This groundbreaking anthology brings together for the first time the works of women poet-composers, or trouveres, in northern France in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Refuting the long-held notion that there are no extant Old French lyrics by women from this period, the editors of the volume present songs attributed to eight named female trouveres along with a varied selection of anonymous compositions in the feminine voice that may have been composed by women. The book includes the Old French texts of seventy-five compositions, extant music for eighteen monophonic songs and nineteen polyphonic motets, English translations, and a substantial introduction.

Robert de Reims, also known as "La Chievre de Rains," was among the earliest trouveres-poet-composers who were contemporaries of the troubadours but who wrote in the dialects of northern France. This critical edition provides new translations into English and modern French of all the songs and motets ascribed to him, along with the original texts, the extant music, and a substantive introduction. Active sometime between 1190 and 1220, Robert was an influential figure in the literary circles of Arras. Thirteen compositions set to music are here attributed to him, including nine chansons and four polyphonic motets that were broadly disseminated in the thirteenth century and beyond. Robert's work is exceptional on a number of fronts. He lavished particular care on the phonic harmony of his words. Acoustic luxuriance and expertise in rhyming, grounded in the play of echoes and variation (often extending into the music), constitute the hallmark of his poetry. Moreover, he is the earliest trouvere known to have composed a parodic sotte chanson contre Amours (silly song against Love). Located clearly at the nexus of monophonic song and polyphony, Robert's corpus also poses the intriguing question of trouvere participation in the development of the polyphonic repertory. The case of Robert de Reims jostles and tempers the standard history of the chanson and motet. Accessible and instructive, this trilingual critical edition of his complete works makes the oeuvre of this innovative and consequential trouvere available in one volume for the first time.

L'important recueil de poesies conserve dans Oxford, Bodleian Library, Douce 308, copie vers 1310, est le seul chansonnier des trouveres dont les pieces soient classees par genre, de preference a d'autres criteres. Sous la rubrique "Ci en comancent les balletes" sont regroupes cent quatre-vingt-huit textes anonymes, destines a la danse bien que la musique n'y figure pas. Les ballettes ont joue un role determinant dans le developpement du lyrisme medieval, notamment dans la genese des formes fixes a refrain du XIVe siecle. Compose principalement de pieces uniques, le recueil qu'editent Eglal Doss-Quinby, Samuel N. Rosenberg, et Elizabeth Aubrey illustre une tradition lyrique elaboree en Lorraine, contemporaine du grand chant courtois des trouveres, mais que n'avaient pas reconnue, au XIIIe siecle, les compilateurs de chansonniers conventionnels. Precedee d'une introduction examinant avec methode les problemes de definition que pose le repertoire, cette edition critique rigoureuse est systematiquement enrichie de la traduction anglaise des ballettes et, pour vingt-six chansons, de la musique qui leur revient et a ete identifiee dans d'autres sources manuscrites.