Cadenet (troubadour)

Cadenet () was a Provençal troubadour (''trobador'') who lived and wrote at the court of Raymond VI of Toulouse and eventually made a reputation in Spain. Of his twenty-five surviving songs, twenty-one (or twenty-three) are ''cansos'', with one ''alba'', one ''partimen'', one ''pastorela'', and one religious piece represented. Two of his melodies survive.

Life

During Cadenet's childhood Raymond V of Toulouse and Bertrand I of Forcalquier went to war over the Vaucluse. Cadenet's father was killed in battle fighting for the count of Forcalquier and the castle of Cadenet was destroyed. Cadenet was taken captive or as a hostage to the court of Toulouse, where he became known after his birthplace, a term which also mean "juniper grove" (''cade'' is Occitan for "juniper"). He rose to prominence in the court under the patronage of several prominent families with close connections to the Cathar movement. According to his late thirteenth-century '' vida'', ''"... et el venc bos e bels et courtes e saup ben cantar e parlar, et apres a trobar coblas e sirventes''." He became a devoted attendant of the count and countess of Toulouse.

His ''cansos'' celebrate love but also criticise the feudal lords for their less admirable behaviour. He was only full of praise for ''lauzengiers'', the spies and eavesdroppers who forced lovers into ever more secrecy. He wrote one ''sirventes'' criticising Raymond Roger Trencavel for his poor manners on a visit to the court of the count of Toulouse in 1204.Graham-Leigh, 27. This ''sirventes'' is a useful source for the relationship between Toulouse and the Trencavel on the eve of the Albigensian Crusade, as it was written for a contemporary audience and dealt with personal issues. Cadenet also wrote a famous early ''alba'', ''S'anc fu belha ni prezada'', whose music (''air'') and lyrics are still preserved. The music is of the style of an ''oda continua'' hymn. In some of his writings, modern researches have thought to detect the influence of Cathar doctrine. His famous ''Lo ben e lo mal'' (''The Good and the Bad'') divulges a deep sense of guilt towards God and a desire to swap evil and good:

''Ben volgra s'esser pogues''

''tot lo mal qu'ai fait desfar''

''eˑl be que non ai fait far''

''Ai! com m'en fora ben pres''

''siˑl bes fos mals e mals fos bes. . .''

''Tant mi sent vas Dieu mespres''

''qu'eu me cugei deseperar.''


I would like, if it could be,

To destroy all the evil which I have made

And do all the good which I have not done

Ah! because it would be pleasing to me

If the good were evil and the evil good. . .

So guilty I feel towards God

That I believe I might despair.

Elsewhere the learned Cadenet borrowed a Classical metaphor, that of the "boat of love, ploughing through the rough weather" from Ovid, and wrote ''Plus que la naus q'es en la mar prionda / Non had poder de far son dreg viatge''. Cadenet elsewhere employs simile and metaphor to compare a beautiful but difficult woman to a pretty flower without seed:

''Car es delida''

''leu flors, on mieills es florida;''

''q'ela se fraing per nïen''

''qand so qe mostra desmend.''

After the Crusade and the Inquisition, Cadenet took refuge in Spain (either Castile or Aragon, c. 1230), where he had an influence on the court of Alfonso X of Castile. Alfonso's ''cantiga'' ''Virgen, madre gloriosa'' adapts metric elements from Cadenet's ''alba''.Falvy, 163. Late in life, after an unhappy falling in love with a novice nun, sources differ as to whether he entered either the Order of the Temple or the Order of the Hospital. He appears to have been serving with the Order in Palestine when he died around 1230, though other sources place him in the Hospitaller establishment at Orange in 1239.

The first modern critical edition of Cadenet's work was published by Carl Appel in German as ''Der Trobador Cadenet'' in 1920.

References

Notes

Sources

*Allen, D. C
"Donne and the Ship Metaphor."
''Modern Language Notes'', Vol. 76, No. 4. (Apr., 1961), pp 308–312.
*Falvy, Zoltán
"La cour d'Alphonse le Sage et la musique européenne (in Varia)."
''Studia Musicologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae'', T. 25, Fasc. 1/4. (1983), pp 159–170.
*Graham-Leigh, Elaine. ''The Southern French Nobility and the Albigensian Crusade''. Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2005.
*Gaunt, Simon, and Kay, Sarah. "Appendix I: Major Troubadours" (pp. 279–291). The Troubadours: An Introduction. Simon Gaunt and Sarah Kay, edd. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. .
*Lewent, Kurt
"Old Provençal Desmentir sos pairis."
''Modern Language Notes'', Vol. 72, No. 3. (Mar., 1957), pp 189–193.
*Shapiro, Marianne
"The Figure of the Watchman in the Provençal Erotic Alba."
''Modern Language Notes'', Vol. 91, No. 4, French Issue. (May, 1976), pp 607–639, esp. 632–633.
*Zemp, Josef (Ed.), ''Les poésies du troubadour Cadenet: édition critique avec introduction, traduction, notes et glossaire.'' P. Lang, Bern; Las Vegas, 1978.

External links

Complete works online

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cadenet
12th-century French troubadours
1160s births
1235 deaths
13th-century French troubadours
People from Provence