Rondeau (forme fixe)

The rondeau is believed to have originated in dance songs involving singing of the refrain by a group alternating with the other lines by a soloist.

The older French rondeau or rondel as a song form between the 13th and mid-15th century begins with a full statement of its refrain, which consists of two halves.

In its simplest and shortest form, the rondeau simple, each of the structural parts is a single verse, leading to the eight-line structure known today as triolet, as shown in "Doulz viaire gracieus" by Guillaume de Machaut: Doulz viaire gracieus, de fin cuer vous ay servi.

Weillies moy estre piteus, Doulz viaire gracieus, Se je sui un po honteus, ne me mettes en oubli: Doulz viaire gracieus, de fin cuer vous ay servi.

As the form was gradually divorced from the musical structure and became a purely literary genre, it is often not entirely clear how much of the refrain material was actually meant to be repeated.

If derived from the erstwhile 21-line rondeau cinquain, the result is a 15-line form with the rentrements in lines 9 and 15 (rhyme scheme aabba–aabR–aabbaR).

The following is a typical example of this form:[4] A large corpus of medieval French rondeaux was collected, catalogued, and studied by Nico H.J.

The earliest surviving polyphonic rondeaux are by the trouvère Adam de la Halle in the late 13th century.

Early rondeaux are usually found as interpolations in longer narrative poems, and separate monophonic musical settings survive.

It was customarily regarded as a challenge to arrange for these refrains to contribute to the meaning of the poem in as succinct and poignant a manner as possible.