Among the most artful and refined were the songs of the
twelfth- and thirteenth-century poet-composers-called troubadours
and trouvères- who also wrote their own lyrics in either of the two
principal French dialects of the time.
Some features of these medieval lyrics are echoed in
nineteenth-century art song and even in modern rap: they all often
deal openly with sensual subject matter, use coded language, and
address some sort of coterie-a group of aristocrats at court, a
closed circle of friends, or a commercial audience of fans.
Mainly, troubadour songs consisted of the chanson or l'amour
courtois (courtly love). Courtly love sang of unattainable love,
often between a knight and a noble woman. He, never sated, yearns
for the object of his desire. In fact this idea dominated secular
music for a century or two, echoes of which can still be found in
popular music today