Meter and Rhyme in Pierre Vidal's Canso

Before Switten digs into the musicology of the troubadour music, he points out that no medieval sounds have been passed down to our ears.  Unfortunately, the troubadours did not have recording devices on their iPhones, but we can draw information on how they sung in chansonniers or in trouveres, where only about 10% of troubadour poems are preserved with melodies.  In addition, there is no one, “authoritative song” (Switten, 142) because a song would be manipulated from performance to performance.  The troubadours revolutionized music through versification, controlling meter and rhyme.  Switten teaches us that while versification is presently common day, “possibilities of combination and recombination served as a powerful stimulus to troubadour invention of new patterns of verbal sound” (Switten, 143).  First, in meter, syllable count was important, but the number of syllables in a vers relied on the last accented syllable.  If a word was accented on the last syllable, then that rhyme would be masculine, and if a word was accented on the second to last syllable, then that rhyme would be feminine.  The troubadours liberally changed the number of syllables line by line, creating heterometric structure.   Second, troubadours also revolutionized rhyme, which is simultaneously “sound, sense, and signpost” (Switten, 145). A rhyme contributed to sonority, selected harsh of smooth words, and also to mark inter and intra- stanzaic linkings.  The troubadour used these meter and rhyme as a new technology to influence performance.  For example, in Pierre Vidal’s “Be`m pac,” the rhyme scheme is abbaabccdd.  Switten states that lines 5 and 6 are transitional, lending to both the first and second part of the strophe.  We hear this transition in the live performance posted on the Trobar site.  The performer ends the first four verses in a more monotone or lower note. Then, for the two transition lines, the notes end higher, and in addition, the pace speeds up.  Switten calls this the climax of the melody.  With the “d” rhyme, the sounds reverts back to the lower notes.  The exploiting of the “upper and the lower portions of the range brings contrast” (Switten, 154),  Mixing masculine and feminine rhymes, the rhyme is repeated through each subsequent strophe.  This repetition is interesting across most cansos.  Switten says that the first stanza conditions the rest (Switten, 148).  Containing the melody to each stanza, then replicating this melody is likely a product of familiarity to the melody, because of the non-mensural musical notation, or lack of any musical notations.  While there are no “refrains” in this Pierre Vidal canso, there is also a content repetition, in addition to the structural repetition.  The last two lines of each strophe reference the sacred in a way, citing “Sant Gabriel” (ln 20), “Dieus Abel” (ln 30), and “Daniel and Bel” (ln 59-60).  As read and heard in this “Be`m pac,” Pierre Vidal utilizes the new systems of versification in meter and rhyme.