We have debating societies in our schools and colleges, and questions of the day are discussed in the newspapers, but in the troubadours’ day, debates were made into songs, sung by two people, and were called _tensons_. Many curious and rather foolish questions were made the subjects of these songs. Sometimes these popular songs found their way into the Church, and were made into fine church music, and sometimes a bit of melody from the Church went through the hands of a troubadour poet and was turned into a _rounde_, _ballata_, _sera_, or _pastorella_. This poetry and song of Provence lasted until the middle of the 14th century, for in the twelve hundreds the revolts against the abuses of the Church rose to such seriousness that massacres took place, towns were destroyed and many nobles and troubadours lost their lives. TROUVÈRES Shortly after the troubadours began to compose, in the north of France came the trouvères who profited much from the music and poetry of their southern brothers. However, the trouvères did not have the warm, lovely dialect of the southern troubadours. As they were closer to the Church, their songs were more religious, had less variety of subjects, and the melodies were like Church music. Although the troubadours did much to shape the rhyming stanzas in poetry, the trouvères helped in the gradual forming of the later French and Flemish schools of music, as you will see. The jongleurs played on an instrument called the _vielee_ which was great-grandfather to our violin. The short pieces played before the songs and accompanied by dances, were the first pieces of instrumental music in the Middle Ages. The combination of song, instrument and dance was called _balerie_ or _ballada_ from which comes our dance _ballet_. There was also a piece called _rounde_, _rota_, or _rondo_, composed so that different voices and the instrument came in at different points, each singing or playing the same tune, but arranged so that the parts sounded well together. Perhaps you know _Frère Jacques_ or _Scotland’s Burning_ or _Three Blind Mice_. These are rounds. One of the most beautiful rounds in existence is an English song which dates from 1250, the period of all this “gay science,” and it is looked upon as a masterpiece. It is supposed to have been written either by John Forsete, a monk, or by Walter Odington. It was written in the old square neumes on a six line staff. The name of this “Six Men’s Song” or round for six voices, is _Summer is icumen In_. One of the best known trouvères was Adam de la Hale who wrote _Robin et Marion_, said to be the very first comic opera. It was performed at the court of Naples in 1285. The trouvères collected tales of Normandy, Brittany, and of Charlemagne’s reign, and so preserved valuable musical and literary material.