e had shorter stanzas and lines; but
the distinction is not clear. As all poems were intended to be sung, the
poet was also a composer; the biography of Jaufre Rudel, for instance,
says that this troubadour "made many poems with good tunes but poor [24]
words." The tune known as _son_ (diminutive sonnet) was as much the
property of a troubadour as his poem, for it implied and would only suit
a special form of stanza; hence if another poet borrowed it,
acknowledgment was generally made. Dante, in his _De Vulgari
Eloquentia_, informs us concerning the structure of this musical
setting: it might be continuous without repetition or division; or it
might be in two parts, one repeating the other, in which case the stanza
was also divided into two parts, the division being termed by Dante the
_diesis_ or _volta_; of these two parts one might be subdivided into two
or even more parts, which parts, in the stanza, corresponded both in
rimes and in the arrangement of the lines. If the first part of the
stanza was thus divisible, the parts were called _pedes_, and the
musical theme or _oda_ of the first _pes_ was repeated for the second;
the rest of the stanza was known as the _syrma_ or _coda_, and had a
musical theme of its own. Again the first part of the stanza might be
indivisible, when it was called the _frons_, the divided parts of the
second half being the _versus_; in this case the _frons_ had its own
musical theme, as did the first _versus_, the theme of the first
_versus_ being repeated for the second. Or, lastly, a stanza might [25]
consist of _pedes_ and _versus_, one theme being used for the first
_pes_ and repeated for the second and similarly with the _versus_.
Thus the general principle upon which the stanza was constructed was that of
tripartition in the following three forms:--

I

1st line }
2nd " } Pes
3rd " etc. }

1st line }
2nd " } Pes
3rd " etc. }
Diesis or Volta

1st line } Syrma
2nd " } or Coda
3rd " etc. }

II

1st line }
2nd " } Frons
3rd " etc. }
Diesis or Volta

1st line }
2nd " } Versus
3rd " etc. }

1st line }
2nd. " } Versus
3rd " etc. }

III

1st line }
2nd " } Pes
3rd " etc. }

1st line }
2nd " } Pes
3rd " etc. }
Diesis or Volta

1st line }
2nd " } Versus
3rd " etc. }

1st line }
2nd. " } Versus
3rd "