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And well for him, supposing him to be no great master in that art, if he stumble across no stolid peasant at a corner; for on such an occasion, I scarcely know which is the more troubled, or whether it is worse to suffer the confusion of your troubadour, or the unfeigned alarm of your clown.
Concerning his earlier years and his education Peter Martyr is silent, nor does he anywhere mention under whose direction he began his studies. In the education deemed necessary for young men of his quality, the exercises of chivalry and the recreations of the troubadour found equal place, and such was doubtless the training he received.
Of the great passions which gave life to the Middle Ages, that of religious enthusiasm had degenerated into the conceits of Mariolatry, that of war into the extravagances of Chivalry. Love indeed remained; it was the one theme of troubadour and trouveur; but it was a love of refinement, of romantic follies, of scholastic discussions, of sensuous enjoyment a plaything rather than a passion.
This pie, according to the final verse of the song, would now be cut, so that the company could see exactly what a Plutonian banquet was like. The troubadour borrowed a dagger from a man-at-arms, made one or two slashes at the ornate crust of the pie and out flew four live pigeons. Then Peirol gave his birdlike call, and eluding the hands raised to catch them the pigeons swooped down to him.
Nevin returned to America in 1887, and took up his residence in Boston, where he taught and played at occasional concerts. Eighteen hundred and ninety-two found him in Paris, where he taught, winning more pupils than here. In 1893 the restless troubadour moved on to Berlin, where he devoted himself so ardently to composition that his health collapsed, and he was exiled a year to Algiers.
It is in Paris now, one may say, but a crumbling old cross in one portion of it reminds one that it was not always so. The cross marks the spot where a celebrated troubadour was waylaid and murdered in the fourteenth century. It was in this park that that fellow with an unpronounceable name made the attempt upon the Russian Czar's life last spring with a pistol. The bullet struck a tree.
In the golden Middle Age the practice developed into a regular and methodical service of women; it imposed deeds of heroism, cours d'amour, bombastic Troubadour songs, etc.; although it is to be observed that these last buffooneries, which had an intellectual side, were chiefly at home in France; whereas amongst the material sluggish Germans, the knights distinguished themselves rather by drinking and stealing; they were good at boozing and filling their castles with plunder; though in the courts, to be sure, there was no lack of insipid love songs.
'Zanetto' , on the other hand, seems to contain the best work which Mascagni has yet given to the world. It is founded upon Francois Coppée's charming duologue, 'Le Passant, a graceful scene between a world-weary courtesan and a youthful troubadour who passes beneath her balcony.
So I shall even leave him to you, for there is a troubadour in the hall, whose lay I greatly long to hear." Away tripped Lady Maude, well pleased to be free from the burthen her good-nature had imposed on her. "Arthur," exclaimed Agnes, "what joy to see you! Is your uncle here?"
"He he!" groaned Eva, "he who attained the highest goal, who heard the voice of the Lord wherever he listened; he who chose poverty as his beloved bride, who scorned show and parade and the trappings of wealth, as he disdained earthly love; he who celebrated in song the love of the soul glowing for the highest things, as no troubadour could do oh, how ardently he knew how to love, but to love the things which do not belong to this world!"
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