Albertet de Sestaro

Albertet de Sestaro, Sestairo, Sestairon, Sestarron, Sisteron, or Terascon (fl. 1194–1221) was a Provençal jongleur and troubadour from the Gapençais ("Gapenses" in Occitan). Of his total oeuvre, twenty three poems survive. [Sometimes the numbers 21 and 25 are found.] "Albertet" or "Albertetz" is the Occitan diminutive of Albert. [Shepard, 22.] Unqualified it usually refers to Albertet de Sestaro, but there was an Albertet Cailla.

According to his "vida" he was the son of a noble jongleur named Asar, one of whose pieces may survive.Egan, 5.] Albertet was reputed for his voice and for the innovative melodies of his short "cansos", but not for his lyrics. Fellow troubadour Uc de Lescura praised Albertet's "votz a ben dir" ("well-spoken-of voice").Aubrey, 20.] He was a welcomed performer and conversationalist in court society. Much of his life was spent at Orange, where he grew wealthy before moving to Lombardy, where he remained from 1210 to 1221.Parker, "Albertet de Sestaro".] In Italy he frequented the courts of Savoy, Montferrat, Malaspina, Genoa, and the Este in Ferrara. At the Este court he probably came into contact with Guillem Augier Novella, Aimeric de Pegulhan, and Aimeric de Belenoi. He also travelled west of Provence as far as Montferrand, where he met Dalfi d'Alvernha, Gaucelm Faidit, and Peirol, and by some accounts he even took refuge in Spain at some point. [Falvy, 160.] Eventually he returned to Sisteron in the Forcalquier, where he died.Parker, "Albertet de Sestaro".]

One of Albertet's most famous works is a satire which heaps praise on seven prominent women of his time, notably Beatrice of Savoy, wife of Raymond Berengar IV of Provence. There is also a "tenso" between Albertet and Aimeric de Pegulhan: "N'Albertz, chausetz a vostre sen". [Shepard, 19.] This "tenso" is evidence that Albertet called himself Albert, though later scribes usually employed the diminutive. Albertet also composed a "tenso" with Aimeric de Belenoi. [Aubrey, 232.] He praised Augier and Gaucelm Faidit, and he honoured Peirol by name in one "tornada":Aubrey, 226–227.] Asides from this request to Peirol, Albertet elsewhere begged his lady to learn his poems, possibly with an eye to the propagation through further singing and recitation: [Lewent, 115.]

Despite his reputation as a musician, only two of his surviving works— the "Mos coratges m'es camjatz" and "A! mi no fai chantar foilla ni flors" (both "cansos")—have complete melodies, though one other ("En mon cor ai un' aital encobida") is partially extant. There is another piece, a "descort" entitled "Bel m'es oimais", which does not survive with music in its only manuscript but which might have been the model for the strophic lai "Bel m'est li tans" of the trouvère Colin Muset. Each piece of Albertet's surviving musical work is distinct, though on the whole it is conservative, written within one tenth interval, syllabic with melismas only at the ends of phrases. "Mos coratges" is conventional but ornate; "En mon cor" appears to have been through-composed; and "A! mi no fai chantar" is complex and subtle, written in a simple style, but with unique intervals and phrasing.

Notes

ources

*Aubrey, Elizabeth. "The Music of the Troubadours". Indiana University Press, 1996. ISBN 0 253 21389 4.
*Egan, Margarita, ed. and trans. "The Vidas of the Troubadours". New York: Garland, 1984. ISBN 0824094379.
*Falvy, Zoltán. [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0039-3266%281983%2925%3A1%2F4%3C159%3ALCDLSE%3E2.0.CO%3B2-B "La cour d'Alphonse le Sage et la musique européenne."] "Studia Musicologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae", 25, Fasc. 1/4. (1983), pp. 159–170.
*Lewent, Kurt. [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0026-7937%28194304%2938%3A2%3C106%3AOPM%3E2.0.CO%3B2-3 "Old Provençal Miscellany."] "The Modern Language Review", 38:2 (Apr., 1943), pp. 106–116.
*Parker, Ian R. "Albertet de Sestaro", "Grove Music Online" ed. L. Macy,
*Shepard, William P. [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0026-8232%28192508%2923%3A1%3C17%3ATPT%3E2.0.CO%3B2-3 "Two Provençal Tenzoni."] "Modern Philology", 23:1 (Aug., 1925), pp. 17–28.