Robert de Reims: Songs and Motets

Robert de Reims, also knownas “LaChievrede Rains, ”was among the earliesttrouvères—poet-composers who were contemporaries of the troubadoursbut who wrote inthedialectsofnorthernFrance. This critical edition provides new translations into English andmodern French of all the songs and motets ascribed to him, along with the original texts, the extant music, and a substantive introduction.

Active sometime between 1190 and 1220, Robert was an influential figure in the literary circles of Arras.Thirteencompositions set to musicare here attributed to him, including ninechansonsandfour polyphonic motets thatwerebroadlydisseminatedin the thirteenth century and beyond. Robert’s work is exceptional ona number offronts.He lavished particular care on the phonic harmony of his words. Acoustic luxuriance and expertise in rhyming, grounded in the play of echoes and variation (often extending into the music), constitute the hallmark of his poetry. Moreover, he is the earliesttrouvèreknown to have composed a parodic sottechansoncontreAmours (silly song against Love).

Located clearly at the nexus of monophonic song and polyphony, Robert’s corpusalsoposes the intriguing questionoftrouvèreparticipation in the development of the polyphonic repertory.The case of Robert de Reimsjostles and tempers the standard history of the chanson and motet.

Accessible and instructive, this trilingual critical edition of his complete works makes the oeuvre of this innovative and consequentialtrouvèreavailable in one volume for the first time.