Читать книгу Woman's Work in Music - Arthur Elson - Страница 8

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The position of woman among the northern races that overthrew the Roman power was wholly different from that which she held in the more ancient epoch, but even under the newer regime it was no enviable one. In many of the earlier Germanic systems, wives were bought by a definite payment of goods or of cattle. That this was a recognized practice is shown in the laws of Ethelbert, which state that if a man carry off a freeman's wife, he must at his own expense procure another for the injured husband. Usually women had no rights of inheritance, though in some cases they could inherit when there were no male children, and in others they could transmit the right of inheritance to their male descendants. Sometimes they were allowed to inherit movable property of a certain sort, probably largely the result of their own handiwork. The evident idea of the Salic law was to allow woman a marriage portion only, and as soon as she was safely bestowed upon some neighbouring group of people, neither she nor her children had any further claim upon the parent group.

Great cruelty was evident in the treatment of female slaves. According to the laws of Athelstan, if one of these were convicted of theft, she should in punishment be burned alive by eighty other such slaves. A similar example of stern discipline is afforded by the ecclesiastical provision, occurring no less than three times, that, if a woman scourged her slave to death, she should do penance. It is little wonder that under these conditions the female slaves would sing in a rather forced manner, if at all, and the women themselves would hardly indulge in the gentle art of composing music.

The early Christian Church, too, afforded no encouragement for women to exert their musical abilities. When the earliest meetings occurred in the catacombs, the female members of the congregation took their part in singing the hymns, but, when organized choirs were formed, they were allowed no place. The singing-schools founded in Rome by the Popes Sylvester I. and Hilary, at the end of the fourth century, were devoted solely to the training of male voices. In describing the earlier music, St. John Chrysostom says: "The psalms which we sing unite all the voices in one, and the canticles arise harmoniously in unison. Young and old, rich and poor, women, men, slaves, and citizens, all of us have formed but one melody together." But the custom of permitting women to join with men in the singing was abolished by the Synod of Antioch in the year 379.

In the music of the Celtic and Gaelic races, also, woman had no place. Their songs, like their lives, were martial in character. The harpists of Ireland and Wales, and the bagpipers of Scotland, were all men, and they made strict rules about the admission of new members to their guilds. Even among the early English minstrels, who devoted their powers to the milder art of love-songs and Christmas carols, no women are to be found. The wandering life of these bards and singers was too rude at first to admit of participation by the gentler sex, and it was only under more stable conditions of civilization that woman at last gained the opportunity of showing and developing her talents.

With the advent of chivalry, she found herself at once in a more exalted position. In this epoch, when cultivated minds began to devote their energies to other things besides fighting in war and carousing in peace, music found new and worthier subjects in nature and love and the beauty of woman. Under the new system she became the arbiter of all knightly disputes, the queen to whom all obedience was due. From this extreme worship arose the schools of the Minnesingers and the Troubadours, who paid her manifold homage in the shape of poetry and song.

According to the general statements of history, the Minnesingers began their career in the time of Frederick Barbarossa, of Germany. This would place their origin in the latter part of the twelfth century. Yet it is a strange fact that Heinrich of Veldig, usually accounted the pioneer in this new school of singing, utters a complaint about the loss of the good old times, and bewails the decay of the true greatness of the art to which he devoted himself. The original song in which he expresses this sentiment is still extant, and the particular stanza in question runs as follows:

"Do man der rehten minne pflag

Da pflag man ouch der ehren;

Nu mag man naht und tag

Die boesen sitte leren;

Swer dis nu siht, und jens do sach,

O we! was der nu clagen mag

Tugende wend sich nu verkehren."

That many of the early songs of the Minnesingers have been preserved is due to the forethought of Rüdiger of Manesse, a public officer of Zurich in the fourteenth century. He made a thorough collection of all specimens of the style of the Minnesingers, and many subsequent works, such as that of Von Der Hagen, are based upon his researches.

The language ordinarily used by the Minnesingers was that of Suabia, which was that employed at the imperial and many lesser courts of Germany. They used it with a skill and delicacy which was generally far superior to the style of the Troubadours. In performing their works, they did not, like their western brethren, have recourse to hired accompanists, or Jongleurs, but supported the vocal part by playing on a small viol. The Jongleurs were essentially a French institution, and no class of musicians similar to them existed in Germany. The Minnesingers, like the Troubadours, were amateurs, and aimed to keep free from the taint of professionalism. Men of the highest rank were proud to belong to this order of musicians, and emperors, princes, and famous knights are found among them.

The love-songs of the Minnesingers, as already intimated, were less fiery than those of the Troubadours. While the Provençal minstrel allowed his homage to his chosen lady to proceed to extreme lengths, his German brother paid a less excessive but far purer tribute to the object of his affections. Very often, too, the German poets rose to a still higher level, and sang praises of the ideal qualities of womanhood in general. Thus the singers of Germany caused far less domestic discord than those of France.

That there was still some unlicensed gallantry, however, can be seen from the type of music known as "Wacht-Lieder," or watch-songs. In these the amorous knight is represented as pleading with the watchman of the castle for admission to his lady-love. Sometimes the song took the form of a warning from the watchman, telling that daylight was near and the knight must depart.

Besides giving the world a host of shorter songs, the period of the Minnesingers brought forth some really great poets who were successful in the larger forms. The author, or authors, of the famous "Nibelungenlied" are unknown; but the work remains to us as the greatest epic of Germany. Foremost in point of fame stands Wolfram von Eschenbach, author of the familiar "Parzifal." In depicting his characters, he strikes a note of idealistic beauty. Another great poet was Gottfried of Strasburg, almost as famous as Wolfram, and in some respects his opposite. His characters are endowed with life and vigour, and eager to seize the pleasures of earth while they last. His best work was "Tristan and Isolde."

The legend of Tannhäuser, which has crystallized and been handed down to us in story, has an undoubted basis of fact. The existence of the cave of Venus, in the Thuringian hill of Hörselburg, may be taken as not proven; but there certainly was a tournament of song at the castle of the Wartburg, and many famous knights probably took part in it. Whether Tannhäuser himself was real is an open question; but there can be no doubt about Walther von der Vogelweide, who was one of Germany's greatest masters in the shorter forms.

Examples of still another style in the work of the Minnesingers are almost surely a direct imitation of the work of the Trouvères of Northern France. These examples consist of more or less lengthy fables, or sometimes tales with a pleasing moral attached. Many stories of Roman history are found among these, and many of the proverbs which we use without thinking of their authorship date from this time. Among the latter are, "Set not the wolf to guard the sheep," "Never borrow trouble,"

"The king must die,

And so must I,"

and many other such gems of wisdom.

In all this the women had some share, if they did not play so important part as their sisters in France. Their position as hostesses, or as the objects of poetical tribute, enabled them to comment and criticize, and, if they did little actual composing, they were allowed to take a prominent part in the performance of music. We find in the old books of rules and codes of education that the woman of rank and position was possessed of many accomplishments, if not exactly those that are expected to-day. One of these codes, or Essenhamens, as they were called, gives the four chief duties of women, and, making allowance for the change in civilization, they correspond fairly well with those already quoted from the present German Empress. The cooking and sewing remain the same, but, instead of amusing the children, the women were expected to care for children of a larger growth, by obtaining a knowledge of surgery. The chatelaine was supposed to take full charge of her lord if he returned wounded from tourney or battle. Instead of church matters, the final accomplishment was the secular game of chess.

Another work of the time gives rules of behaviour for women, inculcating a submissive demeanour that is hardly practised to-day. The usual modesty of deportment was prescribed; women were always to direct their glances discreetly downward, and in the case of a stranger were to speak only when addressed. If a room were full of women, and a man should suddenly enter, the rules of decorum compelled them to rise immediately, and remain standing until he should seat himself.

The extent of knightly devotion to women in the age of chivalry can hardly be exaggerated. The work of Ulrich von Lichtenstein, for instance, in his "Frauendienst," is full of the most absurd performances, which any sensible lady would have been justified in repudiating. The Troubadours indulged in even greater vagaries, and one Pierre Vidal, in love with a certain Louve de Penautier, whose first name meant "she-wolf," adopted the name of Loup, and actually assumed a wolf skin as his garment. To prove his sincerity even more, he insisted upon being completely wrapped in this hide and hunted by hounds and horsemen. After the dogs had caught him, he would not allow them to be pulled off, but insisted upon enduring their attacks for the glory of his lady-love. When nearly dead, he was rescued and taken to her castle, where he recovered health if not mental balance.

More noble than any of these was the tribute paid to women by the Minnesinger Henry of Meissen. Declining to single out any one fair Muse, he sang of womankind as a whole, and never ceased to praise their purity, their gentleness, and their nobility. Through his life he was honoured by them with the title of "Frauenlob" (praise of women), and at his death they marched in the funeral procession, and each threw a flower into his grave, making it overflow with blossoms.

The royal house of Suabia did its best to encourage the art of the Minnesingers, allowing them a liberty of criticism that would ordinarily be undreamed of in court life. It is in an epoch little later than this that we find a singer expressing one of his objections to royalty in the following verse:

"King Rudolf is a worthy king,

All praise to him be brought;

He likes to hear the masters play and sing,

But after that he gives them naught."

The rise of the Troubadours is due wholly to Oriental influences. There may have been some native poetry among the pastoral races of the sunny land of Provence, where the guild flourished, but not a single line of it remains to us. Moreover, it is certain that the Eastern minstrels left their impress in Spain, and that the Crusaders brought back from the Orient, among many other novelties, the custom of encouraging minstrelsy. The Arabian bards sang chiefly of love, as they well might in a land where female loveliness received such excessive worship. At the Saracenic courts, the bards were ever ready to win gratitude, and even more substantial rewards, by praising the latest favourite at the expense of former beauties. Provence, with its dazzling sun and glowing climate, possessed a striking resemblance to the Eastern countries, and among its inhabitants were many who could boast an Oriental ancestry. No less than five times did Saracen emirs lead their hosts into the country, endeavouring to overcome it not only by force of arms, but by the more peaceful and more certain method of introducing their own industries and customs. Provence itself was a land of peace and repose, and could better encourage gentler arts than the warlike nations of Northern Spain. We may find the Troubadours definitely established there in the early part of the twelfth century.

The language of their songs is the beautiful "Langue d'oc," so called from the use of the word "oc" to mean yes, and thus distinguished from the "Langue d'oil" of Northern France and the "Lingua di si" of Italy. The "Langue d'oc" was spoken in the entire southern part of France, and has given its name to a province of the present. So when the nobles of Provence, in the lordly retirement of their ancestral castles, sought an entertainment suited to their refined and sympathetic natures, they were soon imitated by the greater part of the nation.

The songs of the Troubadours were in many cases taken directly from Eastern models. In early Arabian times it was customary for two shepherds to converse in music by intoning responsive phrases on their flutes; and it soon became customary for two minstrels to sing in like manner. In the early songs of the Bible, too, are many verses whose second half answers the first, and, in fact, the Hebrew words for "answer" and "sing" are said to be identical. Among the Troubadours, this species of musical dialogue took the form of the tenson, or contention. The use of answering couplets in solo songs is another point of resemblance. Another favourite Arabian form was the casida, or stanza constructed with only one rhyme, and the rich and melodious Provençal tongue lent itself excellently to poems of this structure. So successful were the Troubadours in using it that sometimes their compositions were over a hundred lines in length. The short but brilliant Arabian lyrics, called "Maouchah," or embroidery, were well imitated by dainty and sparkling lyrics of the Troubadours. The Oriental mourning song became the Planh, or dirge. The evening tribute of the Arabian minstrels to their chosen loves became the serenade, while the Troubadours went still further in this vein by originating the aubade, or morning song. Among the other forms used, the verse was merely a set of couplets, the chanson was divided into several stanzas, while the sonnet was much freer in form than at present. When more than two singers took part in a tenson, it became a tournament. The sirvente was a song of war or politics, sometimes satirical, sometimes in praise of the exploits of a generous patron. The sixtine contained six stanzas of six lines each, with the rhymes holding over from one stanza to the next, and occurring in a different order in each stanza. The rhymes in the sirvente differed from what we consider correct by consisting always of a repetition of the same word. The discord was a sort of free fantasia, sometimes in several dialects. The pastorelle was of pastoral character, usually consisting of short lines and containing a dialogue.

Among the more narrative forms are found the ballad, more especially favoured by the Trouvères, or minstrels of the "Langue d'oil" regions. It gave rise to the various metres used in the epics, and sometimes formed the basis of these longer works. In general, the Trouvères devoted themselves to fiction and story, while their southern brethren sang of love. The novel, used largely in the south, was a short poem containing some brilliant anecdote of gallantry, couched in neat phrase. The romance, or long narrative, was by reason of its size the most permanent of all the poetry of this age. Though written by both Troubadours and Trouvères, the latter were far superior in style and invention, and it is mostly their work which has survived. These romances were sometimes in prose, but more often in poetry of extremely smooth and flowing metre.

The romances grouped themselves in three principal cycles—first, the Carlovingian, including the stories of Charlemagne, of Roland and the twelve peers, of Fierabras, and so on; second, the Arthurian, dealing with the legends of the Round Table; and third, the Alexandrian, containing tales of antiquity, chiefly of Alexander the Great. In the first group, "Brut d'Angleterre" contains the mythical story of all the early English kings. It was adapted from lower Brittany by Robert Wace. A Saxon Trouvère continued this to his own time, imbuing his work with thorough hatred of the Normans. Walter Map, Archdeacon of Oxford under Henry II., wrote many Arthurian tales, while Chrétien de Troyes wrote the greater part of "Sir Perceval de Galles" in Norman-French. "Floriant and Florete" is another Arthurian tale, while "Aucassin and Nicolette," of unknown authorship, is a charming romance of love in Southern France and captivity among the Saracens.

The life of the Troubadour forms a pleasing picture in the book of mediæval history. He was essentially a gentleman by birth, scorning to take pay for his songs, and often distributing the gifts he received among his servants. He had to maintain a large retinue, and give sumptuous entertainments, with the result that he often used up his entire patrimony. The usual course in such cases was a trip to Palestine with the Crusaders, and a gallant death in battle with the infidel. But before reaching that end, his career must have been decidedly pleasant. He would pass the winter in his castle, training himself in feats of arms and in musical composition. At the advent of spring, he would issue forth, followed by a train of Jongleurs singing his songs, and proceed through field and wood to the nearest castle. Here in the evening a great feast would be arranged, with the Jongleurs in a special minstrels' gallery. Next day there would be music on the ramparts, or in fair weather brocade carpets would be spread in the meadows, and knights and ladies would listen to more songs. Here the Troubadour himself at times deigned to perform, thus affording his hearers an unusual privilege. Here, too, the women had a chance to show their own skill; for, if there were no woman Trouvères, there were plenty who were well able to hold their own in the shorter forms of the Troubadours.

That kings and princes did not disdain to become Troubadours is proved by the example of Richard of England and the Dauphin of Auvergne. But it is more unexpected to find a queen among their ranks, and that no less a queen than Eleanor, wife of Henry II. of England. Her grandfather, William of Poitou, was one of the earliest patrons of the art, and she inherited his tastes. Her career, like his, is one of boldness and adventure. When wife of Louis VII., before her marriage with Henry, she set an example to chivalry by going to the Crusades with that French king, and not in the capacity of wife, but rather as an Amazon warrior. She gathered around her a troupe of kindred spirits, and, equipped in the most graceful array that armourers and milliners could devise, started off at the head of her husband's knights. Her campaign was conducted on principles of pleasure rather than of strategy. In Asia Minor, where she led the van during the march, she chose her route according to the beauty of the landscape rather than safety of position, and more than once brought the army into grave danger. She varied the monotony of the advance by several romantic love episodes, notably with a young emir in the train of the Sultan Noureddin. She conducted her career in much the same style as the light opera heroine of to-day, who pauses in the midst of the action to sing a song, pursue an amour, or bask in the favour of all beholders.