Poesia per musica? I generi della polifonia nel repertorio lirico romanzo

The relationship between music and poetry in the Middle Ages reveals a far more complex reality than a simple dichotomy between recited poetry and ‘poetry for music.’ This complexity arises from various factors, including the skills and expertise of the authors, the cultural contexts, the type of musical language adopted, the function of the compositions, and the peculiarities of the manuscript tradition. Even at the end of the 14th century, Eustache Deschamps’ Art de dictier testifies to the close connection between these two art forms, encapsulated in the keyword mariage («mariage en conjunction de science»). Throughout the 14th century, we also observe an increasing valorization of genres intended for singing, which are integrated into personal narrative texts – such as Petrarch’s Canzoniere and Machaut’s Remède de Fortune – to emphasize pivotal moments in autobiographical narration.