The Rhetoric of the Troubadours

Authors

Mary C. Abraham, Cedarville UniversityFollow

Publication Date

2010

Document Type

Article

Keywords

Troubadours, musicology

Abstract

The medieval troubadours were no wandering musicians, casually improvising their songs as they strolled from town to town, but trained artists who lovingly crafted their songs to please and woo their listeners. The art of rhetoric deeply affected the art of the troubadour. First, the art of rhetoric divided composition of a speech into five well-defined parts. The troubadours consciously molded their songs according to these parts. Second, the medieval troubadour theorists then developed a system of genres, adding their own layer to the ancient art of rhetoric. Each genre demanded a specific topic, such as love, and a peculiar approach to that topic. Finally, the art of rhetoric also inspired a close union of the poems and their melodies. The troubadours were no wandering musicians, casually improvising their songs as they strolled from town to town, but trained artists who lovingly crafted their songs to please and woo their listeners.

Volume

1

Issue

1

DOI

10.15385/jmo.2010.1.1.1

Recommended Citation

Abraham, Mary C. (2010) "The Rhetoric of the Troubadours," Musical Offerings: Vol. 1: No. 1, Article 1.
DOI: 10.15385/jmo.2010.1.1.1
Available at: https://digitalcommons.cedarville.edu/musicalofferings/vol1/iss1/1

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

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