Albertet

Albertet de Sestaro, sometimes called Albertet de Terascon (fl. 1194–1221), was a Provençal jongleur and troubadour from the Gapençais (Gapensés in Occitan). Of his total oeuvre, twenty three poems survive. "Albertet" or "Albertetz" is the Occitan diminutive of Albert. Unqualified, it usually refers to Albertet de Sestaro, but there was an Albertet Cailla.

According to his vida he was the son of a noble jongleur named Asar, one of whose pieces may survive. Albertet was reputed for his voice and for the innovative melodies of his short cansós, but not for his lyrics. He was a welcomed performer and conversationalist in court society. In Italy he frequented the courts of Savoy, Montferrat, Malaspina, Genoa, and the Este in Ferrara. Eventually he returned to Sisteron in the Forcalquier, where he died. This tensó is evidence that Albertet called himself Albert, though later scribes usually employed the diminutive. Albertet also composed a tenso with Aimeric de Belenoi. He praised Augier and Gaucelm Faidit, and he honoured Peirol by name in one tornada:

Asides from this request to Peirol, Albertet elsewhere begged his lady to learn his poems, possibly with an eye to the propagation through further singing and recitation:

Despite his reputation as a musician, only two of his surviving works—the Mos coratges m'es camjatz and A! mi no fai chantar foilla ni flors (both cansós)—have complete melodies, though one other (En mon cor ai un' aital encobida) is partially extant. Each piece of Albertet's surviving musical work is distinct, though on the whole it is conservative, written within one tenth interval, syllabic with melismas only at the ends of phrases. Mos coratges is conventional but ornate; En mon cor appears to have been through-composed; and A! mi no fai chantar is complex and subtle, written in a simple style, but with unique intervals and phrasing.