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Colin Muset (''fl''. ''c''. 1210–50 or 1230–70) was an
Old French
Old French (, , ; ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France approximately between the late 8th and a native of Lorraine (province)">Lorraine
Lorraine, also , ; ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; ; ; is a cultural and historical region in Eastern France, now located in the administrative region of Grand Est. Its name stems from the medieval kingdom of ...
. He made his living in the Champagne (region)">Champagne
Champagne (; ) is a sparkling wine originated and produced in the Champagne wine region of France under the rules of the appellation, which demand specific vineyard practices, sourcing of grapes exclusively from designated places within it, spe ...
by travelling from castle to castle singing songs of his own composition and playing the vielle. These are not confined to the praise of courtly love that formed the usual topic of the trouvères, but contain many details of a jongleur's life.
His complete works are eighteen: nine attributed in
chansonnier
A chansonnier (, , Galician and , or ''canzoniéro'', ) is a manuscript or printed book which contains a collection of chansons, or polyphonic and monophonic settings of songs, hence literally " song-books"; however, some manuscripts are call ...
s, three self-referencing, and six whose attributions are based on modern scholarship (one of which is held to be mis-attributed in the manuscripts). Twenty one poems credited to him were edited and published by
Joseph Bédier in 1912 (Paris). Two further editions appeared in 2005: one by Callahan and Rosenberg with translations into modern French, and, with translations into Italian, an edition by
Massimiliano Chiamenti
Massimiliano Chiamenti (Florence, 1967 - Bologna, 2011) was an Italian poet and philologist who lived in Bologna, and taught at the "'' Liceo delle Scienze Sociali Laura Bassi and the "Liceo Scientifico Leonardo Da vinci"''".
Career
From 1993, ...
, which reduced his authentic
corpus
Corpus (plural ''corpora'') is Latin for "body". It may refer to:
Linguistics
* Text corpus, in linguistics, a large and structured set of texts
* Speech corpus, in linguistics, a large set of speech audio files
* Corpus linguistics, a branch of ...
to sixteen poems. Oxford Music online (effectively New Grove 2001), lists 12 songs.
Nine of his poems have surviving music. Seven are ''chansons jongleuresques'', that is, songs describing the life of a jongleur. His three ''
serventois'' condemn the avarice of the nobility, but his moralising is balanced by self-deprecating humour. He also wrote two ''
descorts'', one ''
lai'', and one cynical ''
tenson'' with
Jacques d'Amiens.
One of his patrons was Agnès de
Bar,
duchess of Lorraine.
The nickname "Muset" may derive from his inspiration ("
muse
In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, the Muses (, ) were the Artistic inspiration, inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the poetry, lyric p ...
") or from his habit of ''muser'' (wandering about, wasting time).
References
Bibliography
* Joseph Bédier, ''Les chansons de Colin Muset''. 2nd edition, Classiques français du Moyen Age (Paris: H. Champion, 1938).
* Christopher J. Callahan, and Samuel N. Rosenberg, ''Les chansons de Colin Muset: textes et mélodies'' (Paris: Champion, 2005).
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Muset, Colin
People from the duchy of Lorraine
13th-century French composers
Trouvères
Year of birth uncertain
Year of death missing
French male classical composers