Peire Vidal

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Peire Vidal

Peire Vidal (* around 1175 in Toulouse ; † around 1210 ) was an Old Occitan trobador . He wrote very personal songs in perfect form and language rich in images. 45 of these songs have survived, twelve of them with melodies.

life and work

Peire Vidal lived as a traveling singer in France, Spain, Italy and the Orient. Outside of his musical and poetic work, we find no contemporary reference to his poet-singer personality. A short Occitan biography, written some fifty years after his death, is fictional in nature and is based on episodes that build on his poems. Only the opening line of the biography is biographical in the narrower sense. There it says: "Si fo de Tolosa, fils d'un pelissier". “He comes from Toulouse and is the son of a furrier.” The fur and leather goods industry was established in the 12th century near the church of Saint Pierre des Cuisines in Toulouse.

Peire began his career with the troubadour Bernart Durfort around 1176 at the court of Count Raymond V of Toulouse . He stayed there until 1190 when, after a dispute with the count, he went looking for other patrons. Many of his early poems were dedicated to Vierna de Porcellet , a relative of the count. In some of these poems, Peire, Vierna and Raymond act in a love triangle.

From Toulouse he went to the court of King Alfonso II of Aragon , where he lived well until his death in 1196. Occasionally he visited the court of Alfonso son Peter II of Aragon . In the dispute between the rulers of Toulouse and Aragon, Peire took the stand of Aragon. He visited the court of King Alfonso VIII of Castile in Toledo in 1195 and then several times until 1201. He also stayed at the court of King Alfonso IX for some time . of León , where the Galician-Portuguese poetry was preferred over the Occitan.

Among Peire's many minor patrons were William VIII of Montpellier and his wife, the Byzantine princess Eudokia Komnene. William was both a vassal of Peter II and his father-in-law. Peire visited the Aragonese court during some of his visits to Narbonne, but although the ruling vice-countess of that city, Ermengarde of Narbonne , was a notable patroness of the troubadours (she supported Azalais de Porcairagues, for example), there is no evidence that she promoted or promoted Peire that he wrote songs for or on her. Peire was also closely associated with the Vice Count of Marseilles Barral de Baux . He had to flee to Italy because of a love affair with his wife Azalais. Vidal took part in the Third Crusade and came to Cyprus , where he married a Greek woman. Peire Vidal probably ended his days at the court of Alfonso III. from Aragon .

Peire Vidal acted as an advisor to many great personalities of his time. He himself was distinguished by an unmistakable, original, poetic personality full of ingenuity and sharpness. Skillful in parody and caricature, he often took a boastful, exaggerated basic position. He took this attitude so far that it can only be interpreted as self-irony. He boasted of being “the best of all gentlemen” and “the most irresistible of all lovers”. In his love poetry, his personal character always emerges, which is not characterized by too great seriousness. His style is clear and simple, yet perfectly formed and always personal. His song Anc no mori is particularly appreciated , in which he himself describes his poetic productivity: “De mots ricos no tem Peire Vidal!” “Peire Vidal is not afraid of rich words!”

Peire Vidal is mentioned in Ezra Pound's poem Pierre Vidal and in Ford Madox Ford's novel The Good Soldier and in Leopold von Sacher-Masoch's novella Venus in Furs .

swell

  • FA Brockhaus (Ed.): Brockhaus Enzyklopädie. In twenty-four volumes . Peire Vidal. 19th edition (1986-1994). tape 16 . FA Brockhaus, Mannheim 1991, ISBN 3-7653-1100-6 , p. 633 .
  • Peire Vidal . In: Meyers . 6th edition. Volume 15, p.  541 .
  • Veronica M. Fraser: The Songs of Peire Vidal: Translation and Commentary . Peter Lang, New York 2006, ISBN 0-8204-7922-5 .

Web links

Commons : Peire Vidal  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual references and comments

  1. ↑ The article is based in part on the article of the same name on the English language Wikipedia. The version history of the English article is integrated into the German article.
  2. ↑ a b c Brockhaus. 1991. Peire Vidal.
  3. ↑ a b c d Veronica M. Fraser. 2006. Peire Vidal. Page 1.
  4. ↑ a b Veronica M. Fraser. 2006. Peire Vidal. Page 2.
  5. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Veronica M. Fraser. 2006. Peire Vidal. Page 3.
  6. ↑ a b c Meyer's Large Conversation Lexicon. 1906. Peire Vidal.
  7. ↑ a b c d e f g h Enciclopèdia Catalana. Peire Vidal.
personal data
SURNAME Vidal, Peire
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Occitan trobador
DATE OF BIRTH around 1175
PLACE OF BIRTH Toulouse
DATE OF DEATH around 1210