THE MUSINGS OF A
TROBAIRITZ – PART ONE
ALL ABOUT STRONG WOMEN AND BOLD
GIRLS
WORLD STORYTELLING DAY 2016
By Angelica Ottewill
Trobairitz
- which is what I call myself - were the first feminists of Europe!
In
medieval times, the trobairitz wrote music and sensuous poetry, usually to men
other than their husbands. Often they accompanied themselves on the harp. As a
harpist, singer and storyteller, I guess I fit the bill. Except that as a married
woman I stay away from the sensuous poetry to men other than my husband!
This
year’s World Storytelling Day theme of ‘Strong Women and Bold Girls’ is right
up my alley.
In
preparing for a radio interview to advertise our storytelling concert, I did
some reading about heroines in folk tales.
I
was shocked to read in one survey that 4,000 folk and fairy tales were examined
and only 100 featured females in a heroic role! One also wonders why the female
heroines are usually pretty and passive, while powerful adult females are
portrayed as vain, jealous, proud or downright evil!
James
Riordan in ‘The Woman in the Moon and other tales of Forgotten Heroines’
writes:
“The
irony is that the original storytellers were mostly women – humble working
women who led robust lives. That is why Charles Perrault called his stories ‘old
wives tales'. Yet those who wrote down
the stories were mainly men: Charles
Perrault, the Grimm Brothers, Joseph Jacobs, Andrew Lang and the rest…. the
characters were made to fit into society’s ideas of the way men and women
should behave.’”
In
the last half century, many parents and educators have been reluctant to expose
children to traditional fairy tales for fear that these outdated stereotypes
will have a negative impact on children.
After all, they reason, through children’s literature our children learn
a lot about the world, about what is expected of them and what they can be when
they grow up.
As a five year old, I
remember being shattered when my brother told me I could not be a princess when
I grew up. When a kindly adult retorted “but you are a princess already!” then
I was really confused.
James
Riordan goes on to write: ‘the price of
stereotyping in stories is not paid by girls alone. Not all boys wish to be
adventurous, tough and aggressive. Some
want to be home-loving, gentle and caring – qualities some people define as
feminine.’
Suzanne
Barchers writes in the preface to ‘Wise Women:
Folk and Fairy Tales from Around the World’:
“Though
attention has been given to the negative effect of the images of passive women
in fairy tales, there is no mention in the literature of the possible negative
consequences of the traditional role required of men to rescue, slay dragons,
or pursue quests.”
Thus,
there is all the more reason for storytellers to search out those precious gems
of stories that feature heroines that are courageous, resourceful and talented kas
well as possessing strength of character and intelligence.
One
surprising source is ‘The Secret of Laughter:
Magical Tales from Classical Persia’ by Shusha Guppy. Knowing that some Eastern societies
discriminate against women, one hardly expects to find examples in this
collection. Yet here again the author reminds us that traditionally the main
storytellers in her culture were women.
She writes:
“Above
all, these stories extol and celebrate the Feminine: their protagonists are mostly women whose
patience and prudence, beauty, love and strength save the day for their men...”
Guppy
continues.
“In
these stories it is often the women who initiate the love affairs, make the
first move, determine the outcome of events and overcome the obstacles that
Fate and the patriarchal society scatter in the path of love and fulfilment.”
In
fact, one should not be surprised to find these female role models among
Eastern stories. After all, the archetypal example of a woman who saves her
life and changes her own destiny is Scheherazade, the protagonist of ‘The
Thousand and One Nights’. And the most
heroic character in ‘Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves’ is Morgiana, the slave
girl, who saves the entire household from the treachery of the Robber Barron
and the forty thieves.
My
favourite story from Shusha Guppy’s collection is ‘The Fortune Teller’s
Fortune’. It is a hilarious tale of a
wife who convinces her poor laborer husband to take up the trade of a fortune
teller, despite his insistence that he has no skill or knowledge of this art. This
tongue in cheek story shows us how little faith the storyteller has in the occult
arts and how little common sense many rich and powerful men display.
If
we look far back into the annals of storytelling, we find many more examples of
strong females. The Greek Goddesses were
as powerful as the male Gods and although they are often portrayed as jealous
and vindictive, their male counterparts have just as many shortcomings.
Among
the Hopi tribes of the Southwestern USA, we find the intriguing figure of
Spiderwoman. Rosalind Kerven in ‘Earth
Magic, Sky Magic’ describes Spiderwoman:
“She
was…small and dark, wrinkled. She was
sweet and warm, like her voice.”
Spiderwoman
gives advice to her children: “Do not
quarrel, do not fight, do not make wars. Take care of all things that grow and
the Earth that feeds them. Do you want
to be happy, my grandchildren? Then you
must not hurt anyone, or anything, ever in any way.”
This
year, the World Storytelling Day concerts by Peterborough Storytellers on March
18 and 20 will present stories from different cultures and time periods. Our theme
will be ‘Strong Women and Bold Girls’. There will be historical, biblical and
personal stories as well as folk tales.
Here is a sneak preview of the program.
Robert
will tell the biblical story of Esther. The tale opens with
Esther as beautiful and obedient, but also a relatively passive figure. During
the course of the story, she evolves into someone who takes a decisive role in
her own future and that of her people.
Rita
is telling the Finnish tale of ‘The Mouse Bride’. This charming folk tale tells us how even a
very small, seemingly insignificant being can succeed, through talent and
resourcefulness. Rita is both a mask maker and storyteller. She will transform
using mask and costume into the mouse and then into the princess. Her goal will
be to bring the audience with her into the transformation and thereby into the
story.
The
drama of the story will be further enhanced by Angelica’s harp playing.
Betty
will tell two stories on the two different days.
The
first is the story of Charley Parkhust, a historical character from the
American Gold Rush days, who successfully lived her life disguised as a man,
without anyone suspecting.
Betty’s
second story is from Lapland about a mother who, from the spirit world, mentors
her abandoned daughter. This story is
interesting because in many cultures it is the women who possess the wisdom of
the natural world and the techniques of living sustainably. All ideas, of
course, that are of interest again today.
Angelica
will tell the true story of one of history’s greatest ‘Femme Fatales’ - Eleanor of Aquitaine. The wife of Henry the Second of England and
the mother of Richard the Lionheart, she waged a war against her own husband
and in the end, won by outliving him.
Angelica
will also sing a humorous pseudo-medieval ballad called ‘Fair Rosamond’. It tells how Eleanor managed to penetrate a
labyrinth constructed to hide Henry’s mistress Rosamond, and how she dispatched
her rival.
Don
will reflect on several modern women who have demonstrated considerable
strength of character, will and vision in their daily lives. By creating this
story, Don recognizes many such women who surround us in our daily lives.
The
crowning jewel of our program will be the group telling of a medieval tale ‘The
Faithful Wife’.
This
is the story of a knight’s wife who disguises herself as a harp playing monk in
order to rescue her husband from slavery under a Turkish sultan.
In
this ensemble piece, guest artist Tori will accompany Angelica’s harp on oboe
and recorder. With narration by Betty and
all the other members dressed in medieval garb and portraying the story’s
characters, this should be a lively and entertaining end to a wonderful
program.
THE MUSINGS
OF A TROBAIRITZ – PART TWO
THE FAITHFUL WIFE – A GREAT FIND FOR
A TROBAIRITZ
As
a self-proclaimed “trobairitz”, the medieval story of the Faithful Wife was a
wonderful find for me.
As
the “trobairitz” were female poets and musicians of the 11th and 12th
century, I adopted this name for my public performances. I am always on the
lookout for medieval material, especially if it has a musical subject. This story meets all my needs as a performer
musician and storyteller!
Here
is a brief summary of the plot, without giving away too much of the story!
·
The
Plot
A
knight marries a poor broom-maker’s daughter because her singing and harp
playing has won his heart. But soon
after his marriage, he is forced by his King to go on a crusade. He is taken
captive and made a slave. He and his
companions are yoked to plows and forced to till the fields.
However his shirt, strangely enough does not
tear or turn black. This is because his
wife has sewn a magic shirt for him to wear. It will stay white as long as the
knight and his wife are faithful to each other.
When
the knight’s wife learns of her husband’s fate, she disguises herself as a
harp-playing monk and goes to rescue him. This is a more daring deed than we
realize because in some places during the Middle Ages, the punishment for a
woman dressing as a man was death! I
won’t tell you any more, for fear of spoiling the story!
·
Is
This A True Medieval Tale?
I
wish I could tell you more about the source of this particular story, but unfortunately
I know very little. It was copied off a tape that someone brought back from a
historical harp conference in the USA over 20 years ago. There are numerous versions of it that date
back to the Middle Ages, but I suspect the one that I am performing is a late 19th
century version of it.
The
reason for this is that in the Middle Ages, only nobility played the harp. In Scandinavia if a commoner was found
playing a harp, he was put to death! The
fact that a knight would marry a broom-maker’s daughter is also a little
suspect. But fairy-tales are full of princes marrying commoners, so we will let
that go.
·
The
Russian Version
‘A
Harp of Fishbones’ 1.
is a book of harp stories compiled by Russell Walton. His book has a Russian
version of this story ‘The Tsaritsa Harpist’.
In this version, the harp player is the Tsar’s wife and the captured man
is the Tsar himself. The story is very
similar to mine, but leaves out the magic shirt.
The
historical notes on this Russian version say the instrument was was probably a gusli,
which is a small Russian lap harp. It
also tells us that it must have pre-dated the 12th Century, because
in the 12th Century the bishop Cyril Turovsky denounced all
musicians as the servants of Hell!
Sadly
enough, before the 12th Century, court music flourished. Musicians used
ancient poetic modes, and sung recitation accompanied on the gusli, much like
the Gaelic tradition. After the 12th
Century, musicians who had enjoyed the patronage of courts were reduced to
street entertainers.
·
An
Old Medieval Version – “Of Chastity”
The
‘Gesta Romanorum’ 2. or, ‘Deeds of the Romans’ also contains this
story. The book is a collection of tales likely compiled in Latin by Christian
monks in England about 1300. This version makes me smile because it interprets
the entire story in religious symbols.
It was apparently a source book for preachers as each tale contained a
religious ‘application’ or message.
In
the Roman version, we learn that the Emperor Gallus employed a skillful
carpenter to erect a magnificent palace.
A certain knight decided to give his daughter in marriage to the
carpenter. The lady’s mother gave the
couple this magic shirt that would stay white as long as they were
faithful.
Three soldiers decided to seduce the wife with the intent of making the shirt
turn black. However, she outwits them,
luring all three men into a chamber, locking the door and feeding them only
bread and water. Once she had accomplished this, she informed her husband about
her daring actions. Of course, the
knight was proud of his faithful wife.
Now
here is the interpretation of that story.
The emperor is God, the palace is the human heart, the knight is Christ,
the carpenter is any good Christian, the mother is the Church. The shirt is faith, the three soldiers are
symbols of pride and the lust of both eyes and the heart.
As
you can see, the Romans dearly loved their religious symbols!
·
A
Brothers Grimm Version – ‘The Man Hitched To A Plough’
This
story comes from Metz, Lorraine, a region that straddles the border between
Germany and France. So it could have been German or French. In 1818, the story was collected by the
Brothers Grimm 3. so there is no way of knowing how old it is.
However, it closely resembles my version,
complete with the magic shirt and other details. In the Brothers Grimm version, the Sultan tries
to make the shirt turn black by sending his general to seduce the knight’s
wife.
·
A
German Version – ‘Conrad von Tannenbarg’
The
knight decides to go on a pilgrimage to give thanks for recovering from a
serious illness. He is attacked by
pirates and sold into slavery to the Turks.
There is no mention of the magic shirt.
This story has echoes of the Odyssey, as his wife is left at home for
years, while other suitors try to marry her.
On hearing of her husband’s fate from another pilgrim, she disguises
herself in men’s clothes and sets out to rescue him, dressed as a male
minstrel. When they both return safely home, the rejected suitors denounce her
for having disappeared for years and running around in men’s clothes. The
husband is about to take his sword and kill her, before she is able to escape
and explain the complete circumstances to him. 4.
If
you wish to learn more about the many versions of ‘The Faithful Wife’, here are
the sources.
Enjoy!
Sources:
1. ‘A Harp of Fishbones’ in ‘Folk Tales Of The
Harp’ compiled by Russell Walton. The White Row Press (c. 1992) pp. 104-108.
2. ‘Gesta Romanorum’ translated from the Latin
by Charles Swan. Revised and corrected by Wynnard Hoooper. London: George Bell
and Sons (1906) pp. 122-124.
3. Jacob and Willhelm Grimm, ‘Der Mann im Flug’
[The Man in the Plough] appearing in ‘Deutsche Sagen’ [German tales] (1818, version
2).
4. J.W. Wolf
‘Conrad von Tannenberg’ appearing in ‘Hessische Sagen’ [Hessian Tales]
(1853, Number 238, pp147-149). Translated by D.L. Ashliman.
o
‘The
Faithful Wife’ appearing in ‘Folktales of Aarne-Thompson-Uther’, translated and/or
edited by D.L. Ashliman (c.1999-2008).
The web site I found this on was www.pitt.edu/dash/type
0888.html
THE MUSINGS OF A
TROBAIRITZ – PART THREE
ABOUT THE MUSIC CHOICES IN ‘THE
FAITHFUL WIFE’
·
Why
Did I Choose This Story?
First
of all, the subject was so perfect for this year’s World Storytelling Day’s
theme – 'Strong Women and Bold Girls'.
The
heroine has every heroic quality you can think of. She is clever, resourceful, talented,
faithful, intelligent and undaunted!
Secondly,
the story has a lot of dialogue and a cast of characters that render it perfect
for a group to tell.
Finally, it was a
perfect match for me - a harp player and singer. The music I’ve chosen to add here is not just
to give colour to the story, but rather the music becomes a key part of the
story.
·
How
Did I Choose The Instruments And Musicians?
I
play the Celtic harp, so that was a given.
I also asked my friend Tori to accompany me on oboe and tenor and
soprano recorder. Her gorgeous and
expressive playing added a whole other dimension and it was great to have the
recorders which are authentic medieval instruments. The concert oboe is not a medieval
instrument, but its snake-charmer quality just quickly transports us to
Medieval Turkey!
·
What
Sources Did I Use In Choosing The Music?
Most
of the music I chose came from France, Italy and Spain between the 13th
and 16th centuries. I did not
have any Turkish music, so I cheated by using a Jewish folk song and a
contemporary sacred song. They were both
in minor modes with a very “Arabic” sounding melodic line.
Even
though the Crusades took place in the 11th and 12th
Centuries, I decided not to use authentic music and performance styles from
that period. Harmony did not come into
use until the 15th Century and to my ears the medieval sounds are
harsh and stark. No feature film about
Robin Hood or King Arthur that I know of has used authentic medieval music. So
I decided not to either. Instead, I
opted for a “pseudo-medieval sound”.
·
How
Did I Create This “Pseudo-Medieval” Sound?
OK,
this section is going to get a little technical, but our musician readers will find
it interesting.
I
keep the harmonies very simple. Often I use a drone, which means the bass part
of the harp plays two notes in repetition.
Choosing
pieces that were in the mixolydian and dorian modes, also helped give this
music a medieval flavour.
Most of us are
only familiar with the so-called “Major” mode, which centers around doh, and
the “minor” mode, which centers around lah. But there are actually seven modes,
each relating to a different note of the western scale. The mixolydian, which
centers around soh, and the dorian, which centers around ray, can sound very
medieval.
Much
early music is in AB form, that is, there are only two melodic ideas in the
piece. Variety is created by having the
instruments imitate each other, and play contrapuntally, that is, weaving the
different melodies together. In this
style of playing, medieval music was very much the “jazz” of its time. By arranging the music in this way, I keep
the medieval flavor of the music intact.
·
How
Did We Organize The Speaking Parts?
There
are five of us in this ensemble telling and at first I gave each participant a
section to narrate. I also gave each participant a character to play. However general consensus was that it would
be too confusing for the audience to have people narrating sometimes and role
playing at other times. So we decided to
have one narrator and the rest of us took on specific roles.
We
form a kind of semi-circle, with the musicians on the right and the speakers on
the left. The “faithful wife” who is me
and the harpist is on the right. Our
narrator stands off to the far right. In
the centre is a fabric covered screen which we use when the wife had to change
her costume.
Each
character remains seated except when he or she has lines to speak, and then the
character stands up and walks to the middle of the floor to deliver their lines.
·
How
Are We Dressed?
We
were all in costume, except the narrator. The wife/harpist and the wind player wear medieval dresses. The sultan has a turban, baggy Turkish pants and
a long open robe with a sash. The knight
wears a crusader’s tunic with a large red cross. The general is robed in an Indian outfit of
white pants and a long white tunic over it.
About The Author
Angelica
Ottewill is a member of Peterborough Storytellers in Peterborough, Ontario,
Canada.
For
more information about Angelica’s music and storytelling, please visit her
website: www.trobairitz.ca
