Peirol

(b Peirol, Auvergne, ?1160; d after 1221). French troubadour. He was born in Peirol Castle, and is described in his vida (I-Rvat 5232, f.147) as ‘a poor knight of Auvergne’ (‘paubres cavalliers d'Alverge’). Information in the vida and his own works indicates that he may have been in the service of the Dauphin of Auvergne at Clermont until about 1202. The earliest firm date that can be established is 1188 – the probable date of composition of Quant amors trobet partit and the period of preparation for the third crusade. This ‘crusading tenso’ (see Aston) is Peirol's best-known work, and takes the form of a debate with Love as to whether it would be better to take the cross or serve his lady. The only other work containing biographical allusion which may be dated with any certainty is Pus flum Jordan ai vist e·l monimen (PC 366.28), written in Jerusalem at the conclusion of the fifth crusade in 1221 or 1222. It seems likely that he did not live much beyond 1221. One version of his vidastates that he died in Montpellier, but this cannot be documented.

Although there are references in his poems to Vienne (PC 366.1 and 20), Blacatz (PC 366.5 and 25) and possibly Marseilles (PC 366.5, and in one version of his vida in F-Pn fr.1749, f.208), these are not definite indications of his whereabouts or service. A ‘Marqueza’ is mentioned in one poem (PC 366.4) but not identified further; the ‘Seign En Heralh’ in another (PC 366.27a) is Heraclius of Polignac, to whom the poem is addressed. The joint authorship of some poems with Gaucelm Faidit (PC 366.17) and Dalfi d'Alvernha (PC 366.10 and 30) gives an indication of the literary circle within which Peirol worked. (It is doubtful that this was the Peirol of the poem jointly composed with Bernart de Ventadorn, PC 366.23.)

Of the 34 poems attributed to Peirol, 17 survive with music. Of these, only Per dan que d'amor m'aveigna inspired later imitations. In the opening stanza of M'entension ai tot' en un vers meza, Peirol stated his intention to compose a vers; he next considered that a chansoneta would be more readily learnt, but that such songs are too frivolous; he finally concluded that it would be better to compose a vers in order to demonstrate his skill (saber). A number of the songs call themselves vers (e.g. D'un bon vers), but more are termed sonet. Both D'un sonet and En joi que·m demora are designated sonet in the first stanza, and chansoneta in the last, suggesting that the two terms may be related. Musically it appears possible to distinguish the two genres: the vers, although it may have a repeated AB structure at the beginning, is more often through-composed and richly melismatic (see Be dei chantar, D'un bon vers and M'entension); the sonet is slightly less melismatic and employs repeating melodic schemes – it is in essence more concise and tonally clear than the rather diffuse style of the vers. The sonets D'un sonet vau pensan and En joi que·m demora both begin with the leap of a 5th, and the latter employs only four melodic phrases for 12 lines of text (see ex.1). Be dei chantar is not entirely through-composed, but even the incipient repeated AB form at the beginning is largely disguised. The final line is likewise a varied and even more richly melismatic version of the first line (see ex.2). In addition, the cadential plan seems less clear than that of ex.1 and the final cadence appears to be completely unmotivated by what has gone before.

WORKS

Editions: Peirol: Troubadour of Auvergne, ed. S.C. Aston (Cambridge, 1953) [complete text edn]Der musikalische Nachlass der Troubadours: I, ed. F. Gennrich, SMM, iii (1958) [complete text edn]

Las cançons dels trobadors, ed. I. Fernandez de la Cuesta and R. Lafont (Toulouse, 1979) [complete edn]

The Extant Troubadour Melodies, ed. H. van der Werf and G. Bond (Rochester, NY, 1984) [complete edn]

BIBLIOGRAPHY

MGG1 (F. Gennrich)

U. Sesini: Le melodie trobadoriche nel Canzoniere provenzale della Biblioteca Ambrosiana (Turin, 1942), 204

M. Switten: ‘Metrical and Musical Structure in the Songs of Peirol’, Romantic Review, li (1960), 241–55

J. Boutière and A.-H. Schutz: Biographies des troubadours (Paris,1950, rev. 2/1964 by J. Boutière), 303ff

For further bibliography see Troubadours, trouvères.

ROBERT FALCK