33
See also: Missa l’homme armé 42 ■ Water Music 84–89 ■ Musique de
table 106 ■ The Magic Flute 134 –137 ■ Die schöne Müllerin 150 –155The sources of European secular
music tended to be found where
popular styles aroused the interest
of the Church or nobility. The
crusading knights of southern
France found the highly developed
styles of instrumental and vocal
music they encountered on
Crusades in the Holy Land
particularly appealing, this being
a period of great cultural exchange
as well as of conflict and hostility.Languages and influences
Medieval secular music features
distinct poetic identities linked to
regional languages. Two medieval
French languages emerged from
Latin: langue d’oc or Occitan in
Southern France and Northern
Spain (where oc meant “yes”); and
langue d’oïl, north of the Loire(where oïl meant “yes”). Each of
these languages had its own
bardic tradition: the south had the
music of the trobador and female
trobairitz, while the north used
the word “trouvère,” both of which
may have come from the Early
French word trobar, meaning
“to find or invent” (a song). An
alternative root may be the Arabic
word tarab, meaning “source of joy.”
One of the earliest troubadours,
William IX, Duke of Aquitaine,
was said to have sung “in verse
with pleasant tunes” about his
experience of leading the so-called
“Crusade of the Faint-Hearted”
into Anatolia (now Turkey) in 1101.
His songs are clearly influenced
by Arabic poetic conventions, in
particular the popular song-forms
of muwashah and zajal.A play with music
The 13th-century musician Adam
de la Halle has been described as a
trouvère. De la Halle probably wroteEARLY MUSIC 1000–1400
Adam de la Halle
French musician Adam de la
Halle was born in the cloth-
working city of Arras in 1222,
and grew up learning about
music as part of his theological
education at the abbey of
Vaucelles, founded only a
century before. De la Halle’s
father expected him to enter
the Church, but he chose a
different path. After a short-
lived marriage, he enrolled at
the University of Paris, where,
among other things, he learned
the polyphonic techniques
that he would later apply to
popular musical genres.
De la Halle initially used
his verse to speak out against
the corrupt administration of
Arras but later entered into
noble service. It was in the
service of Charles of Anjou,
who became king of Naples,
that he wrote Le jeu de Robin
et de Marion. Halle died a few
years later, sometime between
1285 and 1288.Other key worksDate unknown Mout me fu
grief/Robin m’aime/Portare
(Great was my sadness/Robin
loves me/Portare)
Date unknown A jointes
mains vous proi (Take my
hand, I pray)Le jeu de Robin et de Marion (“The
Play of Robin and Marion”) for his
fellow Frenchmen as part of a
Christmas celebration in Naples
in 1284. The French noblemen had
taken refuge there after the island
of Sicily had overthrown the rule of
Charles I of Anjou (Adam’s patron)
in a bloody Easter coup. The Jeu
tells the story of a country maid
who is wooed by a lustful knight
yet remains true to her lover ❯❯Le Jeu de Robin et de Marion was
performed in St. Petersburg, Russia,
in 1907. Its set design was recorded in
watercolor by Mstislav Dobuzhinsky.US_032-035_Adam_de_la_Halle.indd 33 26/03/18 1:00 PM