The Medieval

LyricCeara Lokay

What is a lyric?

The term “lyric” comes from the middle French lyrique meaning a “short poem expressing personal emotion” (etymonline.com) in the 1580’s.

Butterfield states “The modern lyric came into being when readers decided they wanted to read poems as lyrics” (323).

Lyrics are traditionally hand written and were meant to be heard and not read.

A Brief History of the Medieval Lyric The lyric tradition began with the Troubadours and Trouvères poetic practices in

France.

The Troubadours were situated in southern France in the 11th century and the Trouvères were situated in northern France in the 12th century

Troubadours spoke in the Provencal language and the Trouvères spoke a variation root of modern French

The troubadour way of poetry disappeared around the beginning of the 13th century with destruction of the Provencal civilization due to the crusades

History Continued: The Trouveres and the Troubadours lived a highly nomadic life, traveling from

kingdom to kingdom, performing for nobles that had either heard of their prowess or were willing to offer them patronage for their ability to provide musical entertainment.

Lyric Types

Religious developed as a way to appeal to

the large and common masses that attended church

Some religious lyrics were created per request of the nobility, similar to stained glass in cathedrals

Secular depicted the scenes of everyday life

as well as the themes of nature

These themes were also copied by the religious poets who “was aware of his rival’s power over a part of the psyche proper to that rival’s sphere of operation, and therefore borrowed his technique or phraseology as seemed fit” (Stone 175).

Lyric Performance

performed in front of nobles and their courts if they were of the secular theme and also performed in church and the people assembled there if they were religious

There were a variety of instruments that may have accompanied a lyrical performance including the harp, the lute, guitar, viol, rebec and a small portative organ.

Rebec

Portative Organ

The Choir of the Cathedral and Abbey Church of St Alban From the Album Christmas at St Albans September 25, 2007

"I Sing of a Maiden (Middle English Lyric)." I Sing of a Maiden (Middle English Lyric). 2011. Web. 28 Mar. 2016.

Modern Lyrics

Modern lyrics are not often thought of as poetry but rather a song.

modern lyric is similar to its medieval counter parts in that the music that would accompany the singing is not typically placed with the lyrics that are free for the public to access

music sheets which can be purchased and viewed to understand how different instruments can be used to recreate the original song and song sheets for the lyrics can also be purchased if a singer would be interested in learning how to sing that song with the correct tones and inflections of their voice

Of Monsters and Men:Dirty Paws The sheet music here has

been written for the piano and also for vocals and chords.

The first four measures are representing the piano notes on the top measures and the ones below are for chords.

In the next three measures is when the vocals are added, being placed above the piano notes.

Piano

Chords

Vocals

Piano

Chords

Jumping up and down the floor, my head is an animalAnd once there was an animal, it had a son that mowed the lawnThe son was an ok guyThey had a pet dragonflyThe dragonfly, it ran awayBut it came back with a story to say...

Her dirty paws and furry coat, she ran down the forest slopesThe forest of talking trees, they used to sing about the birds and the beesThe bees had declared a war - the sky wasn't big enough for them allThe birds, they got help from belowFrom dirty paws and the creatures of snow

(Nanna Bryndis Hilmarsdottir and Ragnar Thorhallsson)

Dirty Paws by Of Monsters and Men: Lyrics

Lyrics have only increased in popularity through the ages. People still want to be able to sing their

favorite songs.

There are even lyric music videos that are now being created by the artist’s and the different companies to compete with fan made lyric videos.

Our desire for understanding and enjoying music has never stopped, but rather it has grown and will continue to grow.

Works CitedButterfield, Ardis. "Why Medieval Lyric?" ELH 82.2 (2015): 319-343. Project MUSE. Web. 21

Oct. 2015. Duncan, Thomas G., ed. Companion to the Middle English Lyric. Suffolk, GBR: D. S. Brewer,

2005. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 26 Nov. 2015.Dronke, Peter. The Medieval Lyric. London: Hutchinson, 1968. Print.Fein, Susanna Greer. "The Complete Harley 2253 Manuscript, Volume 1: Introduction. Robbins Library Digital

Projects. Medieval Institute Publications, 2015. Web. 28 Nov. 2015.Gray, Douglas. Themes and Images in the Medieval English Religious Lyric. London: Routledge

and K. Paul, 1972. Print.Hilmarsdottir, Nanna Bryndis and Thorhallsson, Ragnar. Dirty Paws. n.d. United Kingdom:

Sony ATV Music Publishing, 2012. Web. 23 Nov. 2015."I Sing of a Maiden (Middle English Lyric)." I Sing of a Maiden (Middle English Lyric). 2011. Web. 28 Mar. 2016. "Of Monsters and Men." - Dirty Paws Lyrics. LYRICS © SONY/ATV MUSIC PUBLISHING

LLC, n.d. Web. 27 Nov. 2015."Online Etymology Dictionary." Online Etymology Dictionary. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2015.Palti, Kathleen. "Singing Women: Lullabies and Carols In Medieval England." The Journal of

English and Germanic Philology 3 (2011): 359. Literature Resource Center. Web. 28 Nov. 2015

Seay, Albert. Music in the Medieval World. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1965. Print.Stone, Brian. Medieval English Verse. (S.l.: Londres): Penguin, 1972. Print.The Choir of the Cathedral and Abbey Church of St Alban. I Sing of a Maiden. Lammas, 2007. MP3.