Jeu de Robin et Marion
Encyclopedia
The Jeu de Robin et Marion is reputedly the earliest French secular play with music, and is the most famous work of Adam de la Halle
.
The story is a dramatization of a traditional genre of medieval French song, the pastourelle
. This genre typically tells of an encounter between a knight and a shepherdess, frequently named Marion. Adam de la Halle's version of the story places a greater emphasis on the activities of Marion, her lover Robin and their friends after she resists the knight's advances.
It consists of dialogue in the old Picardian dialect
of Adam's home town, Arras
, interspersed with short refrains or songs in a style which might be considered popular. The melodies to which these are set have the character of folk music, and seem more spontaneous than the author's more elaborate songs and motets. Two of these melodies in fact appear in the motets, Mout me fu gries de departir/Robin m'aime, Robin m'a/Portare and En mai, quant rosier sont flouri/L'autre jour, par un matin/He, resvelle toi Robin. The attribution of these motets to Adam is unconfirmed.
Adam wrote the Jeu de Robin et Marion for the court of Charles I of Naples. He originally went to Naples in the service of Robert II of Artois
. The play was first performed there and it has been suggested that the choice of genre was particularly poignant for those members of the court homesick for France.
Although it is tempting to link the characters of French medieval pastourelle and the Jeu de Robin et Marion with the early history of Robin Hood
and Maid Marian
, there has been no link proven between the two. What is clear is that the function of these characters within their contemporary society was similar; a form of escapism through the imagination into a world of innocent rustic play or heroic greenwood bravery.
An adaptation by Julien Tiersot was played at Arras in 1896 at a festival in honour of Adam de la Halle
, by a company from the Paris Opera Comique.
Adam de la Halle
Adam de la Halle, also known as Adam le Bossu was a French-born trouvère, poet and musician, whose literary and musical works include chansons and jeux-partis in the style of the trouveres, polyphonic rondel and motets in the style of early liturgical polyphony, and a musical play, "The Play of...
.
The story is a dramatization of a traditional genre of medieval French song, the pastourelle
Pastourelle
The pastourelle is a typically Old French lyric form concerning the romance of a shepherdess. In most of the early pastourelles, the poet knight meets a shepherdess who bests him in a wit battle and who displays general coyness. The narrator usually has sexual relations, either consensual or...
. This genre typically tells of an encounter between a knight and a shepherdess, frequently named Marion. Adam de la Halle's version of the story places a greater emphasis on the activities of Marion, her lover Robin and their friends after she resists the knight's advances.
It consists of dialogue in the old Picardian dialect
Picard language
Picard is a language closely related to French, and as such is one of the larger group of Romance languages. It is spoken in two regions in the far north of France – Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Picardy – and in parts of the Belgian region of Wallonia, the district of Tournai and a part of...
of Adam's home town, Arras
Arras
Arras is the capital of the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France. The historic centre of the Artois region, its local speech is characterized as a Picard dialect...
, interspersed with short refrains or songs in a style which might be considered popular. The melodies to which these are set have the character of folk music, and seem more spontaneous than the author's more elaborate songs and motets. Two of these melodies in fact appear in the motets, Mout me fu gries de departir/Robin m'aime, Robin m'a/Portare and En mai, quant rosier sont flouri/L'autre jour, par un matin/He, resvelle toi Robin. The attribution of these motets to Adam is unconfirmed.
Adam wrote the Jeu de Robin et Marion for the court of Charles I of Naples. He originally went to Naples in the service of Robert II of Artois
Robert II of Artois
Robert II was the Count of Artois, the posthumous son and heir of Robert I and Matilda of Brabant.An experienced soldier, he took part in the Aragonese Crusade and attempted an invasion of Sicily in 1287. He defeated the Flemings in 1297 at the Battle of Furnes...
. The play was first performed there and it has been suggested that the choice of genre was particularly poignant for those members of the court homesick for France.
Although it is tempting to link the characters of French medieval pastourelle and the Jeu de Robin et Marion with the early history of Robin Hood
Robin Hood
Robin Hood was a heroic outlaw in English folklore. A highly skilled archer and swordsman, he is known for "robbing from the rich and giving to the poor", assisted by a group of fellow outlaws known as his "Merry Men". Traditionally, Robin Hood and his men are depicted wearing Lincoln green clothes....
and Maid Marian
Maid Marian
Maid Marian is the wife of the legendary English outlaw Robin Hood. Stemming from another, older tradition, she became associated with Robin Hood only in the 16th century.-History:The earliest medieval Robin Hood stories gave him no female companion...
, there has been no link proven between the two. What is clear is that the function of these characters within their contemporary society was similar; a form of escapism through the imagination into a world of innocent rustic play or heroic greenwood bravery.
An adaptation by Julien Tiersot was played at Arras in 1896 at a festival in honour of Adam de la Halle
Adam de la Halle
Adam de la Halle, also known as Adam le Bossu was a French-born trouvère, poet and musician, whose literary and musical works include chansons and jeux-partis in the style of the trouveres, polyphonic rondel and motets in the style of early liturgical polyphony, and a musical play, "The Play of...
, by a company from the Paris Opera Comique.
Discography
- Le jeu de Robin et Marion & autres oeuvres
- Ensemble MicrologusEnsemble MicrologusEnsemble Micrologus is an Italian group that performs vocal and instrumental medieval music, including both religious and secular pieces from the 12th to the 16th century in their repertoire....
- Zig-Zag Territoires ZZT 040602
- Ensemble Micrologus
- Adam de la Halle: Le Jeu de Robin et Marion (The Play of Robin and Marion)
- Musicians of the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis - Thomas Binkley, dir.
- Focus 913
- Adam de la Halle: Le Jeu de Robin et Marion
- Ensemble Perceval - Guy Robert
- Arion ARN 38 588 (LP) / Arion 68162 (CD)
- Adam de la Halle: Le Jeu de Robin et de Marion
- TONUS PEREGRINUSTonus peregrinusTonus peregrinus has multiple meanings* Reciting tone#tonus peregrinus, reciting tone in Gregorian chant* TONUS PEREGRINUS, early and new music vocal ensemble founded and directed by Antony Pitts...
- Antony PittsAntony PittsAntony Pitts is a British composer, producer and conductor.His compositions have been published by Faber Music, with 2 CDs of choral music on Hyperion Records and other recordings on Harmonia Mundi, Naxos, and Unknown Public. He was a Senior Producer at BBC Radio 3 until 2005... - Naxos 8.557337
- TONUS PEREGRINUS
- Adam de la Halle: The World of Robin and Marion
- Ensemble Anonymus
- Analekta AN 2 9816 (CD)