.jpg)
| Part ofa series on |
| Medieval music |
|---|
| Overview |
Bernart de Ventadorn (alsoBernard de Ventadour orBernat del Ventadorn;c. 1130–1140 –c. 1190–1200) was an Occitan poet-composertroubadour of theclassical age of troubadour poetry.[1] Generally regarded as the most important troubadour in both poetry and music,[1] his 18 extant melodies of 45 known poems in total is the most to survive from any 12th-century troubadour.[2] He is remembered for his mastery as well as popularization of thetrobar leu style, and for his prolificcançons, which helped define the genre and establish the "classical" form ofcourtly love poetry, to be imitated and reproduced throughout the remaining century and a half of troubadour activity.[3]
Now thought of as "the Master Singer," he developed thecançons into a more formalized style which allowed for sudden turns.[3] Bernart was known for being able to portray his women as divine agents in one moment and then, in a sudden twist, asEve – the cause of man's initial sin. This dichotomy in his work is portrayed in a "graceful, witty, and polished" medium.[3]
According to the troubadourUc de Saint Circ, Bernart was possibly the son of a baker at thecastle of Ventadour (Ventadorn), in today'sCorrèze (France). Yet another source, a satirical poem written by a younger contemporary,Peire d'Alvernha, indicates that he was the son of either a servant, a soldier, or a baker, and his mother was also either a servant or a baker. From evidence given in Bernart's early poemLo temps vai e ven e vire, he most likely learned the art of singing and writing from his protector, viscountEble III of Ventadorn. He composed his first poems to his patron's wife, Marguerite de Turenne.
Forced to leave Ventadour after falling in love with Margerite, he traveled toMontluçon andToulouse, and eventually followedEleanor of Aquitaine toEngland and thePlantagenet court;[4] evidence for this association and these travels comes mainly from his poems themselves. Later Bernart returned to Toulouse, where he was employed byRaimon V, Count of Toulouse; later still he went toDordogne, where he entered a monastery. Most likely he died there.[4]
Bernart is unique among secular composers of the twelfth century in the amount of music which has survived: of his forty-five poems, eighteen have music intact, an unusual circumstance for a troubadour composer (music of thetrouvères has a higher survival rate, usually attributed to them surviving theAlbigensian Crusade, which scattered the troubadours and destroyed many sources). His work probably dates between 1147 and 1180. Bernart is often credited with being the most important influence on the development of the trouvère tradition in northern France, since he was well known there, his melodies were widely circulated, and the early composers of trouvère music seem to have imitated him. Bernart's influence also extended toLatin literature. In 1215 theBolognese professorBoncompagno wrote in hisAntiqua rhetorica that "How much fame attaches to the name of Bernard de Ventadorn, and how gloriously he madecansos and sweetly invented melodies, the world of Provence very much recognises."[5]
On screen, Bernart was portrayed by actorPaul Blake in theBBC TV drama seriesThe Devil's Crown (1978).
In the final fragment (Canto CXX) of his epic poemThe Cantos, American expatriate poetEzra Pound, who had a lifelong fascination with thetrouveres andtroubadours of Provence and southern France, quotes from Bernart'sCan vei la lauzeta mover twice.
