The ''canso'' or ''canson'' or ''canzo'' () was a

song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetitio ...

style used by the

troubadour A troubadour (, ; oc, trobador ) was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100–1350). Since the word ''troubadour'' is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a ''trobairit ...

s. It was, by far, the most common genre used, especially by early troubadours, and only in the second half of the 13th century was its dominance challenged by a growing number of poets writing ''

coblas esparsas A ''cobla esparsa'' ( literally meaning "scattered stanza") in Old Occitan is the name used for a single-stanza poem in troubadour poetry. They constitute about 15% of the troubadour output, and they are the dominant form among late (after 1220) au ...

''. The ''canso'' became, in

Old French Old French (, , ; Modern French: ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France from approximately the 8th to the 14th centuries. Rather than a unified language, Old French was a linkage of Romance dialects, mutually intelligib ...

, the ''

grand chant The ''grand chant'' (''courtois'') or, in modern French, (''grande'') ''chanson courtoise'' or ''chanson d'amour'', was a genre of Old French lyric poetry devised by the trouvères. It was adopted from the Occitan ''canso'' of the troubadours, but ...

'' and, in Italian, the ''canzone''.

Structure

A ''canso'' usually consists of three parts. The first stanza is the ''exordium'', where the composer explains his purpose. The main body of the song occurs in the following stanzas, and usually draw out a variety of relationships with the ''exordium''; formally, aside from the ''envoi''(''s''), which are not always present, a ''canso'' is made of stanzas all having the same sequence of verses, in the sense that each verse has the same number of metrical syllables. This makes it possible to use the same melody for every stanza. The sequence can be extremely simple, as in ''Can vei la lauzeta mover'', whose stanzas consist of eight lines of eight metrical syllables each, or rather complex, as in

Arnaut Daniel Arnaut Daniel (; fl. 1180–1200) was an Occitan troubadour of the 12th century, praised by Dante as "the best smith" (''miglior fabbro'') and called a "grand master of love" (''gran maestro d'amore'') by Petrarch. In the 20th century he was lau ...

's "L'aur'amara",Full tex
here
/ref> whose first stanza is: (The syllable count here is 3, 4, 2, 6, 2, 1, 5, 4, 1, 3, 4, 4, 2, 4, 6, 4, 6 respectively. The same structure is kept through the six full stanzas of the piece.)

Rhyme scheme

Each stanza in a ''canso'' has the same "internal" rhyme scheme; that is, if, say, the first line rhymes with the third in the first stanza, it will do so in every successive one. What varies is the relationship between rhymes in separate stanzas. When stanzas follow the same rhyming pattern but the actual sounds differ, they are called ''coblas alternadas'' (lit. "alternated stanzas"). When the last rhyme sound of one ''cobla'' becomes the first of the next they are called ''coblas capcaudadas'' (lit. "head-tailed"). When the last rhyme word of one stanza appears in the first line of the next they are called ''coblas capfinidas'' (lit. "head-finished"). When the rhyming scheme and rhyming sounds are the same each stanza, they are ''coblas unissonans'' (lit. "unison"). When the rhyming scheme never changes but the sounds of each stanza are different they are ''coblas singulars'' (lit. "singular"). When the rhyming scheme never changes but the sounds do every two stanzas it is called ''coblas doblas'' (lit. "double"). When the rhyming scheme never changes but the sounds do every three stanzas it is called ''coblas ternas''. When the rhymes change position in accordance with an algorithm they are called ''coblas retrogradadas'' (lit. "retrograded").Simon Gaunt and Sarah Kay, edd. (1999), ''The Troubadours: An Introduction'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ).

Envois

The ''canso'' usually ends with one or more ''

envoi Envoi or envoy in poetry is used to describe: * A short stanza at the end of a poem such as a ballad, used either to address an imagined or actual person or to comment on the preceding body of the poem. * A dedicatory poem about sending the book o ...

s'' (called ''Tornadas'' in

Old Occitan Old Occitan ( oc, occitan ancian, label=Occitan language, Modern Occitan, ca, occità antic), also called Old Provençal, was the earliest form of the Occitano-Romance languages, as attested in writings dating from the eighth through the fourteen ...

). It takes the form of a shortened stanza, containing only a last part of the standard stanza used up to that point; a clear example is the same work by Arnaut Daniel quoted above: the (single) ''envoi'' is: whose syllable count (4, 4, 2, 4, 6, 4, 6) is the same as the last seven lines of the full stanzas.

Notable examples

* Guilhen de Peiteu
''Pos vezem de novel florir''
possibly the earliest "classic" canso *

Bertran de Born Bertran de Born (; 1140s – by 1215) was a baron from the Limousin in France, and one of the major Occitan troubadours of the 12th-13th century. He composed love songs (cansos) but was better known for his political songs (sirventes). He wa ...

''Domna, puois de mi noˑus cal''
was popularized by

Ezra Pound Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) was an expatriate American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a Fascism, fascist collaborator in Italy during World War II. His works ...

Bernart de Ventadorn Bernart de Ventadorn (also Bernard de Ventadour or Bernat del Ventadorn; – ) was a French poet-composer troubadour of the classical age of troubadour poetry. Generally regarded as the most important troubadour in both poetry and music, his 1 ...

''Can vei la lauzeta mover''
is probably the most famous canso ever written *

Raimbaut of Orange Raimbaut of Orange (c. 1147 – 1173) or, in his native Old Provençal, Raimbaut d'Aurenga, was the lord of Orange, France, Orange and Aumelas. His properties included the towns of Frontignan and Mireval. He was the only son of William of Aum ...

''Ar resplan la flors enversa''
possibly the clearest example of

trobar ric The ''trobar ric'' (), or rich form of poetry, was a trobadour style. It was distinguished by its verbal gymnastics; its best exponent was Arnaut Daniel. Despite the fact that it outlasted trobar clus it always played a secondary role to trobar l ...

References

{{Western medieval lyric forms Medieval music genres Occitan literary genres Western medieval lyric forms

Structure

Rhyme scheme

Envois

Notable examples

See also

References