaque poita : rhetorical , musical, and poetical fiction. After the "classical" period around
9675-408: The jokes were told by schoolchildren, and often related to bodily functions. The jokes have been studied by anthropologists and psychologists since the 1950s. Stora Henriksvik, also called the Bellman museum ( Bellmanmuseet ) for its small permanent Bellman exhibition, celebrates his life and work with paintings, replica objects and a beachside café in a 17th-century Stockholm house. The place, beside
9804-643: The known trobairitz, Gaudairença , wrote a song entitled Coblas e dansas , which has not survived; no other piece of hers has either. The trobairitz came almost to a woman from Occitania . There are representatives from the Auvergne , Provence , Languedoc , the Dauphiné , Toulousain , and the Limousin . One trobairitz, Ysabella , may have been born in Périgord , Northern Italy, Greece , or Palestine . All
9933-475: The love-god Cupid , the ferryman Charon and Bacchus , the god of wine and pleasure. Many of Fredman's Epistles are peopled by a cast which includes the clockmaker Jean Fredman , the prostitute or "nymph" Ulla Winblad , the alcoholic ex-soldier Movitz, and Father Berg, a virtuoso on several instruments. Some of these were based on living models, others probably not. Ulla Winblad was widely believed to have been closely based on Maria Kristina Kiellström , though
10062-448: The man and his work. To these ends it organises concerts, lectures, and excursions. It produces the series of Bellmanstudier , starting in 1924, so far running to 24 volumes, as well as facsimile prints of Bellman documents, essay collections, and Yngve Berg 's Bellman porcelain . It has published recordings including Alla Fredmans Epistlar (All Fredman's Epistles) and Alla Fredmans Sånger (All Fredman's Songs). The Society's newsletter
10191-810: The miseries of his captivity ... before kings, magnates, and Christian assemblies many times related with rhythmic verses and witty measures. The first half of the 12th century saw relatively few recorded troubadours. Only in the last decades of the century did troubadour activity explode. Almost half of all troubadour works that survive are from the period 1180–1220. In total, moreover, there are over 2,500 troubadour lyrics available to be studied as linguistic artifacts (Akehurst, 23). The troubadour tradition seems to have begun in western Aquitaine ( Poitou and Saintonge ) and Gascony , from there spreading over into eastern Aquitaine ( Limousin and Auvergne ) and Provence . At its height it had become popular in Languedoc and
10320-723: The most interesting piece of literature of the year. Although Fredman's Epistles was neither exactly literature as understood by the academy, nor meeting the standards of elegant taste, the poet and critic Johan Henric Kellgren and the King ensured that Bellman won the prize. After the assassination of the King at the Stockholm opera in 1792, support for the liberal arts was withdrawn. Bellman, already in poor health from alcoholism, went into decline, drinking increasingly heavily. His drinking very likely contributed to his gout , which troubled him badly in 1790. He also caught tuberculosis :
10449-639: The national lottery; this supported him for the rest of his life. On 19 December 1777, at the age of 37, he married the 22-year-old Lovisa Grönlund in Klara Church . They had four children, Gustav, Elis, Karl, and Adolf; Elis died young. Throughout his life, but especially during the 1770s, Bellman also wrote religious poetry, seeing no conflict with his bacchanalian works; he published collections of his religious poems in 1781 and 1787. He wrote some ten plays (none with particularly strong plots) as divertimentos , some of them later serving as entertainments at
10578-400: The people of the city, with at least a modest salary. In 1768, his life's work as we now know it got under way: Bellman had begun to compose an entirely new sort of song. A genre which 'had no model and can have no successors' ( Kellgren ), these songs were to grow swiftly in number until they made up the great work on which Bellman's reputation as a poet chiefly rests. Bellman mostly played
10707-545: The persistence of underlying paganism in high medieval Europe, though the Celts and Germanic tribes were certainly less patriarchal than the Greco-Romans. The classical Latin theory emphasises parallels between Ovid , especially his Amores and Ars amatoria , and the lyric of courtly love. The aetas ovidiana that predominated in the 11th century in and around Orléans , the quasi- Ciceronian ideology that held sway in
10836-401: The proper reference of the terms trobador and joglar . According to Riquier, every vocation deserved a name of its own and the sloppy usage of joglar assured that it covered a multitude of activities, some, no doubt, with which Riquier did not wish to be associated. In the end Riquier argued—and Alfonso X seems to agree, though his "response" was probably penned by Riquier—that a joglar was
10965-498: The ranks of troubadours belong to this period. During this period the lyric art of the troubadours reached the height of its popularity and the number of surviving poems is greatest from this period. During this period the canso , or love song, became distinguishable as a genre. The master of the canso and the troubadour who epitomises the classical period is Bernart de Ventadorn . He was highly regarded by his contemporaries, as were Giraut de Bornelh , reputed by his biographer to be
11094-405: The real woman, a silk worker once arrested for alleged prostitution, was not the ideal romantic figure of Bellman's songs. Fredman's songs also include Old Testament figures such as Noah and Judith . Bellman achieved his effects of rococo elegance and humour through precisely organised incongruity. For example, Epistle 25, " Blåsen nu alla !" (All blow now!), begins with Venus crossing
11223-464: The reforming Robert of Arbrissel on "matronage" to achieve his ends can explain the troubadour attitude towards women. Chronologically, however, this hypothesis is hard to sustain, as the forces believed to have given rise to the phenomenon arrived later than it, but the influence of Bernardine and Marian theology can be retained without the origins theory. This theory was advanced early by Eduard Wechssler and further by Dmitri Scheludko (who emphasises
11352-447: The regions of Rouergue , Toulouse , and Quercy (c. 1200). Finally, in the early 13th century it began to spread into first Italy and then Catalonia , whence to the rest of modern Spain and then Portugal. This development has been called the rayonnement des troubadours ( pronounced [ʁɛjɔnəmɑ̃ de tʁubaduːʁ] ). The classical period of troubadour activity lasted from about 1170 until about 1213. The most famous names among
11481-564: The ringleader, leading them (the Bank wrote) into "gambling, masquerades, picnics and suchlike". Bellman resigned, his safe banking career at an end. In 1765, Bellman's parents died; deeply moved, he wrote a religious poem. Then his fortunes improved: someone found him a job, first in the Office of Manufactures, then in the Customs, and he was able once again to live happily in Stockholm, observing
11610-454: The royal court. The plays fill Volume 6 of his collected works. In 1783, Bellman brought out The Temple of Bacchus ( Bacchi Tempel ), perhaps hoping to establish his reputation as a poet, rather than the merry entertainer that he was in fact known as at the time; but he always stood out in people's minds as unique, a different kind of writer and performer. Bellman's main works are the 82 Fredman's epistles ( Fredmans epistlar , 1790) and
11739-563: The safety of Halden (then called Fredrikshald) he writes to the Council applying first for a passport, and then for a safe-conduct, both of which were granted. Meanwhile, his father had first mortgaged the Lilla Daurerska house, and then sold it: the family's finances were no better than his own. Even worse, by April 1764 the Bank had become tired of the riotous behaviour of its young men: its investigations showed that Bellman had been
11868-569: The same time, a crowd pushing its way on to one of the Djurgården ferries, perhaps, or the uproarious atmosphere of a seaman's tavern. The illusion was so startling, his listeners could have sworn a mob of 'shoe-polishers, customs spies, seamen ... coalmen, washerwomen ... herring packers, tailors and bird-catchers' had burst into the next room. In 1790, the Swedish Academy awarded Bellman its annual Lundblad prize of 50 Riksdaler for
11997-648: The second half of the thirteenth century, with objectionable sexual content removed in deference to the Catholic Church . According to the Bernardine-Marianist (or Christian) theory, it was the theology espoused by Bernard of Clairvaux and the increasingly important Mariology that most strongly influenced the development of the troubadour genre. Specifically, the emphasis on religious and spiritual love, disinterestedness, mysticism, and devotion to Mary explained "courtly love". The emphasis of
12126-604: The summer camp) decades later, and could be said to have passed into folklore. A political singer with a bohemian lifestyle, Vreeswijk remained controversial in the sixties and early seventies, idolized by his fans but disapproved of by many others for his "rude" language and persistent interest in "unsuitable" people like prostitutes and criminals. Some of his records were blacklisted by the public broadcasting company Sveriges Radio . During this period, he not only wrote and recorded songs now considered classics, such as "Sportiga Marie" ("Sporty Marie") and several affectionate salutes to
12255-515: The term mieja chanso (half song) and Cerverí de Girona uses a similar phrase, miga canço , both to refer to a short canso and not a mixture of genres as sometimes supposed. Cerverí's mig (or meig ) vers e miga canço was a vers in the new sense (a moralising song) that was also highly critical and thus combined the canso and the sirventes . Among the more than one hundred works of Cerverí de Girona are many songs with unique labels, which may correspond more to "titles" than "genres", but that
12384-540: The total number of trobairitz texts varies from twenty-two (Schultz-Gora), twenty-five ( Bec ), thirty-six (Bruckner, Shepard, and White), and forty-six (Rieger). Only one melody composed by a trobairitz (the Comtessa de Dia ) survives. Out of a total of about 450 troubadours and 2,500 troubadour works, the trobairitz and their corpus form a minor but interesting and informative portion. They are, therefore, quite well studied. The trobairitz were in most respects as varied
12513-433: The tradition of solo performance of his songs died out, Par Bricole continued to perform his songs as choral pieces. Bellman's poetry continued to be read and sung throughout the 19th century, contrary to the widespread belief among researchers that he was largely forgotten during this period. His songs were sung especially by the urban bourgeoisie and in fraternities, but also in aristocratic circles and ordinary people in
12642-503: The trobairitz whose families we know were high-born ladies; only one, Lombarda, was probably of the merchant class. All the trobairitz known by name lived around the same time: the late 12th and the early 13th century (c. 1170 – c. 1260). The earliest was probably Tibors de Sarenom , who was active in the 1150s (the date of her known composition is uncertain). The latest was either Garsenda of Forcalquier , who died in 1242, though her period of poetic patronage and composition probably occurred
12771-423: The troubadour tradition. Among the earliest is a school of followers of Marcabru, sometimes called the "Marcabrunian school": Bernart Marti , Bernart de Venzac , Gavaudan , and Peire d'Alvernhe . These poets favoured the trobar clus or ric or a hybrid of the two. They were often moralising in tone and critical of contemporary courtly society. Another early school, whose style seems to have fallen out of favour,
12900-466: The turn of the 13th century and a mid-century resurgence, the art of the troubadours declined in the 14th century and around the time of the Black Death (1348) and since died out. The texts of troubadour songs deal mainly with themes of chivalry and courtly love . Most were metaphysical , intellectual, and formulaic. Many were humorous or vulgar satires . Works can be grouped into three styles:
13029-463: The urban middle class and no courtesans: Miralhas was possibly a potter and Bernart was a mayestre (teacher). All wrote in Occitan but were supporters of the French king Louis IX and the French aristocracy against the native Occitan nobility. They have been described as " Gallicised ". Raimon Gaucelm supported the Eighth Crusade and even wrote a planh , the only known one of its kind, to
13158-518: The water, as in François Boucher 's Triumph of Venus , but when she disembarks, Bellman transforms her into a lustful Ulla Winblad . Similarly, the ornate and civilized minuet melody of " Ack du min Moder " (Alas, thou my mother) contrasts with the text: Fredman is lying with a hangover in the gutter outside a tavern, complaining bitterly about life. Ulla Winblad ("vineleaf") recurs through
13287-561: The work of Uc de Saint Circ. A phenomenon arose in Italy, recognised around the turn of the 20th century by Giulio Bertoni, of men serving in several cities as podestàs on behalf of either the Guelph or Ghibelline party and writing political verse in Occitan rhyme. These figures generally came from the urban middle class. They aspired to high culture and though, unlike the nobility, they were not patrons of literature, they were its disseminators and its readers. The first podestà -troubadour
13416-527: The years. Bellman's songs featured in many of his performances; two of his albums were dedicated to Bellman's songs, namely the 1971 Spring mot Ulla, spring! Cornelis sjunger Bellman containing 13 of Fredman's Epistles , and the 1977 Movitz! Movitz! , containing 12: the popular Epistle 81, Märk hur vår skugga , appears on both albums. Vreeswijk's own best-known songs of the later seventies and early eighties tend to be dark in tone, like "Sist jag åkte jumbojet blues" ("Last time I Went by Jumbojet Blues",
13545-479: Was Alberico da Romano , a nobleman of high rank who governed Vicenza and Treviso as variously a Ghibelline and a Guelph. He was a patron as well as a composer of Occitan lyric. Mention should be made of the Provençal troubadour Isnart d'Entrevenas , who was podestà of Arles in 1220, though he does not fit the phenomenon Giulio Bertoni first identified in Italy. The trobairitz were the female troubadours,
13674-510: Was Rambertino Buvalelli , possibly the first troubadour native to the Italian Peninsula, who was podestà of Genoa between 1218 and 1221. Rambertino, a Guelph, served at one time or another as podestà of Brescia , Milan , Parma , Mantua , and Verona . It was probably during his three-year tenure there that he introduced Occitan lyric poetry to the city, which was later to develop a flourishing Occitan literary culture. Among
13803-598: Was a Swedish songwriter, composer, musician, poet, and entertainer. He is a central figure in the Swedish song tradition and remains a powerful influence in Swedish music , as well as in Scandinavian literature , to this day. He has been compared to Shakespeare , Beethoven , Mozart , and Hogarth , but his gift, using elegantly rococo classical references in comic contrast to sordid drinking and prostitution—at once regretted and celebrated in song—is unique. Bellman
13932-417: Was a hit which immediately gained him a large following among the emerging radical student generation. In this period he also played with Swedish jazz pianist Jan Johansson and his trio. His songs "Ångbåtsblues" ("Steam Boat Blues") and "Jubelvisa för Fiffiga Nanette" ("Joyful song for Clever Nanette") are classics from these recordings. His abrasive, frequently political lyrics and unconventional delivery were
14061-539: Was born on 4 February 1740 in the Stora Daurerska house, which was one of the finest in the Södermalm district of Stockholm . The house was the property of his maternal grandmother, Catharina von Santen, who had brought up his father, orphaned as a small child. Carl Michael's parents were Johan Arndt Bellman, a civil servant, and Catharina Hermonia, daughter of the priest of the local Maria parish . Her family
14190-907: Was celebrated at least as enthusiastically in polite and abstemious circles, though with bowdlerized versions of the songs. Major interpreters of Bellman's songs include Sven-Bertil Taube , who helped to start the 1960s Bellman renaissance; Fred Åkerström , who brought a fresh earthiness to Bellman interpretation; and the Dutch-born Cornelis Vreeswijk , who fitted Bellman to the style of American blues . Other recordings have been made by Evert Taube , and as rock music by Joakim Thåström , Candlemass or Marduk . They are also performed as choral music and as drinking songs . Martin Bagge has recreated Bellman's dramatic style complete with period costume. In 2020, Uppsala stadsteater and Västmanlands Teater created Bellman 2.0 ,
14319-467: Was educated as a social worker at Stockholm University and hoped to become a journalist, but became increasingly involved in music, performing at events for students with idiosyncratic humor and social engagement. Vreeswijk explained in one of his few interviews that he had taught himself to sing and play in the fifties by imitating his first idols Josh White and Lead Belly . His first album, Ballader och oförskämdheter ( Ballads and rudenesses , 1964),
14448-524: Was filmed on location in Brazil. Spending four months in Brazil began Vreeswijk's lifelong interest in Latin American music and social and political conditions, later seen for example in his Victor Jara album of 1978. Later in his career, Vreeswijk was to gain increasing fame and a wider audience both for his songs and his other work. He published several volumes of poetry in his lifetime and left
14577-505: Was ill-equipped – he took a break in 1758, going to Uppsala University , where Linnaeus was professor of botany. The idea of attending lectures was no more congenial than banking, and he stayed only one term; one of his songs (FS 28) records that "He contemplated Uppsala —the beer stung his mouth—love distracted his wits..." However, he met young men (such as Carl Bonde ) from wealthy and noble families, went drinking with them, and started to entertain them with his songs. Bellman returned to
14706-416: Was initially looked down on. Despite this, Massengale argues Bellman chose to perfect his musical-poetic vehicle. He refers to the result ... not as 'parody' but as 'den muçiska Poesien', [musical poetry] ... Bellman's exceptional case, then, is that of a poetic genius who worked with an art form which in the hands of others was usually insignificant. Massengale observes that Bellman was "fully aware of
14835-461: Was no accident. Like the English portrait painter, Bellman drew detailed pictures of his time in his songs, not so much of life at court as of ordinary people's everyday. Paul Britten Austin says instead simply that: Bellman is unique among great poets, I think, in that virtually his entire opus is conceived to music. Other poets, of course, notably our Elizabethans, have written songs. But song
14964-875: Was one of the first to translate Bellman into Danish. Bellman's songs have been translated and recorded in Icelandic (by Bubbi ), Italian, French, Finnish (for instance by Vesa-Matti Loiri ), Russian, Chuvash and Yiddish . English interpretations have been recorded by William Clauson , Martin Best , Freddie Langrind made some Norwegian translations in 2008. Sven-Bertil Taube, Roger Hinchliffe and Martin Bagge. Schoolchildren two hundred years on still learn some of his songs, and several including Gubben Noak and Fjäriln vingad are known by heart by many Swedes. Books in English with translations of Bellman's work have been written by Charles Wharton Stork in 1917, Hendrik Willem van Loon in 1939, Paul Britten Austin , and
15093-443: Was only one branch of their art. They did not leave behind, as Bellman did, a great musical-literary work nor paint in words and music a canvas of their age. Nor are their songs dramatic. Bellman's informal Bacchi Orden (Order of Bacchus) was replaced in the 1770s by the more structured Bacchanalian society Par Bricole , which still exists in the 21st century. It enabled Bellman to publish his book Bacchi Tempel in 1783. When
15222-509: Was perhaps the first to suggest Arabian (also Arabist or Hispano-Arabic ) influences on the music of the troubadours. Later scholars like J.B. Trend have asserted that the poetry of troubadours is connected to Arabic poetry written in the Iberian Peninsula, while others have attempted to find direct evidence of this influence. In examining the works of William IX of Aquitaine , Évariste Lévi-Provençal and other scholars found three lines that they believed were in some form of Arabic, indicating
15351-519: Was shown on earlier Swedish stamps in 1940 and 1990, commemorating the 200th and 250th anniversaries of his birth, and again in 2006. Bellmansgatan in Stockholm's Södermalm district is named for Bellman; Stieg Larsson places the apartment of his Millennium trilogy hero Mikael Blomkvist in Bellmansgatan, which Dan Burstein and Arne de Keijzer suggest is meant to provide Bellman associations. Swedish schoolchildren tell Bellman jokes about
15480-524: Was significant: Bellman's lively, romantic, pastoral, drinking and sometimes bawdy songs gained Vreeswijk the reputation of being a drunken womaniser, with the association of being "something of a Bellman himself". Like his friend Fred Åkerström , he gave Bellman's songs, "a new and more powerful expression" than they had had before, and like him identifying himself with Bellman's fictional character Fredman , expressing his drunkenness, poverty, and despair, with an intensity that increased in his performances over
15609-432: Was the "Gascon school" of Cercamon , Peire de Valeira , and Guiraut de Calanso . Cercamon was said by his biographer to have composed in the "old style" ( la uzansa antiga ) and Guiraut's songs were d'aquella saison ("of that time"). This style of poetry seems to be attached to early troubadours from Gascony and was characterised by references to nature: leaves, flowers, birds, and their songs. This Gascon "literary fad"
15738-474: Was the son of a "poor fisherman" and Elias Cairel of a blacksmith. Arnaut de Mareuil is specified in his vida as coming from a poor family, but whether this family was poor by noble standards or materially is not apparent. Many troubadours also possessed a clerical education. For some this was their springboard to composition, since their clerical education equipped them with an understanding of musical and poetic forms as well as vocal training. The vidas of
15867-476: Was the subject of an 1844 ballet choreographed by August Bournonville . Bellman features as a character, along with Ulla Winblad and King Gustav III, in the first episode of the Swedish television series "Nisse Hults historiska snedsteg" (Nisse Hult's historical slips) by SVT Drama. Bellman appears with his cittern and various objects from Fredman's Epistles and Fredman's Songs on a 100 Swedish kronor postage stamp issued in 2014 and designed by Beata Boucht; he
15996-504: Was then re-recorded and released with much success. His later albums could not match the success of the first one, and Vreeswijk never achieved the fame in the Netherlands that he did in Sweden. Nowadays, only "De nozem en de non" is still known by the general Dutch public. Vreeswijk still has some fans in the Netherlands, however, and in 2000 the Cornelis Vreeswijk society was founded. One reason for his lack of popularity in
16125-421: Was thought to derive from the Latin word verus (truth) and was thus used to describe moralising or didactic pieces. The early troubadours developed many genres and these only proliferated as rules of composition came to be put in writing. The known genres are: All these genres were highly fluid. A cross between a sirventes and a canso was a meg-sirventes (half- sirventes ). A tenso could be "invented" by
16254-418: Was unable to obtain the permission of the king, Gustav III , as a political coup intervened. He finally managed to obtain the permission in 1774, but soon discovered that the cost of printing, especially as he was determined to publish the sheet music alongside the text, was prohibitive given his ruinous finances, and he was forced to put off his plans. In 1776, the king gave him a sinecure job as secretary to
16383-570: Was unpopular in Provence in the early 13th century, harming the reputation of the poets associated with it. In the late 13th century a school arose at Béziers , once the centre of pre-Albigensian Languedoc and of the Trencavel lordships, in the 1260s–80s. Four poets epitomise this "school": Bernart d'Auriac , Joan Esteve , Joan Miralhas , and Raimon Gaucelm . The latter three were natives of Béziers and all four lived there. All were members of
16512-415: Was usually applied to the writing of poetry. It signified that a poem was original to an author ( trobador ) and was not merely sung or played by one. The term was used mostly for poetry only and in more careful works, like the vidas , is not generally applied to the composition of music or to singing, though the troubadour's poetry itself is not so careful. Sometime in the middle of the 12th century, however,
16641-428: Was wholly Swedish, whereas Johan's family had German origins: they had come from Bremen in about 1660. When Carl Michael was four the family moved to a smaller, single storey dwelling called the Lilla Daurerska house. He briefly went to a local school, but was educated mainly by private tutors. He was the eldest of 15 children who lived long enough for their births to be registered. His parents had intended him to become
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