The Goliard and his catamite

My research, if you can call it that (I don't know what else to call it, but research sounds much more official than it actually is) is concerning the work, rumors, and lives of the supposed 'goliards' of Medieval Europe.

I know . . . it's obscure.

You might be familiar with the 20th century cantata by Carl Orff, Carmina Burana. Carmina Burana is a collection of 11th to 13th century Beuren poems. Many of these poems are about 'goliardic themes' (sex, drinking and other forms of lechery written by clergy or scholars) or are written in 'goliardic verse' (a poetic form like a sonnet). Here is the most famous movement from Orff's Carmina Burana.

I recently found a poem that is most likely about Medieval, homosexual romance. (I have a big stupid grin on my face). It's called O admirabile veneris idolum, ‘O wonderful image of Venus' and it's from a collection of medieval songs called Cambridge Songs. I've read that it is most likely about an older man lamenting the loss of his younger lover, who has been seduced by another man. I have yet to hear a recording of the song, but I know there is one by an ensemble called "Sequentia." The translation is:

O marvelous idol of Venus, in whose substance there is no defect: may the prime-mover, who created the stars and heavens and who founded the seas and land, protect you. May you not suffer deception through the craft of a thief. May Clotho, who carries the distaff, cherish you. "Keep the boy safe!" not by supposition, but with resolute heart I entreat Lachesis, sister of Atropos, that she not consider pulling off the thread. May you have Neptune and Thetis as companions when you are borne over the river Adige. Why do you take flight - please tell - even though I love you? What shall I do, wretch, since I cannot see you? Hard substance from the bones of Mother Earth created humankind when the stones were cast. Of these this dear boy is one, who does not heed tearful moans. While I am sad, my rival will rejoice: I cry out like a hind when a fawn takes flight.
(Translation: Jan Ziolkowski)

Here's an image of the 11th or 12th century manuscript (note the dots and lines, if you can see them, above the text - that's some medieval notation - makes you miss staves):

It is from northern Italy during the 1000's - and it has the melody of a famous (at the time) Roman Pilgrim song, O Roma nobilis (there is an arrangement of this melody by Liszt). Here's a recording that may be accurate, or not:

The ironic thing, and the thing I want to look more into, is that in no other time in recorded Western history has there been such overt, systemic, violent, cruel, and sometimes arbitrary oppression of gay or homosexual populations - so how might have this been received by the audience? Was it coded like a late-20th century, gay romance song would have been? There is some debate whether the author was male or female, but not much.

It's all so exciting!
      

Brainwashed by pop music

So I had said that I would discuss music and gayness and so far - just gayness. So I would like to discuss pop music and where it might have come from.

My high school art teacher, Mr. F, once talked about pop music saying that it all sounds the same. I remember listening to the radio in the studio while working and hearing him say something like, "it's like they found out a formula that satisfies everyone's brain and forces us to buy into it, and are exploiting it for all it's worth."

Although I don't think all pop music sounds the same, I have to agree with him - there is a definite form to pop songs that has been established for a long time: the essential AAB - or bar form. The brain seems to be aesthically aroused and satisfied by this formula. Most art can be reduced to repetition and contrast, or a mixture of the two - variation. (This is my idea of Schenkerian analysis - I -V - I; where I is continuity or repetition and V is contrast).

AA - An idea is proposed, and then repeated. Now our brains know what's going on because we heard it more than once.

B - Wow, something different, contrasting, maybe even conflicting. Our brains are aroused.

Rounding - it's all okay, we know what's going on again. We're satisfied.

Let's analyze some Ke$ha:

Blow by Ke$ha has the bar form AAB

4 bar phrases, mostly parallel periods

A is comprised of two periods (aa,bb) and a refrain of a repeated 4 bar phrase (cccc)

A is repeated with different lyrics (aabbcccc)

B is a short instrumental interlude and repeated 4 bar phrase (go insane, go insane) (ddddd) then the refrain (cccc)

Now let's analyze something older

A Chantar is a song from the 12th century southern France by a female troubador, the Comtessa de Dia

The troubadours were sort of the pop stars of Medieval France

Kind of 4 bar phrases, contrasting periods, overall strophic form, verses are bar form AAB

A is the contrasting period (ab) and is repeated with different lyrics A (ab)

B starts higher in the voice and continues up before falling to an open cadence and then back to the rounding (cdb)

I thought this was enlightening - that really, pop music hasn’t changed much outside of the technology used to produce it. And our reactions to the pop music are similar - I mean, not to knock the Comtessa, but Ke$ha is far more exciting to me - but our brains react similarly to the more sensational music. So I guess Mr. F was kind of right with his pejorative statement about pop music having a formula that feeds pop music directly into our minds.