Rereading Peire Vidal's "Baron, de mon dan covit" (BEdT 364.7)

Abstract

This contribution proposes a critical reassessment of the atypical but characteristic piece by Peire Vidal, 'Baron, de mon dan covit' (BEdT 364.7, ed. Avalle XXIV), “half a lovesong and half a boast” (BdT), transmitted by four medieval songbooks, C E M R, and partially by Q. Our analysis will focus in particular on the opening lines of the poem, judged “desperate” by Avalle, for which we put forward a different reading hypothesis; on its relationship with another "gap" by Peire Vidal, 'Drogoman senher' (BEdT 364.18, ed. Avalle XXIX), and crusade song 'Baron, Jhesus, qu’en crotz fon mes' (BEdT 364.8, ed. Avalle XII), which are copied respectively before and after the two battered stanzas of our text in ms. Q; and finally on the musical intonation, preserved in ms R, which has structural and melodic features that also differentiate it from the common type of intonation for the troubadour "canso".