According to these conventions, a nobleman, usually a knight, in love with a married woman of equally high birth-or, often, higher rank-h

Originally, the troubadours sang their own poems to their assembled courts and often held competitions, or so-called tournaments of song; later, they engaged itinerant musicians, called jongleurs, to perform their works. The subjects included love, chivalry, religion, politics, war, funerals, and nature. The verse forms included the canso (stanza song), tenso (dialogue or debate), sirvente (political or satirical canso), planh (complaint or dirge), alba (morning song), and serena (evening song). The musical accompaniments were generally played on stringed instruments such as viele (medieval fiddle) or the lute. The notation of the songs indicated pitch but not time value or rhythm. About 300 melodies and about 2600 poems of the troubadours have been preserved. The music of the troubadours is considered one of the major influences in the development of medieval secular music (see Music, Western).

See also Minnesinger; Provencal Language; Provencal Literature. I INTRODUCTION Lyric, short poem that conveys intense feeling or profound thought. In ancient Greece, lyrics were sung or recited to the accompaniment of the lyre. Elegies and odes were popular forms of the lyric in classical times. The lyric poets of ancient Greece included Sappho, Alcaeus, and Pindar; the major Roman lyric poets included Horace, Ovid, and Catullus. Lyrical poetry was also written in ancient India and China; and the Japanese verse called haiku is a lyric.

The troubadours and trouveres of medieval France developed lyric forms such as the canzone and rondeau for singing. In Germany the earliest lyricists were the minnesingers. Although most medieval lyrics were written anonymously, two names are notable. The 15th-century poet Francois Villon was the greatest French lyric poet after the troubadours; the earliest English lyrics were by the 14th-century master Geoffrey Chaucer. Ballads, often classed as narrative poems, are considered lyrics by some scholars because they are sung.

By the beginning of the Renaissance (14th century to 17th century) the term lyric also was applied to verse that was not sung. The sung lyric, including the madrigal, may be found in poetry of the Elizabethan era (16th century)-for example, in the work of the English musicians Thomas Campion and John Dowland-as well as in the songs in the plays of the English writer Wi

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