I have gone for rhyme and aimed for
accuracy
of meaning.
Troubador Verse
Country free and courtly,
Giraut de Bornelh (c. 1138 - 1215)
Reis glorios, verais lums e clartatz,
Glorious king, true light and clarity,
Peire Raimon de Toulouse (fl. 1180-1220)
De fin'amor son tot mei pensamen
On true love are all my thoughts bent
Anonymous Aubes (12th-13th century)
Quan lo rossinhols escria
While the nightingale sings away
En un vergier sotz fuella d'albespi
In a deep bower under a hawthorn-tree
Anonymous Balade (13th century or later)
Mort m'an li semblan que madona? m fai
The glance that my lady darts at me must slay,
Gaucelm Faidit (c. 1170 - c. 1202)
Fortz chausa es que tot lo maior dan
A harsh thing it is that brings such harm,
Peire Cardenal (c. 1180-c. 1278)
Vera vergena Maria
Truest Virgin, our Maria
Sordello (fl. 1220-1265)
Planher vuelh En Blacatz en aquest leugier so
I wish to mourn Blacatz, now, in skilful song,
Ai las e que-m fan mei uehls
Alas, what use are my eyes
Guiraut Riquier (c. 1230 - 1292)
Ab plazen
From pleasant
Translator's Introduction
Merry Company
'The Annunciation'
The Book of Hours - c. 1407 The British Library
This personal selection of Occitan poetry is of verse that I feel has true poetic merit, and nothing is included solely for its historic interest. I considered a simple prose or free verse translation of these poems, but to show the Troubadours without their rhyme schemes, their form, seemed to me too great an admission of failure. Form is half their art and crucially their poems were set to music, a large amount of which survives.
Either approach, rhymed or un-rhymed, is of course valid. As always the end result is what counts.
I have gone for rhyme and aimed for accuracy of meaning. These translations attempt to stay close to the original text, in rhythm, rhyme-scheme and content. I have given the first lines of the poems, the incipits, as Occitan headings (one only is in Latin), so that a quick search on the Web for the line, remembering to enclose it in double quotes, will usually turn up the original text for those who need to see it. For the uninitiated I would also suggest reading a little about the Troubadours on Wikipedia, which leads the reader on to a vast amount of interesting material online, especially the music.
Many dates and facts are conjecture, and so the order of the poets is at times somewhat arbitrary where dates of birth and death are uncertain. I have not translated the vidas, or biographical lives of the poets, which are highly unreliable, though charming as legend, but have referred to them where relevant.
Anonymous (10th Century)
The manuscript of this bilingual text, which has been termed the first alba or dawn song, made of Latin stanzas with an apparently Provencal refrain, is thought to have come from the monastery of Fleury-sur-Loire. Though not strictly a troubadour text, it is a first example of a form, the alba, adopted later. The refrain is: L'alb' apar, tumet mar at ra'sol; po y pas, a! bigil, mira clar tenebras!
Phebi claro nondum orto iubare
With pale Phoebus, in the clear east, not yet bright,
Aurora sheds, on earth, ethereal light:
While the watchman, to the idle, cries: 'Arise! '
Dawn now breaks; sunlight rakes the swollen seas;
Ah, alas! It is he! See there, the shadows pass!
Behold, the heedless, torpid, yearn to try
And block the insidious entry, there they lie,
Whom the herald summons urging them to rise.
Dawn now breaks; sunlight rakes the swollen seas;
Ah, alas!
Giraut de Bornelh (c. 1138 - 1215)
Reis glorios, verais lums e clartatz,
Glorious king, true light and clarity,
Peire Raimon de Toulouse (fl. 1180-1220)
De fin'amor son tot mei pensamen
On true love are all my thoughts bent
Anonymous Aubes (12th-13th century)
Quan lo rossinhols escria
While the nightingale sings away
En un vergier sotz fuella d'albespi
In a deep bower under a hawthorn-tree
Anonymous Balade (13th century or later)
Mort m'an li semblan que madona? m fai
The glance that my lady darts at me must slay,
Gaucelm Faidit (c. 1170 - c. 1202)
Fortz chausa es que tot lo maior dan
A harsh thing it is that brings such harm,
Peire Cardenal (c. 1180-c. 1278)
Vera vergena Maria
Truest Virgin, our Maria
Sordello (fl. 1220-1265)
Planher vuelh En Blacatz en aquest leugier so
I wish to mourn Blacatz, now, in skilful song,
Ai las e que-m fan mei uehls
Alas, what use are my eyes
Guiraut Riquier (c. 1230 - 1292)
Ab plazen
From pleasant
Translator's Introduction
Merry Company
'The Annunciation'
The Book of Hours - c. 1407 The British Library
This personal selection of Occitan poetry is of verse that I feel has true poetic merit, and nothing is included solely for its historic interest. I considered a simple prose or free verse translation of these poems, but to show the Troubadours without their rhyme schemes, their form, seemed to me too great an admission of failure. Form is half their art and crucially their poems were set to music, a large amount of which survives.
Either approach, rhymed or un-rhymed, is of course valid. As always the end result is what counts.
I have gone for rhyme and aimed for accuracy of meaning. These translations attempt to stay close to the original text, in rhythm, rhyme-scheme and content. I have given the first lines of the poems, the incipits, as Occitan headings (one only is in Latin), so that a quick search on the Web for the line, remembering to enclose it in double quotes, will usually turn up the original text for those who need to see it. For the uninitiated I would also suggest reading a little about the Troubadours on Wikipedia, which leads the reader on to a vast amount of interesting material online, especially the music.
Many dates and facts are conjecture, and so the order of the poets is at times somewhat arbitrary where dates of birth and death are uncertain. I have not translated the vidas, or biographical lives of the poets, which are highly unreliable, though charming as legend, but have referred to them where relevant.
Anonymous (10th Century)
The manuscript of this bilingual text, which has been termed the first alba or dawn song, made of Latin stanzas with an apparently Provencal refrain, is thought to have come from the monastery of Fleury-sur-Loire. Though not strictly a troubadour text, it is a first example of a form, the alba, adopted later. The refrain is: L'alb' apar, tumet mar at ra'sol; po y pas, a! bigil, mira clar tenebras!
Phebi claro nondum orto iubare
With pale Phoebus, in the clear east, not yet bright,
Aurora sheds, on earth, ethereal light:
While the watchman, to the idle, cries: 'Arise! '
Dawn now breaks; sunlight rakes the swollen seas;
Ah, alas! It is he! See there, the shadows pass!
Behold, the heedless, torpid, yearn to try
And block the insidious entry, there they lie,
Whom the herald summons urging them to rise.
Dawn now breaks; sunlight rakes the swollen seas;
Ah, alas!
