An aubade is a morning love song (as opposed to a

serenade In music, a serenade (; also sometimes called a serenata, from the Italian) is a musical composition or performance delivered in honor of someone or something. Serenades are typically calm, light pieces of music. The term comes from the Italian w ...

, intended for performance in the evening), or a song or poem about lovers separating at dawn. It has also been defined as "a song or instrumental composition concerning, accompanying, or evoking daybreak". In the strictest sense of the term, an aubade is a song sung by a departing lover to a sleeping woman. Aubades are generally conflated with what are strictly called albas, which are exemplified by a dialogue between parting lovers, a refrain with the word ''alba'', and a watchman warning the lovers of the approaching dawn. The tradition of ''aubades'' goes back at least to the troubadours of the

Provençal Provençal may refer to: *Of Provence, a region of France * Provençal dialect, a dialect of the Occitan language, spoken in the southeast of France *''Provençal'', meaning the whole Occitan language *Franco-Provençal language, a distinct Roman ...

schools of

courtly love Courtly love ( oc, fin'amor ; french: amour courtois ) was a medieval European literary conception of love that emphasized nobility and chivalry. Medieval literature is filled with examples of knights setting out on adventures and performing vari ...

in the High Middle Ages. The aubade gained in popularity again with the advent of the metaphysical fashion in the 17th century.

John Donne John Donne ( ; 22 January 1572 – 31 March 1631) was an English poet, scholar, soldier and secretary born into a recusant family, who later became a clergy, cleric in the Church of England. Under royal patronage, he was made Dean of St Paul's ...

's poem "The Sunne Rising" exemplifies an aubade in English. Aubades were written from time to time in the 18th and 19th centuries. In the 20th century the focus of the aubade shifted from the genre's original specialized courtly-love context into the more generalized theme of a human parting at daybreak. In this reformulated context several notable aubades were published in the 20th century, such as " Aubade" by Philip Larkin. French composers of the turn of the 20th century wrote a number of aubades. In 1883, the French composer

Emmanuel Chabrier Alexis-Emmanuel Chabrier (; 18 January 184113 September 1894) was a French Romantic music, Romantic composer and pianist. His Bourgeoisie, bourgeois family did not approve of a musical career for him, and he studied law in Paris and then worked ...

composed an "Aubade" for piano solo, inspired by a four-month visit to Spain.

Maurice Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composers rejected the term. In ...

included a Spain-inspired aubade entitled "Alborada del gracioso" in his 1906 piano suite '' Miroirs''. An aubade is the centerpiece of

Erik Satie Eric Alfred Leslie Satie (, ; ; 17 May 18661 July 1925), who signed his name Erik Satie after 1884, was a French composer and pianist. He was the son of a French father and a British mother. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire, but was an und ...

's 1915 piano suite ''

Avant-dernières pensées The ''Avant-dernières pensées'' (''Penultimate Thoughts'') is a 1915 piano composition by Erik Satie. The last of his humoristic piano suites of the 1910s, it was premiered by the composer at the Galerie Thomas in Paris on May 30, 1916, and publ ...

''. The composer

Francis Poulenc Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc (; 7 January 189930 January 1963) was a French composer and pianist. His compositions include songs, solo piano works, chamber music, choral pieces, operas, ballets, and orchestral concert music. Among the best-kno ...

later wrote (in

concerto A concerto (; plural ''concertos'', or ''concerti'' from the Italian plural) is, from the late Baroque era, mostly understood as an instrumental composition, written for one or more soloists accompanied by an orchestra or other ensemble. The typi ...

form) a piece titled '' Aubade''; it premiered in 1929. In 2014 postmodern dancer and choreographer Douglas Dunn presented a piece titled ''Aubade'', with costumes, video and lighting by

Charles Atlas Charles Atlas (born Angelo Siciliano; October 30, 1892 – December 24, 1972) was an Italian-born American bodybuilder best remembered as the developer of a bodybuilding method and its associated exercise program which spawned a landmark advert ...

, and poetry by Anne Waldman.

References

External links

'Aubade' – a poem by Philip Larkin

Medieval music genres 16th-century music genres 17th-century music genres 18th-century music genres 19th-century music genres 20th-century music genres 21st-century music genres Western medieval lyric forms {{Classical-music-stub

See also

References

External links