Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Vielle by Anna Vasylchenko, harp, flute, drums and vocals by Farya Faraji.
This is an Occitan song from circa the 1200s, steeped into the troubadour tradition of the era. This rendition follows a largely monophonic performance with slight polyphonic departures from the main melody, as the 1200s in Western Europe still saw the gradual emergence of full polyphony, with some pieces indeed being fully polyphonic, and others applying it more sparingly into an otherwise primarily monophonic model.
The song is by by Raimon de Miraval, a 12th and 13th century troubadour from Occitania, a man who lived a tumultuous romantic life and described himself as someone from the knightly class, albeit a poor knight. He was instrumental in cultivating the trobar leu style of Medieval Occitan poetry, defined by a "light" poetic style that made it accessible to the general public, and not merely the refined, scholarly poetry of the courtly world.
Lyrics:
Cel que no vol auzir chanssos
De nostra companhia is gar,
Qu'eu chan per mon cors alegrar
E per solatz dels companhos.
E plus per so q'endevengues
En chanssonc a midonz plagues,
C'autra voluntatz nom destreing
De solatz ni de bel capteing.
De la bella, don sui cochos,
Desir lo tener e l baisar,
El jazer e l plus conquistar,
Et apres, mangas e cordos,
E del plus qe-il clames merces,
Que ja mais no serai conques
Per joia ni per entresseing,
Si so q'ieu plus vuoill non ateing.
Ben es savis a lei de tos
Qui drut blasma de folleiar,
Com, des qe-is vol amesurar,
Non es puoia adreich amoros;
Mas cel q'en sap far necies,
Aquel sap d'amor tot qant n'es;
Eu no-n sai trop ni no m'en feing,
Ni ja no vuoill c'om m'en esseing.
Ben aia qui prim fetz jelos,
Que tant cortes mestier saup far,
Que jelosia-m fai gardar
De mals parliers e d'enoios;
E de jelosi'ai apres
So don mi eis tenc en defes
Ad ops d'una, c'autra non deing,
Neis de corteiar m'en esteing.
E val mais bella tracios
Don ja horn non prenda son par
C'autrui benananss'enveiar;
Qan Dieus en vol ajostar dos,
De dompna vuoill qe-il aon fes
E que ja no-il en sobre jes;
Mas qui m'enquier don vau ni veing
Ma mort vol, q'alz autres enseing.
English translation
He who does not wish to hear songs,
let him avoid our company,
for I sing for my own delight
and for the distraction of my companions,
and even more so that it may occur that in
singing I might please my lady,
for no other desire,
of pleasure or of fine conduct, compels me.
I wish to hold and kiss
and sleep with and obtain lo plus
from the beautiful lady I desire,
and afterward (I wish) sleeves and silk cords,
and mercy to obtain the most that I might ask of her,
for I shall never be conquered
by gift or sign
if I do not attain what I most want.
He is certainly wise in the manner of a child
who blames a lover for acting foolishly,
for from the moment he wishes to be prudent,
a man is no longer a proper lover;
but the one who knows how to be foolish in love,
that one knows about love all there is to know.
I don't know too much about it, nor do I pretend to,
and I don't ever want to be taught.
Blessed be he who first acted jealous,
since he accomplished such a courtly task;
for jealousy makes me avoid evil
and troublesome chatterers,
and from jealousy I have learned to keep
myself in reserve for the needs of one lady,
so that I do not consider another worthy,
and I even refrain from courting them (the others).
And a fine betrayal, whose equal
one may never experience, is worth more
than to envy the happiness of others.
When God wishes to join two together,
I wish that the lady abound in faith
and that there never be an excess of it.
But whoever inquires into my going and coming
wishes my death, for she informs the others.
Vielle by Anna Vasylchenko, harp, flute, drums and vocals by Farya Faraji.
This is an Occitan song from circa the 1200s, steeped into the troubadour tradition of the era. This rendition follows a largely monophonic performance with slight polyphonic departures from the main melody, as the 1200s in Western Europe still saw the gradual emergence of full polyphony, with some pieces indeed being fully polyphonic, and others applying it more sparingly into an otherwise primarily monophonic model.
The song is by by Raimon de Miraval, a 12th and 13th century troubadour from Occitania, a man who lived a tumultuous romantic life and described himself as someone from the knightly class, albeit a poor knight. He was instrumental in cultivating the trobar leu style of Medieval Occitan poetry, defined by a "light" poetic style that made it accessible to the general public, and not merely the refined, scholarly poetry of the courtly world.
Lyrics:
Cel que no vol auzir chanssos
De nostra companhia is gar,
Qu'eu chan per mon cors alegrar
E per solatz dels companhos.
E plus per so q'endevengues
En chanssonc a midonz plagues,
C'autra voluntatz nom destreing
De solatz ni de bel capteing.
De la bella, don sui cochos,
Desir lo tener e l baisar,
El jazer e l plus conquistar,
Et apres, mangas e cordos,
E del plus qe-il clames merces,
Que ja mais no serai conques
Per joia ni per entresseing,
Si so q'ieu plus vuoill non ateing.
Ben es savis a lei de tos
Qui drut blasma de folleiar,
Com, des qe-is vol amesurar,
Non es puoia adreich amoros;
Mas cel q'en sap far necies,
Aquel sap d'amor tot qant n'es;
Eu no-n sai trop ni no m'en feing,
Ni ja no vuoill c'om m'en esseing.
Ben aia qui prim fetz jelos,
Que tant cortes mestier saup far,
Que jelosia-m fai gardar
De mals parliers e d'enoios;
E de jelosi'ai apres
So don mi eis tenc en defes
Ad ops d'una, c'autra non deing,
Neis de corteiar m'en esteing.
E val mais bella tracios
Don ja horn non prenda son par
C'autrui benananss'enveiar;
Qan Dieus en vol ajostar dos,
De dompna vuoill qe-il aon fes
E que ja no-il en sobre jes;
Mas qui m'enquier don vau ni veing
Ma mort vol, q'alz autres enseing.
English translation
He who does not wish to hear songs,
let him avoid our company,
for I sing for my own delight
and for the distraction of my companions,
and even more so that it may occur that in
singing I might please my lady,
for no other desire,
of pleasure or of fine conduct, compels me.
I wish to hold and kiss
and sleep with and obtain lo plus
from the beautiful lady I desire,
and afterward (I wish) sleeves and silk cords,
and mercy to obtain the most that I might ask of her,
for I shall never be conquered
by gift or sign
if I do not attain what I most want.
He is certainly wise in the manner of a child
who blames a lover for acting foolishly,
for from the moment he wishes to be prudent,
a man is no longer a proper lover;
but the one who knows how to be foolish in love,
that one knows about love all there is to know.
I don't know too much about it, nor do I pretend to,
and I don't ever want to be taught.
Blessed be he who first acted jealous,
since he accomplished such a courtly task;
for jealousy makes me avoid evil
and troublesome chatterers,
and from jealousy I have learned to keep
myself in reserve for the needs of one lady,
so that I do not consider another worthy,
and I even refrain from courting them (the others).
And a fine betrayal, whose equal
one may never experience, is worth more
than to envy the happiness of others.
When God wishes to join two together,
I wish that the lady abound in faith
and that there never be an excess of it.
But whoever inquires into my going and coming
wishes my death, for she informs the others.
