(b Narbonne, c1230; d c1300). French troubadourHe is usually considered the last of the troubadours. Although he is not mentioned in contemporary documents, and no Provençal vida exists for him, his life and career can be reconstructed in some detail through his poems and references to persons mentioned in them. In some sources, each of his 89 poems is assigned an exact date; these range from 1254 to 1292 and often specify a particular day.
A brief notice preceding his works in one source describes him as ‘Guiraut Riquier de Narbona’, suggesting that he was born in that city (near the Spanish border). This assumption is confirmed by numerous references in his works to Amalric IV, Viscount of Narbonne (1239–70), including Ples de tristor, a planh on the occasion of Amalric's death. After Amalric's death, Guiraut entered the service of Alfonso el Sabio, King of Castile, a fact supported by references in the poems, and also by a remarkable letter addressed to the king in 1274 in which Guiraut pleaded for an improvement in the lot of the troubadour and the jongleur. In 1279 he left Alfonso's court probably to enter the service of Henry II, Count of Rodez (1275–1302). Although he seems to have travelled after 1279, and was probably in Narbonne at least part of the time, Guiraut probably died in or around Rodez some time in the last decade of the 13th century.
The work of Guiraut Riquier is an invaluable document of the final flourishing of courtly song. No fewer than 48 of his 89 poems survive with their melodies, more than twice the number preserved for any other troubadour, and they do not include a single contrafactum. They are found together in only one manuscript (F-Pn fr.22543, ff.204–11v); this is the closest to a ‘complete edition’ by a troubadour. Mention of Guiraut's compiling his own songs is made in the manuscript F-Pn fr.856, which refers to a songbook written in Guiraut's own hand (‘libre escrig per la sua main’). Rubrics accompanying each melody in F-Pn fr.22543 (including the only troubadour canon) confirm Guiraut as an ‘anthologist’ of his own works (see Bossy). In this respect, he is a precursor to Adam de la Halle and Guillaume de Machaut.
The majority of Guiraut's melodies use formal repetition. Bar form is the most common (29 melodies), but there is considerable formal variety within the general type. A small number are through-composed (Ab lo temps, Anc non aigui, De far chanson, De midons, En tot, Los bes and Ops m'agra), but the remainder employ forms with repetition, often reminiscent of the lai (e.g. Amors, pus and Voluntiers faria); three are labelled retroenchas (No cugei, Pos astres and Si chans). Even the through-composed melodies exhibit repetition through motives (such as Ab lo temps and En tot) or half-phrases (De far chanson and De midons). Guiraut's songs are also clearly labelled in the sources as to type; 25 of those with music are called cansos, and 20 are labelled vers. The majority of the vers are set to music in some kind of bar form (17); the greater number of cansos (15) are either through-composed or set as some variety of lai-strophe.
Editions:Guiraut Riquier, Werke der Troubadours, iv, ed. S.L.H. Pfaff (Berlin, 1853) [complete edn]Les melodies del trobador Guiraut Riquier, ed. H. Anglès (Barcelona, 1926) [complete edn]Der musikalische Nachlass der Troubadours: I, ed. F. Gennrich, SMM, iii (1958) [complete edn]Guiraut Riquier: los cansos, ed. U. Mölk (Heidelberg, 1962) [M]Las cançons dels trobadors, ed. I. Ferdandez 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]
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Ab lo temps agradiu gai, PC 281.1 (composed 1261) |
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Ab panc er decazutz, PC 248.2, M (composed 1265) |
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Aissi cum selh, que francheman estai, PC 248.5, M (composed 1258) |
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Aissi pert poder amors, PC 248.6, M (composed 1255) |
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Aissi com es sobronada, PC 248.7, M (composed 1263) |
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A mon dan sui esforcius, PC 248.8, M (composed 1260) |
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Amors, pus a vos falh poders, PC 248.10, M (composed 1257) |
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Anc mais per aital razo, PC 248.12 (composed 1284) |
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Anc non aigui nul temps de far chanso, PC 248.13, M (composed 1266) |
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Be·m meravelh co non es envejos, PC 248.18, M (composed 1260) |
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Be·m volgra d'amor partir, PC 248.19 (composed 1264) |
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Creire m'an fag mei dezir, PC 248.21, M (composed 1277) |
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De far chanson sui marritz, PC 248.23, M (composed 1268) |
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De midons e d'amor, PC 248.24, M (composed 1271) |
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En re no·s melhura, PC 248·26, M (composed 1256) |
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En tot quant qu'ieu saupes, PC 248.27, M (composed Feb 1284) |
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Fis e verais e plus ferms que no suelh, PC 248.29, M (composed 1275) |
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Fortz guerra fai tot lo mon guerreiar, PC 248.30 (composed Nov 1285) |
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Gauch ai, quar esper d’amor, PC 248.31, M (composed Dec 1285) |
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Grans afans es ad home vergonhos, PC 248.33 (composed 1274) |
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Humils, forfaitz, repres e penedens, PC 248.44 (Marian song, composed 1273) |
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Jamais non er hom en est mon grazitz, PC 248.45 (composed Nov 1286) |
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Jhesus Cristz filh de Dieu viu, PC 248.46 (composed 1275) |
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Karitatz et Amors e fes, PC 248.48 (composed 1276) |
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Lo mons par enchantatz, PC 248.52 (composed March 1284) |
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Los bes, qu'ieu truep en amor, PC 248.53, M (composed in one day, 11 March 1276) |
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Mentaugutz, PC 248.55 (composed Dec 1283) |
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Mout me tenc ben per pagatz, PC 248.56, M (composed 1272) |
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No cugei mais d'esta razon chantar, PC 248.57 (composed Sept 1279) |
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No·m sai d'amor si m'es mala o bona, PC 248.58, M (composed 1259) |
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Ogan no cugei chantar, PC 248.60, M (composed Jan 1276) |
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Ops m'agra que mos volers, PC 248.61 (composed Feb 1286) |
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Per proar si pro privatz, PC 248.62 (composed Nov 1283) |
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Ples de tristor, marritz e doloiros, PC 248.63, ed. in MGG (planh on the death of Amalric IV, Viscount of Narbonne; composed 1270) |
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Pos astres no m'es donatz, PC 248.65 (composed 1262) |
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Pos sabers no·m val ni sens, PC 248.66, M (composed April 1282) [melody with canon] |
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Quar dregz ni fes, PC 248.67 (composed 1270) |
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Qui·m disses non a dos ans, PC 248.68 (composed 1276) |
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Qui·s tolgues, PC 248.69 (composed Jan 1284) |
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Razos m'adui voler qu'eu chan soven, PC 248.71, M (composed in one day, 12 March 1276) |
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Si chans me pogues valensa, PC 248.78 (composed 1265) |
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S'ieu ja trobat mon agues, PC 248.79 (composed 1280) |
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Si ja·m deu mos chans valer, PC 248.80, M (composed 1269) |
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Tan m'es plazens lo mals d'amor, PC 248.82, M (composed 1254) |
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Tant vei, qu'es ab joi pretz mermatz, PC 248.83, M (composed 1257) |
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Voluntiers faria, PC 248.85, M (composed in one afternoon, 13 March 1276) |
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Xristias vei perillar, PC 248.87 (composed in one day, 10 March 1276) |
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Yverns no·m te de chantar embargat, PC 248.89 (composed 1277) |
MGG1(‘Guiraut Riquier’; F. Gennrich) [incl. edn of Ples de tristor]
J. Anglade: Le troubadour Guiraut Riquier (Paris, 1905)
A. Jeanroy: La poésie lyrique des troubadours, i (Toulouse and Paris, 1934/R), 280ff
F. Minetti: Il ‘Libre’ di Guiraut Riquier: secondo il codice 22543 (R) della Nazionale di Parigi con la varia lecito dell' 856 (C) (Turin, 1980)
E. Aubrey: A Study of the Origins, History, and Notation of the Troubadour Chansonnier Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, f.fr.22543 (diss., U. of Maryland, 1982), 86–91
M. Longobardi: ‘Ivers del trovatore Guiraut Riquier’, Studi mediolatini e volgari, xxix (1982–3), 17–163
C. Phan: ‘Le style poético-musical de Giraut Riquier’, Romania, cviii (1987), 66–78
V. Bertolucci: Morfologie del testo medievale (Bologna, 1989), 87–124
M.-A. Bossy: ‘Cyclical Composition in Guiraut Riquier's Book of Poems’, Speculum, lxvi (1991), 277–93
E. Aubrey: The Music of the Troubadours (Bloomington, IN, 1996)
For further bibliography see Troubadours, trouvères.
ROBERT FALCK/JOHN D. HAINES