A troubadour was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100–1350). Since the word troubadour is etymologically masculine, a female equivalent is usually called a trobairitz.
Occitan literature is a body of texts written in Occitan, mostly in the south of France. It was the first literature in a Romance language and inspired the rise of vernacular literature throughout medieval Europe. Occitan literature's Golden Age was in the 12th century, when a rich and complex body of lyrical poetry was produced by troubadours writing in Old Occitan, which still survives to this day. Although Catalan is considered by some a variety of Occitan, this article will not deal with Catalan literature, which started diverging from its Southern French counterpart in the late 13th century.
The House of Grimaldi is the current reigning house of the Principality of Monaco. The house was founded in 1160 by Grimaldo Canella in Genoa and became the ruling house of Monaco when Francesco Grimaldi captured Monaco in 1297.
Wiesław Z. Wiśniewski was a Polish astronomer. Wisniewski was born and educated in Poland. He survived the Nazi occupation and many of his later insights and viewpoints may have grown from the hardships suffered during the war and the years afterwards. He began his career as a high school mathematics teacher before receiving his M.A. degree in astronomy from Poznan University in 1952 and his D.Sc. degree in astronomy from Jagiellonian University, Poland, in 1962. He joined the staff of the Cracow Observatory at Jagiellonian University as a research assistant in 1953. From 1957 to 1959, he participated as a Scientist of the International Geophysical Year Expedition to Spitsbergen. Wisniewski moved to the United States in 1963 to work as an astronomy professor at the newly founded Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at the University of Arizona in Tucson Arizona. Wisniewski returned to Poland in 1967, but eventually made his permanent home in Tucson, Arizona in 1971.
The Republican Party of Guam, commonly referred to as Guam GOP, is a political party in Guam affiliated with the United States Republican Party.
The Troubadour is a nightclub located in West Hollywood, California, United States, at 9081 Santa Monica Boulevard just east of Doheny Drive and the border of Beverly Hills. Inspired by a visit to the newly opened Troubadour café in London, it was opened in 1957 by Doug Weston as a coffee house on La Cienega Boulevard, then moved to its current location shortly after opening and has remained open continuously since. It was a major center for folk music in the 1960s, and subsequently for singer-songwriters and rock. In 2011, a documentary about the club, Troubadours: Carole King / James Taylor & The Rise of the Singer-Songwriter, was released.
Scotto is a given name and a surname, generally Italian. Notable people with the surname include:
Lanfranc Cigala was a Genoese nobleman, knight, judge, and man of letters of the mid thirteenth century. He remains one of the most famous Occitan troubadours of Lombardy. Thirty-two of his poems survive, dealing with Crusading, heresy, papal power, peace in Christendom, and loyalty in love. Lanfranc represented a tradition of Italian, Occitan-language trovatori who berated the Papacy for its handling of the Crusades.
Bertolome Zorzi was a Venetian nobleman, merchant, and troubadour. Like all Lombard troubadours, he composed in the Occitan language. Eighteen of his works survive.
Perdigon or Perdigo was a troubadour from Lespéron in the Gévaudan. Fourteen of his works survive, including three cansos with melodies. He was respected and admired by contemporaries, judging by the widespread inclusion of his work in chansonniers and in citations by other troubadours.
Bonifaci, Bonifatz, or Bonifacio Calvo was a Genoese troubadour of the late thirteenth century. The only biographical account of his life is found in the vida of Bertolome Zorzi. He is, however, the most notable Genoese troubadour after Lanfranc Cigala. In total, nineteen of his poems and two descorts have survived.
Luchetto Gattilusio was a Genoese statesman, diplomat, and man of letters. As a Guelph he played an important role in wider Lombard politics and as a troubadour in the Occitan language he composed three poems descriptive of his times.
Albertet de Sestaro, sometimes called Albertet de Terascon, was a Provençal jongleur and troubadour from the Gapençais. Of his total oeuvre, twenty three poems survive. "Albertet" or "Albertetz" is the Occitan diminutive of Albert. Unqualified, it usually refers to Albertet de Sestaro, but there was an Albertet Cailla.
Luca Grimaldi was a Genoese troubadour and Guelph politician and diplomat. None of his poetic work survives.
Jacme or Iacme Gril(s) was a Genoese troubadour of the mid-thirteenth century. He wrote two tensos which survive, one with Lanfranc Cigala and another (fragmentary) one with Simon Doria.
Simon Doria was a Genoese statesman and man of letters, of the important Doria family. As a troubadour he wrote six surviving tensos, four with Lanfranc Cigala, one incomplete with Jacme Grils, and another with a certain Alberto. He was the son of a Perceval Doria, but not the Perceval Doria who was also a troubadour and probably his cousin.
Rambertino di Guido Buvalelli, a Bolognese judge, statesman, diplomat, and poet, was the earliest of the podestà-troubadours of thirteenth-century Lombardy. He served at one time or other as podestà of Brescia, Milan, Parma, Mantua, Genoa, and Verona. Ten of his Occitan poems survive, but none with an accompanying melody. He is usually regarded as the first native Italian troubadour, though Cossezen and Peire de la Caravana may precede him. His reputation has secured a street named in his honour in his birthplace: the Via Buvalelli Rambertino in Bologna.
Guillelma de Rosers, also spelled Guilleuma, Guillielma, Guilielma, or Guilhelma, was a Provençal trobairitz of the mid-thirteenth century, one of the last known trobairitz. She was originally from Rougiers but lived in Genoa for a long time, where she met Lanfranc Cigala, who wrote about her in some songs. These and Lanfranc's vida form the major source of information about her life. She is also the addressee—la flor de cortezia, the flower of courtliness—of an anonymous canso, "Quan Proensa ac perduda proeza", which bemoans her long stay in Genoa.
Girolamo Scotto was an Italian printer, composer, businessman and bookseller of the Renaissance, active mainly in Venice. He was the most influential member of the firm of Venetian printers, the House of Scotto, which existed from the late 15th century until 1615. At its peak in the 1560s, the Scotto firm under Girolamo was one of the preeminent publishing firms of Europe, producing volumes on law, scholasticism, philosophy, medicine, theology, and ancient literature in addition to music. Only the firm of Gardano produced more books of music in the 16th century than the House of Scotto under Girolamo; over half of Scotto's publications, 409 out of approximately 800 in total, were books of music.
