Albertet de Sestaro

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Albertet de Sestaro, also called Albertet de Terascon, was a Provençal jongleur and troubadour from the Gap region who flourished between 1194 and 1221. Of his 23 surviving poems, he is especially noted for his singing voice and for innovative melodies in short songs, rather than for famous lyrics.

Uc de Lescura praised his well-spoken voice, and Albertet was a welcome performer and conversationalist at court. He spent much of his life in Orange, growing wealthy, before moving to Lombardy from 1210 to 1221. In Italy he visited the courts of Savoy, Montferrat, Malaspina, Genoa, and the Este family in Ferrara. At the Este court he likely met Guillem Augier Novella, Aimeric de Pegulhan, and Aimeric de Belenoi. He also traveled west of Provence to Montferrand, where he met Dalfí d'Alvernha, Gaucelm Faidit, and Peirol, and some accounts say he even found refuge in Spain. He eventually returned to Sisteron in Forcalquier, where he died.

One of his best-known works is a satire praising seven prominent women of his time, especially Beatrice of Savoy, wife of Raymond Berengar IV of Provence. He wrote a tensó (a two-voice poem) with Aimeric de Pegulhan: N'Albertz, chausetz a vostre sen, showing that he sometimes used the name Albert rather than the diminutive Albertet. He also composed a tensó with Aimeric de Belenoi. He praised Augier and Gaucelm Faidit and honored Peirol in the tornada: Peirol, violatz e chantatz cointamen de ma chanzon los motz e·l son leugier.

Albertet urged his lady to learn his poems, perhaps so they could be sung and spread further.

Only two of his surviving songs have complete melodies: Mos coratges m'es camjatz and A! mi no fai chantar foilla ni flors. Another piece, En mon cor ai un' aital encobida, is only partly known. A descort called Bel m'es oimais does not survive with music in the manuscript but may have inspired the later song Bel m'est li tans by Colin Muset. Mahieu le Juif was likely influenced by an Albertet piece when composing Par grant.

Each surviving tune is distinct, though overall his music stays conservative, generally staying within a small pitch range and using syllabic text with melismas mainly at the ends of phrases. Mos coratges is ornate but conventional; En mon cor seems through-composed; and A! mi no fai chantar is simple in style but complex in its intervals and phrasing.