Jehan Erart (or Erars) (''c''.1200/10–1258/9) was a

trouvère ''Trouvère'' (, ), sometimes spelled ''trouveur'' (, ), is the Northern French ('' langue d'oïl'') form of the '' langue d'oc'' (Occitan) word ''trobador'', the precursor of the modern French word '' troubadour''. ''Trouvère'' refers to po ...

from

Arras Arras ( , ; ; historical ) is the prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais department, which forms part of the region of Hauts-de-France; before the reorganization of 2014 it was in Nord-Pas-de-Calais. The historic centre of the Artois region, with a ...

, particularly noted for his favouring the '' pastourelle'' genre. He has left behind eleven ''pastourelles'', ten ''

grand chant The ''grand chant'' (''courtois'') or, in modern French, (''grande'') ''chanson courtoise'' or ''chanson d'amour'', was a genre of Old French lyric poetry">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginn ...

s'', and one '' serventois''. Erart's presence at Arras can be deduced from his own writings.Theodore Karp
"Erart, Jehan."
''Grove Music Online''. ''Oxford Music Online'' (Accessed 13 August 2008), contains a short biographical sketch, plus a discussion of the transmission and style of his work, and a good bibliography. He was patronised by the wealthy middle and upper classes. In his ''serventois'', a ''complainte'' on the death his patron Gherart Aniel, he asked Pierre and Wagon Wion to help him obtain the patronage of the bankers Henri and Robert Crespin. His relationship with two Arras trouvères is apparent in his lyrics, Guillaume le Vinier and Jehan Bretel. He is also mentioned in a work of Guibert Kaukesel, a canon of Arras. The chief characteristic of Erart's poetry is his preference for short lines, mostly

penta- Numeral or number prefixes are prefixes derived from numerals or occasionally other numbers. In English and many other languages, they are used to coin numerous series of words. For example: *triangle, quadrilateral, pentagon, hexagon, octagon ...

, hexa-, hepta-, and

octosyllabic The octosyllable or octosyllabic verse is a line of verse with eight syllables. It is equivalent to tetrameter verse in trochees in languages with a stress accent. Its first occurrence is in a 10th-century Old French saint's legend, the '' Vie d ...

, as opposed to the traditional decasyllable, which does occur in his ''chansons'' "Pré ne vergier ne boscaige foillu" and "Encoire sui cil ki a merchi s'atent" and his ''serventois'' "Nus chanters".For a more detailed description of his metres, see Mary O'Neill (2006), ''Courtly Love Songs of Medieval France: Transmission and Style in the Trouvère Repertoire'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 134–5, with notes 8–12. Musically, Erart is syllabic, with a preference for major modes and

refrain A refrain (from Vulgar Latin ''refringere'', "to repeat", and later from Old French ''refraindre'') is the Line (poetry)">line or lines that are repeated in poetry or in music">poetry.html" ;"title="Line (poetry)">line or lines that are repeat ...

s. His ''chansons'' are composed mainly in

isometre In music, a homorhythm or homometer is a texture having a "similarity of rhythm in all parts"Griffiths, Paul (2005). ''The Penguin Companion to Classical Music'', p.375. . or "very similar rhythm" as would be used in simple hymn or chorale settin ...

, but his ''pastourelles'' are predominantly heterometric. His music is conservative and rarely exceeds a ninth in range. There are two death notices for Erart in the

necrology An obituary ( obit for short) is an article about a recently deceased person. Newspapers often publish obituaries as news articles. Although obituaries tend to focus on positive aspects of the subject's life, this is not always the case. Ac ...

of the Confrérie des jongleurs et bourgeois d'Arras. One records a Jehans Erardi dying in 1258 while another records Jehan Erart dying in 1259. It is possible, when considering that his works are preserved in two different sections of the '' Chansonnier du Roi'', that there were two Jehan Erarts, but this is not likely. Three songs attributed to Jehan Erart in one manuscript probably belong to Raoul de Beauvais.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Erart, Jehan Trouvères 1259 deaths Year of birth uncertain Male classical composers