The Song of Roland : Prologue - French Medieval Music
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- čas přidán 31. 01. 2024
- Music & vocals by Farya Faraji. This is an original composition which aims to be an historically informed rendition of how French music of the 1000's onto the 1200's would have sounded.
The text is the Song of Roland, the oldest work of French literature and the central main epic of French culture in the Middle-Ages. It is set centuries prior to when it was first written around the 1000's, being set during the time of the Carolingian Empire and Charlemagne's reign.
The instrumentation consists of a hurdy-gurdy, a psaltery, a citole and a bowed psaltery. The arrangement follows the conventions of Western European medieval music of the time: the arrangement employs the practice of Organum, that of harmonising melodies by transposing them to a fourth or a fifth-in this case, a fifth. I explain more on the subject of Organum in this video: • Medieval Organum : The...
Take the pronunciation with a grain of salt; resources on Old French phonology are difficult to find and I did my best to emulate recordings that seem well informed, but there are likely many errors in pronunciation here.
Lyrics in Old French:
CARLES li reis, nostre emperere magnes,
Set anz tuz pleins ad estet en Espaigne,
Tresqu'en la mer cunquist la tere altaigne.
N'i ad castel ki devant lui remaigne.
Mur ne citet n'i est remés a fraindre,
Fors Sarraguce, ki est en une muntaigne.
Li reis Marsilie la tient, ki Deu nen aimet.
Mahumet sert e Apollin recleimet.
Nes poet guarder que mals ne l'i ateignet.
LI reis Marsilie esteit en Sarraguce.
Alez en est en un verger suz l'umbre.
Sur un perrun de marbre bloi se culchet;
Envirun lui plus de vint milie humes.
Il en apelet e ses dux e ses cuntes.
Oez, seignurs, quel pecchet nus encumbret.
Li empereres Carles de France dulce.
En cest païs nos est venuz cunfundre.
Jo nen ai ost qui bataille li dunne,
Ne n'ai tel gent ki la sue derumpet.
Cunseilez mei cume mi savie hume,
Si me guarisez e de mort et de hunte!
N'i ad paien ki un sul mot respundet,
Fors Blancandrins de Castel de Valfunde.
BLANCANDRINS fut des plus saives paiens,
De vasselage fut asez chevaler,
Prozdom i out pur sun seignur aider,
E dist al rei : Ore ne vus esmaiez!
Mandez Carlun, a l'orguillus e al fier,
Fedeilz servises e mult granz amistez.
Vos li durrez urs e leons e chens,
Set cenz camelz e mil hosturs muers,
D'or e d'argent 400'muls cargez,
Cinquante carre qu'en ferat carier.
Ben en purrat luer ses soldeiers.
En ceste tere ad asez osteiet.
En France, ad Ais, s'en deit ben repairer.
Vos le sivrez a la feste seint Michel,
Si recevrez la lei de chrestiens,
Serez ses hom par honur e par ben.
S'en volt ostages, e vos l'en enveiez,
U dis u vint, pur lui afiancer.
Enveiuns i les filz de noz muillers.
Par num d'ocire i enveierai le men.
Asez est melz qu'il i perdent lé chefs.
Que nus perduns l'onur ne la deintet
Ne nus seiuns cunduiz a mendeier! - Hudba
Music & vocals by Farya Faraji. This is an original composition which aims to be an historically informed rendition of how French music of the 1000's onto the 1200's would have sounded.
The text is the Song of Roland, the oldest work of French literature and the central main epic of French culture in the Middle-Ages. It is set centuries prior to when it was first written around the 1000's, being set during the time of the Carolingian Empire and Charlemagne's reign.
The instrumentation consists of a hurdy-gurdy, a psaltery, a citole and a bowed psaltery. The arrangement follows the conventions of Western European medieval music of the time: the arrangement employs the practice of Organum, that of harmonising melodies by transposing them to a fourth or a fifth-in this case, a fifth. I explain more on the subject of Organum in this video: m.czcams.com/video/rNY4b0aRLcQ/video.html
Take the pronunciation with a grain of salt; resources on Old French phonology are difficult to find and I did my best to emulate recordings that seem well informed, but there are likely many errors in pronunciation here.
Lyrics in Old French:
CARLES li reis, nostre emperere magnes,
Set anz tuz pleins ad estet en Espaigne,
Tresqu'en la mer cunquist la tere altaigne.
N'i ad castel ki devant lui remaigne.
Mur ne citet n'i est remés a fraindre,
Fors Sarraguce, ki est en une muntaigne.
Li reis Marsilie la tient, ki Deu nen aimet.
Mahumet sert e Apollin recleimet.
Nes poet guarder que mals ne l'i ateignet.
LI reis Marsilie esteit en Sarraguce.
Alez en est en un verger suz l'umbre.
Sur un perrun de marbre bloi se culchet;
Envirun lui plus de vint milie humes.
Il en apelet e ses dux e ses cuntes.
Oez, seignurs, quel pecchet nus encumbret.
Li empereres Carles de France dulce.
En cest païs nos est venuz cunfundre.
Jo nen ai ost qui bataille li dunne,
Ne n'ai tel gent ki la sue derumpet.
Cunseilez mei cume mi savie hume,
Si me guarisez e de mort et de hunte!
N'i ad paien ki un sul mot respundet,
Fors Blancandrins de Castel de Valfunde.
BLANCANDRINS fut des plus saives paiens,
De vasselage fut asez chevaler,
Prozdom i out pur sun seignur aider,
E dist al rei : Ore ne vus esmaiez!
Mandez Carlun, a l'orguillus e al fier,
Fedeilz servises e mult granz amistez.
Vos li durrez urs e leons e chens,
Set cenz camelz e mil hosturs muers,
D'or e d'argent 400'muls cargez,
Cinquante carre qu'en ferat carier.
Ben en purrat luer ses soldeiers.
En ceste tere ad asez osteiet.
En France, ad Ais, s'en deit ben repairer.
Vos le sivrez a la feste seint Michel,
Si recevrez la lei de chrestiens,
Serez ses hom par honur e par ben.
S'en volt ostages, e vos l'en enveiez,
U dis u vint, pur lui afiancer.
Enveiuns i les filz de noz muillers.
Par num d'ocire i enveierai le men.
Asez est melz qu'il i perdent lé chefs.
Que nus perduns l'onur ne la deintet
Ne nus seiuns cunduiz a mendeier!
I have trouble understanding the "to love his god he worshiped apollo and muhammad " line , what do they mean by that ? That he was a pagan ? Or are they trying to say that he was a muslim who liked arts ? And why would he love his god by worshipping another something else?
@@kot9701 King Marsilie is a pagan muslim king who worships the dead bodies of Muhammad and Apollo. Or so says a paper called "Historical Perspective and the Song of Roland". Apparently it was some kind of misunderstanding about Islamic practices. Some Christians thought that in the Islam they worshipped dead men and not gods. But I don't care enough about the subject to start searching primary sources that show me evidence of this (sources other than the Song of Roland, I mean). If you find anything leave a comment.
@@kot9701 The line says "in whom no grace was found to love his God," saying he does not love the one true god, that being the Christian god given the perspective of the text. As for Appolo and Mohammed, Christians of the era perceived Muslims as outright pagans, hence the idea of a Muslim praying to Appolo and Mohammed, who was thought in European perception to be a god in his own right in Islam
@@faryafaraji thx farya
Really Good work on the composition btw
Do you plan on continuing the song in chapters?
How long have I waited for a real phonetic paradise of early Old French. There is all the phonetic diversity and even the sound “θ”. My respect to you Farya. You made my day. I am from Russia and our reenactors club are engaged in the reconstruction of 13th century Paris. In particular, I am a workshop master and a city militia crossbowman. I also created a list of orders in Old French with a variant of the Picardian dialect (some of us are Picardians by lore). Mercïer Farya!💗💗💗💗💗
Awesome
Bonjour de France
Avec les remerciements d'une française pour faire durer depuis l'étranger les traditions de notre pays. Que la grandeur de chaque culture trouve grâce aux yeux des autres ! ☺️👌🙏
That sounds awesome, how can I contact you ?
Иди воевать в ЧВК Вагнер
Удачи, ребята💪
Here’s a translation in modern French if anybody wants to compare the two :
1. Le roi Charles, notre empereur, le Grand, sept ans tous pleins est resté dans l’Espagne : jusqu’à la mer il a conquis la terre hautaine. Plus un château qui devant lui résiste, plus une muraille à forcer, plus une cité, hormis Saragosse, qui est sur une montagne. Le roi Marsile la tient, qui n’aime pas Dieu. C’est Mahomet qu’il sert, Apollin qu’il prie. Il ne peut pas s’en garder : le malheur l’atteindra.
2. Le roi Marsile est à Saragosse. Il s’en est allé dans un verger, sous l’ombre. Sur un perron de marbre bleu il se couche ; autour de lui, ils sont plus de vingt mille. Il appelle et ses ducs et ses comtes : « Entendez, seigneurs, quel fléau nous opprime. L’empereur Charles de douce France est venu dans ce pays pour nous confondre. Je n’ai point d’armée qui lui donne bataille ; ma gent n’est pas force à rompre la sienne. Conseillez-moi, vous, mes hommes sages, et gardez-moi et de mort et de honte ! »
Il n’est païen qui réponde un seul mot, sinon Blancandrin, du château de Val-Fonde.
3. Entre les païens, Blancandrin était sage : par sa vaillance, bon chevalier ; par sa prud’homie, bon conseiller de son seigneur. Il dit au roi : « Ne vous effrayez pas ! Mandez à Charles, à l’orgueilleux, au fier, des paroles de fidèle service et de très grande amitié. Vous lui donnerez des ours et des lions et des chiens, sept cents chameaux et mille autours sortis de mue, quatre cents mulets, d’or et d’argent chargés, cinquante chars dont il formera un charroi : il en pourra largement payer ses soudoyers. Mandez-lui qu’en cette terre assez longtemps il guerroya ; qu’en France, à Aix, il devrait bien s’en retourner ; que vous y suivrez à la fête de saint Michel ; que vous y recevrez la loi des chrétiens ; que vous deviendrez son vassal en tout honneur et tout bien. Veut-il des otages, or bien, envoyez-en, ou dix ou vingt, pour le mettre en confiance. Envoyons-y les fils de nos femmes : dût-il périr, j’y enverrai le mien. Bien mieux vaut qu’ils y perdent leurs têtes et que nous ne perdions pas, nous, franchise et seigneurie, et ne soyons pas conduits à mendier. »
As always, your work is incredible, it is a beautiful rendition of the Song !
Merci😊
👏👏👏
Merci 😇🦅🇨🇵
hahaha rather lose his son than his fief, clever guy ! XD Thanks for the translation !!!
Best part of the night is the notification from Farya
I was just singing for myself rolandskvadet when i noticed the original chanson de roland was out. Amazing
@@Thomas-gu4ll those basques were more like tribes, and the franks kind of invaded them, so the basques ambushed them in roncesvalles. The basques were one of the biggest enemies for anyone who tried to conquer Spain, thats why they still conserve their unique language and culture (im not sure if this is 100% accurate, but as far as im aware, the events happened more or less as i have explained)
the basques were invaded by the franks, some tribes allied with the caliphate aswell@@Thomas-gu4ll
Il est 23H30, tu te fais chier et t'hésites à aller dormir et soudainement tu découvres que Farya Faraji à encore fait un nouveau BANGER sur Roland !!!!
Another one? Which song was the first?
@@linagreenlyfe6705 Yo Lina, the first song about roland was "Rolandskvadet - Norwegian Song" yeah is Norwegian but still French ahah
J'apprécie la démarche ಠ⌣ಠ
As a reader of the book "La chanson de Rolland", I was waiting for a song dedicated to the story of my land, and you did it. Thank you!
The Basques defeated him. In the Pyrenees there is a mountain pass called Roland's Breach where Roland threw his sword after being defeated (although it is far away from the place where the battle took place).
Did the Muslims lose?
Impressive! Awe-inducing!
As a student of Old French, lacking the musical education, I never once stopped to think about what the Chanson might have sounded like when it was performed by the jongleurs of high medieval France. I must thank you for bringing this beautiful piece of music to life, and for bringing attention to a literary genre too often forgotten nowadays, the chanson de geste.
I was recommended this video by the algorithm and will definitely be subscribing.
I'd love to see more of the Song of Roland! Especially of the battle!
> Scrolling
> youtube notif pops up
> "Song of Roland"
> oh, meh
> "Farya Faraji"
> oh?
> In FRENCH
YOOOOOOOOOO
Maybe it will cure you of 4chan furry brain
CHANSON DE ROLAND ❤
did you expect it to be in chinese or something
@@acusticamenteconvusional9936 most versions are in Norwegian, as in Rolandskvadet
@@acusticamenteconvusional9936 Yeah, a translation and rendition of song of Roland to Norwegian was quite popular on youtube in the historical music niche. You're being condescending to OP out of ignorance.
Where had this song been all my life??? Love old French medevial stuff & this musical recreation is great -- it brings the troubadour spirit to life!
Wow, the french language really changed between the 11th and the 15th centuries ! I listened to "Le Roy Engloys" (written during the 1th century), and it was very close to modern french, but here I can't understand anything.
As a speaker of Classical latin and Modern Canadian French, I need to read this song to understand, and can understand le Roy Engloys. We really dropped the end of consonents between 1000 and 1400, and abandoned the case system. I suspect its the intergration of germanic words and prounouciation, with the dropping of final consonent, which made the language change much faster during the middle ages than since. Or, mabe its the centralisation of the French state, propagation of literacy, and the use of the printing press which stabilised the language since?
Вы не просто талантливый музыкант Farya! Вы даёте знания и желание изучать культуру других стран.
As a native English speaker, I have to say I’m pleasantly surprised by how I can kind of follow along - such as “Castel” for castle and “muntaigne” for mountain. I have to dig into the few scraps of Latin I have in my head, from casually enjoying Roman history, to make it halfway understandable; “fedeilz servises” for (roughly) service with fidelity - or loyal service in more modern sense. It’s a weird kind of whiplash: I feel like I’m listening to something my ancestors could have actually sung because of how familiar it sounds, but there’s a certain foreign quality to it because of how old the language is. It’s like trying to talk to my grandparents’ grandparents: there’s a lot of linguistic drift, but I can still piece stuff together. It’s just at a much bigger scale and the consequence is that the drift is MUCH more pronounced, to the extent of the lyrics being familiar, but largely incomprehensible. Fantastic work, Farya
tl;dr It kinda sounds like both modern English - not surprising considering Frenchmen took over in 1066 - and Latin - also unsurprising because French is a Romance language. It gives the vibe of great grandpa singing a song from his childhood - old and outdated, but still relatable and somewhat intelligible - but to a much more extreme degree. Thanks again
Je parle français moderne et le dialecte de terelle ( c'est un village des montagne du sud de l'Italie près de Monte Cassino) et je comprends pas un mot de la musique
My glorious king has dropped another banger again
amen
You are a genius farya
And thus un génie became ingénieur or engineer in english.
Cool, thanks for that explanation😊
I just finished a re-read of The Song of Roland! This is fantastic!
Nothing short of excellent! Excellent realization of this poem, mixing some spoken word with reconstructed pronunciation, melismatic singing and polyphony, and splendid instrumentation, as usual. I may have said this before, but this is probably one of your best original compositions. Any fan of the poem or of Old French should have a listen to this masterpiece. Has that typical "Medieval" sound, too. Un travaille magnifique ! 👌
Beautiful ! I don't know how you can post so many great songs so often with such quality. Bravo cher musicien :)
You are a legend Farya, thank you 🇫🇷🙏
This is amazing. You have brought the song to life.
J'aime bien la prononciation que tu as choisie pour cette chanson ! C'est interessant d'entendre differents accents 😊 Merci
Thank you Farya! I was looking forward for the french version.
Awesome as always
Ooooo, very nice song. The sound of old French reminds me a bit of Catalan.
I noticed some similarities with Occitan sometimes, especially the part where he speaks.
@@tibsky1396 I'm not familiar with Occitan, but I think it can be similar to Catalan. Do you speak it?
@@quietcatYes, this is basically Sister-languages.
No I don't unfortunately, but I knew older people who spoke it. Even if French is the official language now, the Occitan accent remained in the South.
@tibsky1396 Would that be all of the south of France? Do the influences go all the way to the Cannes area? I'm vaguely familiar with an (the?) accent of the south of France because of some family.
@@quietcat Everyone has a nuance in their accents depending on the region, but generally yes, between Provence and Aquitaine, passing through Languedoc, Gascony, the Pyrenees, even the Catalan part (Perpignan).
However, you can also find people with accents from the North of France, in particular Parisians who have enough money to live in more upscale cities like Cannes, or Aix-en-Provence, even as far as the Basque Country, in Biarritz for example.
I particularly enjoy the bit where there's only a background drone and Farya is doing "little turns" (ornamentation?) with his voice
Очень красивый голос у Фарии
@user-ox6zd8dc1x
Indeed, he does.
Son wake up! Farya has released another banger!
it's interesting how the old french sounds like a mix of german and latin.
Because it basically is; it’s late Vulgar Latin with considerable Germanic influence from the Franks
Vous n'imaginez pas ce que cela me fait de pouvoir entendre les musiques de mes ancêtres.
C'est un bonheur est une source d'inspiration.
Merci Farya pour tout, vous faites vivre des peuples avec vos travaux.
I learned that at the university, and I'm simply astounded by the pronunciation. That's just… beyond any appreciation, Farya.
Farya Farayi thank you for this wonderful Music!
Ohhh, super initiative ! J'ai détesté lire le livre, mais cette tentative de reconstitution est très engageante, hâte de voir la suite ^^
La chanson en vieux français est passionnante. Il faut la lire à voix haute pour apprécier le rythme en vers.
This is the first French version of this song I've ever found...it's a beautiful sight.
I'm giving a presentation about the Song of Roland at a conference in a few days and this is inspirational. AOI
I like how you pronounce "castel" with a velarized or dark L. Pretty accurate as that turned into a U, giving us "chateau", naturally.
Thanks, Farya 😊❤
Old French is so weird to hear and to read (I guess, if I try it would be like my attempts to read in French before I started to learn it, lol 😂)
for me sound closer to latin than moderm french
im French and I agree, the vocabulary is easier to understand (to guess) but the pronunciation is mostly from Latin. Modern French prononciation is closer to Germanic languages
@@dairop3220 yes I know, this missing H like in German :-)
This is absolutely beautiful! It does remind me of your Roman pieces
You made me want to read The Song of Roland.
Roland is THE epic of the middle ages
Thank you for presenting the Song of Roland, to be heard in regions near and far.
Ah bah voilà une chanson qui fera moult heureux!
I was listening to one of your videos when you dropped this
I love your music
edit: also I don’t know if you’ve done one already but basque music usually sounds pretty good
The song that made chivalry !
This released just as I started serially listening to Rolandskvadet, perfect timing
Simply amazing!!
Nice, I love the melodies in this one😊
Exceptionnel 😊 merci !!!
Not by the call of notification but by the call of heart
I love it!
Happy new year
Epic af! 💛👑
Underrated.
Amazing piece! Are you planning to release more on Spotify?
Merci !
Hi artist, could you do a song for Shah Ismail I and Safavid Persia?
You know, I'd really like to see that from you
I really want him to do Dayubids and Safavids
Epic symphony Chanson de Roland
Song of Roland and in old French at that? Well then , have a like.
I like your song very very very much can you pls make a song about ATTILA THE HUN
Masterpiece
@faryafaraji can u do a ancient sinhalese one
nice
Damn I read “song of Poland - French medieval music” and it looked totally ok for me 😅
I'm from Zaragoza (Spain). Can someone explain why a french medieval song talks about Saragossa?
The Song of Roland is set during the time of Charlemagne. His sphere of activity and influence virtually affected every part of continental Western Europe, and Spain being mostly under Islamic domination back then forms the basis of the poem's plot
El tema es el siguiente: tras 7 años de "Cruzada", el rey de los Francos y emperador, Carlomagno, ha conquistado el norte del Valle del Ebro a los moros (la Marcha hispánica). Sólo resiste Zaragoza, ciudad del rey musulmán Marsilio. Reciben una propuesta de paz de Marsilio, diferentes tensiones dentro de la corte hace que el que envían a Zaragoza, que es un enemigo del comandante y caballero Roldán, acaba traicionando los intereses del imperio para que Roldán muera en una emoscada.
From 4:16 hits so hard
Donc: Quelle évidence avons de que le phoneme /θ/ o "th" fut part de la prononciation de le français médiéval ?
Could you please do a song in Romanian in a similar style? I would suggest, as lyrics, the poem „Scrisoarea III/Scrisoarea a III-a" (literally translated: „The third letter") by the one poet Mihai Eminescu, which narrates the events surrounding the Battle of Rovine, fought between Mircea the Elder, the at the time ruler of Wallachia, and Bayezid the Thunderbolt. I honestly have no idea on the instrumentation you could use, though. Probably something inspired from the folkloric field. Cheers!
hhmmmm does this mean we might get a historically informed rendition of rolandskvadet? one can hope.
Do you mean the Rolandskvadet song specifically or the Norse Karlamagnus Saga?
The Rolandskvadet I already covered is historically informed; it's a 200 year old song at most and my rendition conforms to all the features of music from the 1800's onwards. If you mean putting the Karlamagnus Saga's lyrics to music in a historically informed manner, however, I'd rather to it with other texts dealing with local Scandinavian themes.
@@faryafaraji First off love your stuff, listen to it all the time. To answer I think I'm talking about the norwegian rendition of the song.
starts with
Seks mine sveinar heime vere
Gjøyme de gulli balde
Dei andre seks på heidningslande.
Røyne de jønni kalle.
Hearing that rendition in your historical style would be pretty cool in my opinion. Totally get it if you don't want to do that though.
Edited: because I'm a dummy and found exactly what I was looking for in your videos already. God I might cry if I pissed you off.
Haha yeah I already covered that one
Premier frer
wesh frérot
Day 2 of asking for song about Scipio Africanus.
P.S. Love this song👍
👍
❤❤❤❤
why don't you make a symphony about the story of roland.
Original Rolandskvadet!
Les franc et leur conquête musical pour du celtique et roman
I've read the Song of Roland in my first year of college, i still find the line about King Marsile worshipping Apollo despite being Muslim so funny. Just goes to show how prevalent making stereotypes about other people across time and space is
waiting for the song of Guillaume
The fact is that the first known piece of french literature is their defeat and flee from Spain. A returning tale in their history.
La France peut chanter ces défaites puisqu'elle reste la nation avec le plus haut taux de victoire dans l'histoire militaire.
Je vous invite à plus de respect.
Ajoutons que cette défaite est dans l'honneur. De quelle nationalité êtes-vous ? Nous pourrions ainsi discuter de la manière dont la France a influencé votre pays.
WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESH
🇨🇵
Ahi, senors, oiez une chanson belle et bonne :)
Is it in langue d'oïl?
Yes...I mean Oïl.
Jej. A Carlitos yo no lo seguía ni a la esquina.
HA,TOLD YO-oh ,never mined.
Intéressant cette croix inscrite dans un cercle, j'ai vu un symbole similaire dans une autre vidéo...
czcams.com/video/STTOywTk33Y/video.html
D'où vient-elle?
C'est une forme de croix qu'on retrouve dans l'iconographie carolingienne
@@faryafaraji OK, merci...
I'm not fucking kidding. I'm having a middle-age romance licterature exam this Friday, today this video spawned in my home page hahaha
Translation PLZ
When are you gonna get your verified checkmark!??!?!? you're already almost at 150k and still none...
Hey Farya, Since You are Mazandarani, would you ever Do a Mazani Song? Sth about Spahbod Khorshid, Vahrez the Dialamite, or Maziar Ibn Qaran perhaps?
17th
I'm still having poetic and rhyming nightmares, because I had to read Roland during Medieval Class.
It's a milestone in european knightly literature, but damn it's a giant shitpost.
Imagine going from this to modern French. Only the French could ruin a language so thoroughly.
for me it sound closer to latin than modern french :-)
God damned baguettes
Наконец, слава богам, не норвежский язык