response

Joseph T. Snow notes that Alfonso X most likely grew up in a courtly environment that cherished the poetic traditions of Southern France. But instead of simply copying the styles and conventions of the troubadours, Alfonso X adapted their poetry to create a style appropriate for his purposes. I would like to argue that he thus fundamentally transformed core aspects of troubadour poetry. At the very beginning of this course, we observed that one of the key innovations of the troubadours with respect to earlier poetic traditions was to place the lyrical subject at the center of attention.

More images here: http://www.tickld.com/x/29-incredible-colorized-historical-photos

The notion of modernism is crucial to Richard Taruskin’s argument about “authenticity.” According Taruskin, performances of older compositions have been dubbed “authentic” and “historically verisimilar” in order to attract a larger audience and to become commercially successful, despite the fact that they are actually highly modernist. Taruskin argues that modernism was born as a countermovement to Romanticism and to the exuberant vitality of its art which revolved around the human being as creator.

 The notion of “authenticity” theorized in Tarskin’s article within the frame of musicology seems to evoke a much more general question of literary esthetics, related to the reception theory. The “reception theory” developed by H. R. Jauss in the literary field, as well as the notion of “horizon of expectations,” could enlighten Tarskin’s notion of “authenticity.”  The relation between the present and the past in Tarskin’s article reveals a more complicated dialectical dimension. In Tarskin’s vision, the present is not the only element that matters.

In stark contrast to the clergymen that Cardenal condemns, his role as a moral spokesman is raised to a higher level of truth because of his freedom from some of the earthly themes that confine the clerics (and even other troubadours). In his sirventes, he portrays his interpretation of religion as a truer form of faith uncorrupted by outside forces that taint the actions of clerics. In “Tartarassa ni voutor” the clerics “smell out the rich” and “confound[] the earth”, leaving the world and their religious institution less pure due to their fraudulent actions.

 Through the organization of its stanzas, the sirventés Tartarassa ni voutor seems to reflect Peire Cardenal’s divided position as a critic of the clergy (and of society) and as a spokesman who addresses “sinners” in order to convert. The first two stanzas represent a description of the depraved world of the clerics, that combines several layers of an imaginative vision, going from metaphorical images (“tartarassa”, “voutor”) to very realistic ones (“franses e clerc an lauzor / de mal, quar ben lur en pren”).

Lovers parting at dawn reminded me of dew drops on grass and how they evaporate with the rising of the sun- two objects literally separating because of the dawn and what follows. I couldn't find any videos of dew drops evaporating from blades of grass or leaves, but I did find this evaporation timelapse of some water on pavement. It sparkles brightly before shrinking into a corner, trying to stay as long as it can before dissapating, leaving evidence of its stay.

The albas Reis Glorios and Tagelied both portray the invasion of the lovers’ enclosed space by the exposing light of day.

 Departure at Dawn, modern version. Only the moment of the day links the separation at down typically represented in the alba and this modern video. Here, the song represents a personal disillusionment combined with a critique of society and has nothing to do with the romantic separation of lovers. Why then the need to represent such a separation? Yet, you just have to reduce the volume and use your imagination in order to recreate a modern version of the lovers’ separation at down.

In my response on Coursework, I mentioned the "Femme Fatale." I think there are different definitions for what this means, but I always think of "Killer Queen" by Queen when I think of a "Femme Fatale" figure. What I want to get out of posting this song is just how the woman in the song is preoccupied by her own business. That doesn't relate entirely to either pastorela by Marcabru, but perhaps it's a launching point for further discussion.