´Bonna Domna´ a cappella (2001/24)
Duration: 6’30”
Bona Domna was commissioned by the Palau de la Música Catalana and it was dedicated to the Cor de Cambra del Palau.
This work is based on the original Bona Domna for a cappella choir piece written in 2001 for the Dale Warland Singers. The original 2001 version of the text was in English and Latin; the 2024 version uses the original Occitan language (Old provencal) as well as a middle ages proverb in Latin.
The Cor de Cambra del Palau premiered this 2024 version on April 28, 2024, at the Palau de la Música Catalana.
The 2024 version uses three fragments in the Occitan (Old Provençal) language of the troubadours (Countess of dia b. 1140), Bernart de Ventadorn (1150-1180), Arnaut Daniel (1150-1210), and a popular proverb from the middle ages in Latin.
Bona Domna translates as “good lady” in the Occitan language, a word that embodies the essence of “courtly love,” a romantic relationship between two single people in medieval times. These romantic relationships were not physical, but were based on flirting, dancing and the chivalrous efforts of knights and other young nobles to win the favor of the ladies of the court. The texts chosen for Bona Domna reflect the role that women had in the society of the time. Common women could marry or become nuns (“a woman should have a husband or a wall” – a popular Latin proverb). Privileged women were adored by knights as objects of unattainable love, and served them as if they were lords (“to be in love is to go to heaven through a woman” by Arnaut Daniel) (“¡Madam for your love I join my hands in adoration!” by Bernart de Ventadorn). However, some privileged women were themselves trobairitz, such as the Countess of Día. A selected excerpt from her chanson ‘A chanter m’er’ is written from the point of view of a woman who sings of the pride and contempt of her male lover.
