Troubadour

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For the article about the night club in West Hollywood, California, see: Troubadour (nightclub).

A troubadour was a composer and performer of songs during the Middle Ages in Europe.

The etymology of the word troubadour is controversial. In general, the argument breaks into two camps. Romanists argue that the root of the word can be found either in the Occitan verb trouber, 'to compose, invent, or devise', or in the Vulgar Latin tropare, 'to say with tropes'. By contrast, Arabists posit an Arabic origin in the word taraba, 'to sing'.

The word is used to designate musicians who spoke Occitan (or langue d'oc) and whose style spread to the trouvères in the north of France, who spoke langues d'oïl. The custom began to spread from France during the 11th century. The earliest troubadour whose name came down to us is William IX, Duke of Aquitaine (1071-1127, also Guillaume d'Aquitaine). However, Peter Dronke, author of The Medieval Lyric, notes that "[his] songs represent not the beginnings of a tradition but summits of achievement in that tradition." <ref> Peter Dronke, The Medieval Lyric, Perennial Library, 1968. p. 111. </ref> His name has been preserved because he was a Duke, but his work plays with already established structures. The style flourished in the eleventh century and was often imitated in the thirteenth. Many troubadours traveled for great distances, aiding in the transmission of trade and news.

The texts of troubadour songs deal mainly with themes of chivalry and courtly love. Many songs addressed a married lover, perhaps due to the prevalence of arranged marriages at the time. The aubade formed a popular genre.

Similar roles were filled in different times and regions by persons known as minstrels and jongleurs. The German Minnesingers are closely related to - and inspired by - troubadours, but have distinctive features of their own.

Troubadours whose works have survived to the present day include Bernart de Ventadorn, Arnaut Daniel and Jaufré Rudel.