Course program
Occitan albas. Themes, contexts, linguistic and formal issues of medieval monophonic songs of twelfth and thirteenth centuries: the albas in occitan language. With an outline of the phonology and morphology of Old Provençal and an inquiry into the interaction between melodic and poetic structures, primarily focused on some of surviving old Provençal dawn songs.
When faced with a text in a medieval literary language, the student must demonstrate: excellent ability to translate it; to analyze it fully from a linguistic point of view; to comment on it from a historical, cultural, and literary perspective; and to identify issues related to the manuscript tradition and its reception.
Prerequisites
No prior knowledge is required.
Books
Reference edition:
Gérard GOUIRAN, «Et ades sera l’alba». Angoisse de l’aube. Recueil des chansons d’aube des troubadours, Montpellier, Publications de l’Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier-III (« Lo gat ros »), 2005.
Christophe CHAGUINIAN, Les Albas occitanes, étude et édition par transcription musicale et étude des mélodies par J. Haines, Paris, Champion, 2008.
In addition to the reference edition mentioned above, students will also need to utilize the support of the following studies:
• Eos: An Enquiry into the Theme of Lovers’ Meetings and Partings at Dawn in Poetry, edited by Arthur T. HATTO, London - The Hague - Paris, Mouton & Co., 1965.
• Giorgio MONARI, ‘Son d’alba’. Morfologia e storia dell’alba occitanica, in «Critica del testo», 8 (2005), pp. 669-763.
• Lucia LAZZERINI, Letteratura medievale in lingua d’oc, Modena, Mucchi, 2010.
• Charmaine LEE, Costanzo Di Girolamo, Avviamento alla filologia provenzale, Roma, Carocci, 2015 (8° ristampa)
• Aurelio RONCAGLIA, La lingua dei trovatori. Profilo di grammatica storica del provenzale antico, Roma, Edizioni dell’Ateneo 1965 and reprints.
Frequency
Attendance not mandatory but strongly recommended.
Exam mode
To pass the exam, the candidates must demonstrate the acquisition of in-depth expertise about key-problems of Romance philology and arguments of the Medieval Literatures of Romance languages including historical linguistics and textual criticism.
Bibliography
Additional reading of contributions in hard copy or digital format that will be made available during the course is also required.
In the online folder dedicated to the course, dictionaries, grammars, and useful materials for exam preparation will also be available.
Lesson mode
Conventional frontal lectures.
