Bernard de Ventadour
Bernart de Ventadorn (1130-1140 –
1190-1200), also known as Bernard de
Ventadour or Bernat del Ventadorn, was a
prominent troubador of the classical age
of troubadour poetry. Now thought of as
"the Master Singer" he developed the
cansos into a more formalized style
which allowed for sudden turns. He is
remembered for his mastery as well as
popularisation of the trobar leu style,
and for his prolific cansos, which
helped define the genre and establish
the "classical" form of courtly love
poetry, to be imitated and reproduced
throughout the remaining century and a
half of troubadour activity.
Bernart was known for being able to
portray his woman as a divine agent in
one moment and then in a sudden twist,
portraying her as Eve, the cause of
man's initial sin. This dichotomy in his
work is portrayed in a "graceful, witty,
and polished" medium.
According to the troubadour Uc de
Saint Circ, Bernart was possibly the son
of a baker at the castle of Ventadour (Ventadorn),
in today's Corrèze. Yet another source,
a satirical poem written by a younger
contemporary, Peire d'Alvernha,
indicates that he was the son of either
a servant, a soldier, or a baker, and
his mother was also either a servant or
a baker. From evidence given in
Bernart's early poem Lo temps vai e ven
e vire, he most likely learned the art
of singing and writing from his
protector, viscount Eble III of
Ventadorn. He composed his first poems
to his patron's wife, Marguerite de
Turenne.
Forced to leave Ventadour after
falling in love with Marguerite, he
traveled to Montluçon and Toulouse, and
eventually followed Eleanor of Aquitaine
to England and the Plantagenet
court;evidence for this association and
these travels comes mainly from his
poems themselves. Later Bernart returned
to Toulouse, where he was employed by
Raimon V, Count of Toulouse; later still
he went to Dordogne, where he entered a
monastery. Most likely he died there.
About 45 of his works survive.
Bernart is unique among secular
composers of the twelfth century in the
amount of music which has survived: of
his forty-five poems, eighteen have
music intact, an unusual circumstance
for a troubador composer (music of the
trouvères has a higher survival rate,
usually attributed to them surviving the
Albigensian Crusade, which scattered the
troubadours and destroyed many sources).
His work probably dates between 1147 and
1180. Bernart is often credited with
being the most important influence on
the development of the trouvère
tradition in northern France, since he
was well known there, his melodies were
widely circulated, and the early
composers of trouvère music seem to have
imitated him. Bernart's influence also
extended to Latin literature. In 1215
the Bolognese professor Boncompagno
wrote in his Antiqua rhetorica that "How
much fame attaches to the name of
Bernard de Ventadorn, and how gloriously
he made cansos and sweetly invented
melodies, the world of Provence very
much recognises."
