NOTES
Three coblas singulars of six lines, the last two lines forming a refrain: a10 a10 a10 a10 b5 b12 (a: ar, ai, is; b: or). Frank 27:2.
Authenticity. The unreliability of the attributions to Raimbaut in Sg has led to divergent views regarding the authenticity of this chanson de femme. While Anglade, R. Ortiz (ZRP XLIX, 559) and S. Pellegrini (Arch. Roman. XIV, 275) accept it as genuine, doubts have been expressed by Fassbinder (ZRP XLIX, 168, 182), Jeanroy (AdM XXI, 552), Lewent (Literaturbl. 1931, c. 285), A. Roncaglia (Cultura Neolatina XlI, 255) and Bergin. De Bartholomaeis (loc. cit.), followed recently by Romeu Figueras (loc. cit.), assigned it to an anonymous Catalan poet because of a certain resemblance to two cantigas de amigo of the 13th century Galician-Portuguese poet Martin Codax, in which a girl enquires of the waves of the sea for news of her absent lover (ed. J. J. Nunes, Cantigas d’amigo dos trovadores galego-portugueses, Coimbra, 1926–8, II, nos. 491, 497). The question of the authenticity of Altas undas has thus been seen as turning on the source of this theme in st. 1. A. Cavaliere has however rejected the Catalan hypothesis (Arch. Roman. XVII, 324), pointing out that the second theme of our poem (the inspiration of the breeze bringing memories of the beloved, st. 2). while recurring in other Provençal poems (cf. note to l. 7), is absent in the cantigas, and that as compared with the poems of Codax our poem shows a greater development of the themes utilised, a complexity and refinement in the expression of feeling and a wider poetic inspiration (Pellegrini indeed believes that the Portuguese poet was indebted to Raimbaut for his theme).
While the influence of the cantigas (the earliest examples of which may date from the end of the 12th century) cannot be excluded (cf. the Galician stanza of XVI), we consider Cavaliere’s arguments conclusive. The view, now widely accepted, that the themes of our poem, which are typical of the chanson de toile, existed independently in various Romance-speaking countries and elsewhere has received fresh support from the Romance jaryas of the recently-discovered Hispano-Arabic muwashshahs of the 11th and 12th centuries, in which a girl is similarly presented lamenting her lover’s absence (cf. E. Asensio, Poetica y realidad en el cancionero peninsular de la edad media, Madrid, 1957, pp. 23–30, and the bibliography there given). There is therefore no compelling reason for refusing to Raimbaut this unique and exquisite poem, which (as Cavaliere points out) provides a further example of our troubadour’s ability to give an individual and artistic form to traditional genres (cf. III, XV). The form of the poem (short monorhyme stanzas, with refrain) is identical with that of the few baladas and other dance songs extant in Provençal (cf. Jeanroy, Poésie lyrique, II, 303, 341; Appel, Prov. Chr., nos. 45–49; Bartsch-Koschwitz, Chrest. Prov., 268). Its precise date cannot be determined.
1. undas. A Catalanism; cf. also mun 3, 8, 15, dulza 7, un 8, nun 15. —Bergin mistranslates suz la mar as “sotto mar”.
3. sabez. Anglade, De Bartholomaeis, Cavaliere: savez; Romeu Figueras: say-me (MS. say mes).
5. oy Deu, d’amor. The other editors punctuate oy, Deu d’amor, but d’amor is an exclamatory rather than a dependent phrase; cf. the anonymous alba (Appel, op. cit., no. 53): oy Dieus, oy Dieus, de l’alba! (which Jeanroy, loc. cit., 297 renders: “Oh Dieu! Oh Dieu! cette aube!”).
7–10. Cf. in the Jeu de Ste. Agnès, ed. Jeanroy, l. 780 the incipit: facit planctum in sonu: “Vein, aura dolza, que vens d’outra la mar”. This line, long accepted as evidence of the existence of popular songs now lost, is cited by Cavaliere to show that the theme of the sea was known in Provençal lyrics as well as in the cantigas. For the theme of the inspiration of the breeze, cf. the alba cited above, ll. 17–19: Per la doss’ aura qu’es venguda de lay Del mieu amic belh e cortes e gay, Del siu alen ai begut un dous ray; Bernard de Ventadour, ed. Appel, 37: Quan la douss’ aura venta; Peire Vidal, ed. Anglade, XIX: Ab l’alen tir vas me l’aire; cf. also Charroi de Nîmes, ed. Lange-Kowal, ll. 830–44.
7. vens. The MS, venez is unsuitable for the singular aura dulza (cf. also vens in the Jeu de Ste. Agnès, cited above); we therefore emend with Cavaliere.
9. aporta·y. De Bartholomaeis considers aportay to be a Portuguese plural form; but as the singular is required (cf. preceding note), we accept the reading of Cavaliere, who cites several examples of the adverb i used after the verb.
14. The epic caesura is rare in lyric verse, but cf. the line from the Ste. Agnès and l. 17 of the alba cited above.
15. traÿs. As the MS. tenys does not make sense in the context, we adopt the plausible emendation of Cavaliere.
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