TWO PROVENÇAL TENZONI

The two following tenzos have never been critically edited, with consideration of all the manuscripts. They are, however, not unknown to scholars, having been cited by authors of studies of this verse-form (1) and by those interested in the Italian relations of the troubadours. (2) They are, moreover, intrinsically interesting, though not of great literary merit.

In II, Aimeric challenges Albert to a debate about nothing. This appears’ to be the sole example of this sort of nonsense verse in the form of a tenzone. It was probably suggested by the “No sai que s’es” of Raimbaut of Orange. (3) The earliest specimen of a song about “naught” is the Farai un vers de dreyt nien of William IX of Poitou. (4) It must be admitted that the wit of our two debaters is not very brilliant.

These tenzoni were probably composed in Italy at the court of some prince where the troubadours were residing, that of the Este or the Malaspina, with both of whom Aimeric of Péguilhan (5) was in close relationship.

No chronological data are to be found in II. But as both poets remained in Italy for many years and as the language in one respect shows marks of lateness, (6) it is quite possible that it was written at a more recent date than the other.

 

TENZONE II: BARTSCH, “GRUNDRISS,” 10,6 AND 16,5

The manuscript tradition of this tenzone is more corrupt than that of I. Of the four MSS, O and a seem to be copies of the same original. (7) R is more closely related to Oa than to M: see especially verses 2, 10 (here M has inverted the rhyme order), 17, 19, 26, 27, 40, 41-45 (here M has replaced the original text by the words of the first tornada), 51, 55, 57, 58. On the other hand, R agrees with M in verses 8, 13, 39, 49. R goes its own way, as is often the case for this MS, in a number of instances: verses 3, 5, 14, 29, 32, 35, 36, 50, 56, 62. The three MSS (counting Oa as one) have each a different reading in verses 12, 15, 18, 47, 54, though most of these variants are unimportant.

 

The metrical scheme is as follows:

8 a b b a c c d d e

The poem consists of six coblas unissonans of nine octosyllables each, all masculine, and two tornadas of five verses.

This schema is likewise very common in Provençal: see Maus, op. cit., No. 546. The oldest example is the tenso of the Dauphin of Auvergne with Perdigon (“Perdigon, ses vassalatge”), (8) of seven-syllable lines. The only other specimen in octosyllables is the song of Daude of Pradas, “El temps que·l rossinhols s’esjau.” (9)

 

I have adopted Oa as base, emending only when their text is manifestly inferior to that of the other MSS. Orthography of a.

 

Notes:

1) For instance, Selbach, Das Streitgedicht in der altprov. Lyrik, pp. 70, 74; Zenker, Die prov. Tenzone, pp. 15, 52; Knoblauch, Die Streitgedichte im Prov. und im Altfranz., p. 41.

2) See especially Zingarelli, Intorno a due trovatori in Italia, pp. 48-49; Torraca, Le donne italiane nella poesia provenzale, p. 17.

3) Published by Appel, Prov. Chrestomathie, No. 36, p. 77; cf. also Crescini in Mélanges Chabaneau, pp. 315-19.

4) No. IV, in Jeanroy’s edition, p. 6.

5) On the relations of Aimeric of Péguilhan to these Italian courts, see De Bartholomaeis, Studi romanzi, VII, 319-42. As to Albert’s sojourn in Italy, see Schultz, “Die Lebensverhältnisse der ital. Trobadors,” ZFRP, VII, 215.

6) See note to vss. 23­-24.

7) The close relationship of O and a in the tenzone section has long been known. Cf. especially the remarks of Bertoni, op. cit., pp. xvi-xxi.

8) Bartsch, Grundriss, 119. 6.

9) This piece is omitted by Bartsch; it is found, however, in the MSS ACDHMNRa.