Comparison Of The Lyrics Of Troubadours’ And British Pop Artists’ Love Songs

Introduction

There are a plethora of innovations that changed the western music world and influenced composers and lyricists alike; There is a single thing, one aspect that transcends music genres, geographic area or even age. A fact that is being uncovered and discovered by musicologists and researchers alike: people love "love.” One group of people is known to be acquainted in the field of writing love songs are said to have over 200 songs written with musical accompaniment and over 2000 poems lived in the late 11th century to the late 13th century as a nation will an intriguing concept of deep affection. Another group comes from the past two decades, namely the 2000s and 2010s whose idols who have written their hearts out into songs that are heard and loved the world over in the instant they are released.

How is it that for hundreds of years civilizations have had such a deep fascination with love that one of their main forms of entertainment revolves around it? Before we can answer that finitely we must first find out who the troubadours were and how their ways have an indirect influence on the modern-day musician.

Background of the troubadours

The troubadours were medieval lyrical poets who flourished from the late 11th century to the late 13th century. Although commonly noted as being of French origin, The troubadours were in fact from a region known as Occitania situated in southern France (with exception to the Basque Country and the Roussillon), northern Italy and northern Spain. Occitania was named after the first language that was spoken in the area, Occitan which is also known as Languedoc or Langue d’oc and occasionally Provençale. According to Encyclopaedia Britannica, troubadour is “a French form derived ultimately from the Occitanian trobar, "to find," "to invent.". The culture of the troubadours exemplifies these definitions as their practices included poetry writing, music composition, singing, and philosophy. Their works were primarily based on themes of courtly love and concepts such as chivalry, vulgar and humorous satire, courtesy, gentility as well as ideas such as "convivencia", "paratge" and "fin'amor". These works were frequently formulaic and intellectual.

Guilhèm de Peitieus, better known as Duke William IX of Aquitaine (1071 - 1127) (Eleanor of Aquitaine’s grandfather) is often regarded as the earliest troubadour with the oldest traceable works. It is generally accepted among Medievalists that his songs about his return from the Crusade of 1101 with Arabic musicians mark the start of the tradition of troubadours. There are much debate and skepticism over these claims. Peter Dronke, author of The Medieval Lyric explains that Duke William was only recognized as the original troubadour because of previous poets e.g. Eble II of the Ventadorn, not works that survived to modern. He also believes William's title as Duke of Aquitaine also contributes to the matter. Notable troubadours to emerge from this era include King Richard I of England (the Lionheart), Jaufré Rudel de Blaia and Bernart de Ventadorn.

The first troubadours came from the class of knights. Over time more emerged from the nobility as well as the even from lower social classes. This made their place within the class system vague. They were frequently invited to perform at court having them travel all across Europe entertaining people from the lowest classes to the highest and enjoying the privileges of the wealthiest members of society. President of the Occitan Cultural Initiatives and host of the documentary Trail of the Troubadours Rai D’Honore says the troubadour “would be invited to the castle to spend however much time there and to practice his craft…”.

The troubadours’ influence spread to a number of different groups carrying on the tradition and culture in their own way, namely the Trobaritz who were female troubadours, the Trouvère who were essentially troubadours from Northern France and the Jongleurs who were also from France and often mistaken for trouvère due to association Trouvère are lyric poets while Jongleurs were acrobats and journalists.

Figure 1 below is a cheerful love song by one of the most famous of all the known troubadours Bernart de Ventadorn called “Ab jol muou e’l comens" or "With joy, I start and begin the song".

Analysis: Even though love was the troubadours’ principal theme under “fin’amor”, some lyricists wrote about all kinds of subjects. In this song, Ventadorn explores this by writing on what makes him/the singer happy. He/she speaks so fondly of the idea and ideal of joy. He makes use of vague lyrics which might be to open minds and inspire the imagination to see things differently. This except shows the song spans a single octave from middle C4 to C5 making it easy for an average person to sing.

Analysis of 2010s British pop music

Figure 2 below is an excerpt of Ed Sheeran’s Billboard Hot 100 chart-topping song “Perfect” from his album “÷” (Divide). In an interview with Zane Lowe on BBC1 Sheeran said, “I need to write the best love song of my career” with fears of being known a previous chart-topper “Thinking Out Loud”.

Analysis: Sheeran is expressing vividly describing all the activates he and his lover are up, each one getting increasingly intimate. "Dancing the dark" could both be the literal darkness of the night or a metaphoric "dark" meaning the toughest of times.

“You between my arms” continues the imagery of intimacy between Sheeran and his lady. “Barefoot on the grass” could be a reference from the Christian Bible. Exodus 3:5 reads “Then He said, "Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground." This could be Sheeran equating their meeting together like Moses witnessing the burning bush and being commanded by God to remove his shows as where we were standing as pure. It could also be a simple but still candid image of increasing intimacy to trust one another enough to ‘kick their shows off’ as the old English saying goes to signify one may relax

The next line is one that on its own could exemplify the spirit of “Fin’amor” in a 2018 context: “Listening to our favourite song”. Among the aforementioned lines, this is the only activity that technically begins with something with your heart first, instead of your head. One’s favorite song would be a sentimental part of them being able to trigger one’s feelings before it does their feet to dance. The sharing of this favorite song connects Sheeran and his lover not only in the physical realm but in the metaphysical.

The song is in Ab Major and voice spans from Eb3 to Ab4, a fairly easy octave + perfect 4th range making this song apt for regular untrained singers to perform to for their significant other.