Performance Practice and Repertoires
The Art of the Troubadour Song
6 sessions
Online
Course Description
The troubadours have been credited as the creators of the lyrical song in modern European languages. The exquisite poetic-musical craftmanship of their compositions, turned Occitan, the vernacular language of southern France, into an authentic vehicle of artistic and intellectual expression (challenging the hegemony of Latin on these fronts). In this type of early vernacular song, rhythmic poetry, rhetoric, and melody are masterfully combined to create a visceral discourse where the poetic “I” (of the composer/performer) conveys personal views about love, politics, war, and religion.
A thorough poetic and musical examination of this exquisite song repertoire can be conducted through the study of extant songs and contemporary poetic treatises that discuss their composition. Nonetheless, the troubadours composed their songs to be sung and as such they only achieved their full “materialization” through the act of performance. For this reason, a comprehensive study of their art must place performance at the center of the discussion.
In this course, students will:
Explore the historical, social, geographic and performance context of the troubadour song
Analyze its different poetic and musical compositional techniques in relation to its memorization and oral dissemination
Examine how its music notations, sources, and genres provide information about performance practices
Reconstruct performance conventions based on both medieval literary and iconographic data, and modern musicological theories (rhythm, voice production, ornamentation, instrumental accompaniment)
Instructor:
Dr. Mauricio Molina
COURSE INFO
DATES & DURATION
September 16 to January 13, 2025
6 sessions
Location
Online
Price 1.5 credits
1.5 credit ECTS: 340€
Languages
English - Spanish
Prerequisites
Open to musicians, musicologists, and people interested in Medieval music and the Middle Ages in general (with or without experience playing medieval musical instruments)
Syllabus
Session 1 | The Occitan Song Before the Troubadours
Session 2 | Language, Poetic Construction, Rhetoric, and Genre in the Troubadour Song
Session 3 | Melody and Movance
Session 4 | Sources, Composers, and Scribes
Session 5 | Performing the Troubadour Song: Voice Delivery, Rhythm, Ornamentation
Session 6 | Performing the Troubadour Song: Instrumental Accompaniment
Teaching Methodology
This course will be comprised of:
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- 6 tutorial videos of 20-35 minutes each (total 3.5 hours)
- 6 recorded lectures of 45 minute each (total 4.5 hours)
- 3 biweekly live Q&A sessions of 1hour and 15 minutes each (total 3.5 hours) conducted through the course. The sessions will be recorded so that students can access them at any time.
- Downloadable materials and links to additional resources
Schedules and assignments:
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- The course is self-paced.
- The majority of pre-recorded video lessons, lectures, and study materials will be posted on the first day of the term.
- Students will have access to all session and their materials until the last day of the term.
- The student workload to review the materials and complete the assignments is approximately 6.25 hours per session
- There will be some suggested deadlines to submit assignments
- Homework will be accepted until a week before the end of the term
- Students taking the course for credit must complete all assignments and class requirements
Technical Requirements
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- Broadband Internet connection / WIFI
- External or internal webcam
- External or internal microphone
- Speakers or headphones
- Possibility of printing downloaded materials
- Possibility of scanning your assignments
- Possibility of auto-recording (audio and video)
Enroll Now
Places are limited for each section, so sign up early.
The International Course of Medieval Music Besalú offers singers and instrumentalists the possibility of studying the repertoires of monodic and polyphonic music composed between the 11th and 13th centuries.
With the support of:
