Virelai

Virelai

A virelai is a form of medieval French verse used often in poetry and music. It is one of the three formes fixes (the others were the ballade and the rondeau) and was one of the most common verse forms set to music in Europe from the late thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries.

A virelai is similar to a rondeau. Each stanza has two rhymes, the end rhyme recurring as the first rhyme of the following stanza. The overall musical structure is almost invariably ABBA, with the first and last sections having the same lyrics; this is the same form as the Italian ballata. The first stanza is known as the estribillo, the next two as mudanzas, and the fourth as the vuelta.

One of the most famous composers of virelai is Guillaume de Machaut (1300–1377), who also wrote his own verse; 33 separate compositions in the form survive by him. Other composers of virelai include Jehannot de l'Escurel, one of the earliest (d. 1304), and Guillaume Dufay (c.1400–1474), one of the latest.

By the mid-15th century, the form had become largely divorced from music, and numerous examples of this form (including the ballade and the rondeau) were written, which were either not intended to be set to music, or for which the music has not survived.

Example

"Douce Dame Jolie" by Guillaume de Machaut

Douce dame jolie,
Pour dieu ne pensés mie
Que nulle ait signorie
Seur moy fors vous seulement.
Qu'adès sans tricherie
Chierie
Vous ay et humblement
Tous les jours de ma vie
Servie
Sans villain pensement.
Helas! et je mendie
D'esperance et d'aïe;
Dont ma joie est fenie,
Se pité ne vous en prent.
Douce dame jolie,
Pour dieu ne pensés mie
Que nulle ait signorie
Seur moy fors vous seulement.

See also

  • List of virelais by Guillaume de Machaut

References

The example is taken from the German version of this page.


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  • VIRELAI — Du XIIIe au XVe siècle, forme la plus répandue de la chanson française. Le virelai classique débute, comme le rondeau, par une strophe refrain reprise après chacune des trois strophes couplets de huit vers. De plus, la dernière partie de la… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Virelai —   [vir lɛ; französisch] das, (s)/ s, Chanson baladée [ʃã sɔ̃ bala de], französische Liedform des 13. 15. Jahrhunderts, ein Tanzlied mit Refrain. Das Virelai beginnt mit einem vierzeiligen, später auch nur einzeiligen Refrain; es folgt eine… …   Universal-Lexikon

  • virelai — VIRELÉ/ s. n. mică piesă muzical poetică, în Franţa în sec. XIII XV, din patru strofe, dintre care prima (refren) se relua, integral sau parţial, după fiecare din celelalte trei. (< fr. virelai) Trimis de raduborza, 15.09.2007. Sursa: MDN …   Dicționar Român

  • Virelai — (spr. wīr lä), altfranz. Gedichtgattung, mit einer kürzern Refrainstrophe beginnend, die wörtlich am Schlusse einer jeden der drei Hauptstrophen des Gedichtes wiederholt wird. Man nannte das V. auch chanson baladée und gab ihm vom 14. Jahrh. an… …   Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon

  • Virelai — (wihrlä), altfranz. Lied mit kurzen Versen u. 2 Reimen, von denen der eine sich als Refrain wiederholt …   Herders Conversations-Lexikon

  • virelai — m. Liter. Breve composición poética de la lírica francesa medieval …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • virelai — (izg. virlȇ) m DEFINICIJA glazb. pov. plesna pjesma s pripjevom iz 12 13. st. iz koje se razvila glazbena balada; pjevaju solist i zbor uz glazbenu pratnju i plesno kolo ETIMOLOGIJA fr …   Hrvatski jezični portal

  • virelai — (virelay)    The virelai was one of the fixed forms of French verse of the 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries.Usually set to music, one form of the virelai used short lines and was divided into stanzas, each using only two rhymes. In general the last …   Encyclopedia of medieval literature

  • virelai — (vi re lè) s. m. 1°   Ancienne poésie française, toute composée de vers courts, sur deux rimes ; elle commence par quatre vers, dont les deux premiers se répètent dans le cours de la pièce. 2°   Danse de chasse.    L air de cette danse.… …   Dictionnaire de la Langue Française d'Émile Littré

  • virelai — ▪ French vocal music       one of several formes fixes (“fixed forms”) in French lyric poetry and song of the 14th and 15th centuries (compare ballade; rondeau). It probably did not originate in France, and it takes on several different forms… …   Universalium

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