Abstract
The trobairitz, usually high-ranking noble women who were known as domna, are the female poets of courtly lyric. They can be regarded as the female counterparts of the troubadours, the lyric singers and poets of courtly love who lived and worked in the courts of southern France in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Their work fits almost completely into the socio-poetic code of the male troubadour love lyric. The writing of a courtly chanson caused a double-edged problem for the trobairitz: in the first place they must make their mark in a male dominated genre, and they must also adapt the courtly code of that genre, bound as it was by strict formality and inflexible rules, to their own situation. This meant they must replace the man as the active and articulate lover, and manoeuvre the man into the passive role of the 'beloved'. The central question of this study deals with the breaching of the traditional courtly code and its consequences for the gender identity of the trobairitz, for their chosen perspective and the manner in which this breach acquired shape in the formal vocabulary of courtly lyric. With regard to the music the notion of the unity of text and melody is crucial. The main issue is the high degree of interchangeability of musical elements, and - in relation to this fact - the widespread use of contrafacts, both in the Middle Ages and today. In troubadour melodies a twofold relation between text and melody is established. The first is structural and refers to parallel patterns and forms, the second is rhetorical and refers to the unfolding in time of textual and musical elements. This study therefore deals not only with the written material (text and melody), but also with the song as a performance.
