Susanna J. Sturgis: Writer • Editor • Martha's Vineyard

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Yo, la Comtessa

July 19, 2010

Around quarter past two yesterday afternoon I parked under the trees in the dirt lot the West Tisbury library shares with the Howes House (HQ for the Up-Island Council on Aging) and who should be sitting in the adjacent pickup but Kevin Keady. Kevin, a longtime island singer-songwriter and maker of musical connections, works and lives at Pimpneymouse Farm on Chappy, so I asked what brought him way over here to West Tiz. Turned out to be the same thing that brought me to the Howes House parking lot: we were both part of "The World of Troubadours and Trobairitz: Poems, Songs, and Music." Kevin was the jongleur (juggler). I was one of the poets, the Comtessa de Dia.

Here's the comtessa. She was one of the 20 known female troubadours, who were collectively known as the trobairitz. Not much is known for sure about her life, but she flourished in the mid–twelfth century. The poem I read is a stylish, unmistakably angry missive to the lover who has dumped her, apparently for another woman.

Music was provided by Carol Loud on recorder, Deborah Forest Hart on recorders and hammer dulcimer, and Andy Wiener on hammer dulcimer, all in costume, and most spectacularly by Jessica Goodenough Heuser, a young soprano with a gorgeous, wonderfully expressive voice. She sang in Occitan, the language of the troubadours, and one of the four songs was the poem that I read, "A chantar m'es al co qu'ieu non deuria (I Must Sing of What I'd Rather Not)." Written Occitan looks like a mixture of Spanish, French, and a dash of Portuguese; hearing it sung was wonderful, and medieval!

Jessica explained that in fitting the lyrics to the music (a do-it-yourself challenge for the musicians, since the music was written all on one line; the verses appeared underneath, with no indication of what syllable went with what note), she found that most of the cansos worked in two tempo, but not the comtessa's. Her angry song worked better in three. It did indeed, though I have no idea why.

We poets read English translations, except for Joe Eldredge, who took a stab at the Occitan. He sounded pretty convincing, not that anyone apart from Jessica knew half enough to critique his pronunciation. He and Colleen Morris performed a tenso, a popular troubadour form that features two voices, usually one male and one female, in a debate or battle of wits.

The program was sponsored by the library, with Colleen the coordinator, and instigated and co-organized by Paul Levine, a retired physics professor who's become fascinated by the world of the troubadours and done a lot of research. We were all thrilled by the turnout, which filled the room and then some (taxing the air conditioning, but even taxed the Howes House was cooler than my apartment has been the last few days). Colleen wants to apply for a cultural council grant so we can do it again in a bigger venue, maybe Katharine Cornell Theatre in Vineyard Haven.

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