The Lais of Tristan (1 of 4)
Le Roman de Tristan en Prose is an enormous epic romance composed between 1220 and 1240 and was extremely popular in its day. Of the many surviving manuscripts, only one contains 17 songs called lais. Many of these are in the form of letters written by the main characters, but sung and harped to the recipients by messengers. The lais are deceptively simple, but can be deeply moving, as they express the longing, even the anguish of lovers forced into separation. Given the loneliness and isolation we have endured in the past year, it seems appropriate to commemorate our shared experiences with an exploration of these pieces.
Mary Springfels and Karen Clark will guide performers through pronunciation, presentation, and approaches to accompaniment.
The project will be open to singers and players of medieval strings. Students will be supplied with facsimiles of the original manuscript, transcriptions and translations.
The course will be virtual, and we plan to use “Easy Virtual Choir” or some other straightforward way for singers and instrumentalists to collaborate electronically.