Eh Dame de Montpellier - Medieval French Song

Vocals & arrangement by Farya Faraji, oud by Ido Romano. This is a relatively obscure song written in Old French found in the Manuscrit de Montpellier, a collection of songs from the 13th century. It follows the form of the Virelai, a common form poetical form in Western Europe at the time. The arrangement is historically informed and follows the conventions of Medieval music found in the treatises: a continuous drone consisting of the tonic and perfect fifths played on a rebec provide the acoustical pillar of the performance, the rendering of the melody is highly heterophonic, adorning the written down melody with spontaneous ornaments and embellishments, a secondary, independent polyphonic voice accompanies part of the main melody, as this era sees the gradual shift of Western European music from a monophonic musical language to a vertical one rooted in more complex verticality, and the vocals also follow evidence of contemporary treatises describing vocal styles that would have been far more ornamental and melismatic in nature, something I explain in more detail in this video essay: The instruments used are the oud, the early form of the lute that was adopted in the Southern Mediterranean from the Arabs, before it underwent independent development to become a distinct form of lute with a much different sound by the Renaissance, a rebec, and tambourine percussions. As always with the pronunciation of Old French songs, take the pronunciation with a mountain of salt, it’s probably not perfect. I based my pronunciation on that of other recordings, but Old French is infamous for being not particularly well represented in Medieval recordings and resources on it are exceedingly difficult to find. Old French lyrics: E dame jolie, Mon cuer sans fauceir Met an vostre bailie Ke ne sai vo peir Sovant me voix conplaignant Et an mon cuer dolosant D’une malaidie Dont tous li mons an amant Doit avoir le cuer joiant Cui teilz malz maistrie Si formant m’agrie Li dous malz d’ameir Ke par sa signorie Me covient chanteir J’ain de cuer an desirant Dou monde la mués vaillant Et la plus prixie; Plus saige ne mués parlant N’a honor mués antandant On mont ne cuit mie. Ne sai ke j’an die, Mais a droit loweir C’est la muez ensaignie C’on puxe trover. Bien sai ke fellon cuxant M’ont estei souvant nuxant Ver vostre partie. Tres douce dame a cors gent, Por Deu ne’s croiez pas tant, Ces gens plain d’anvie. Si formant m’agrie Li dous malz d’ameir Ke par sa signorie Me covient chanteir I haven’t found many translations, and though I can understand bits and pieces of Old French as a contemporary French speaker, I’ll refrain from trying to translate it altogether as the language is far too different to be entirely intelligible.