Ot de Montcada

Belltower at Vic

Ot de Montcada was an early Catalan troubadour with no surviving work. Ot's work is known only from a reference in a sirventes of Guillem of Berguedan around 1175. By then he was considered old and out-dated. Guillem wrote his lyrics to the melody composed by Ot, who wrote it before the stone belltower at Vic was erected:

Chanson ai comensada que sera loing cantada en est son vieil antic que fetz N'Ot de Moncada ans que peira pausada fos el clochier de Vic.

Here commences a song that will long be sung in the old ancient tune that Sir Ot de Montcada composed before possessed of stones was the belltower of Vic.

It is possible that Ot was active before 1038, since in that year the cathedral of Vic was consecrated; it was considered aged in the mid-twelfth. This dating is uncertain, however, since Guillem may have meant no more than that Ot was very old.

References

• Riquer, Martín de (1964). Història de la Literatura Catalana, vol. 1. Barcelona: Edicions Ariel.