Amor y diálogo en la trama trovadoresca

Abstract

In the cantigas de amor – the main genre adopted by Galician-Portuguese troubadours – the speech uttered by the lyrical voice of the male lover in confessing his love or love-sorrow occasionally appears in alternation with the voice of the lady, who intervenes to offer her response. Our attention here will focus, in the first place, on the compositions in which a direct alternation of these voices can be found within the stanzas, as well as on Airas Moniz’s cantiga spoken in cobras. Due to the particularities of the latter at a structural and formal level, this alternation can be seen in relation to the definition of the tenção of the Galician-Portuguese poetic treatise Arte de Trovar, which indicates that cantigas of this type «se podem fazer d'amor ou d'amigo ou d'escarnho ou de maldizer» (can be used for love or friendship or to mock or curse). Our interest in the dialogic model extends to the non-fictional tenções between troubadours, since in several of these the adoption and/or recreation of motifs and topics equally associated with courtly love can be seen.