View source for Aubade

{{Short description|Morning love song or a song or poem about lovers separating at dawn}}
{{for|the Jean-Michel Blais album|Aubades (album)}}
[[File:Aubade à la Lune, de Jules Delhaxhe.jpg|thumb|Sheet music for Jules Delhaxhe's ''Aubade à la Lune'']]
An '''aubade''' is a morning love song (as opposed to a [[serenade]], intended for performance in the evening), or a [[song]] or [[poem]] about lovers separating at [[dawn]].<ref name="MW">{{cite web
| title = Aubade
| work = Merriam-Webster Online
| year = 2010
| access-date = 2010-11-05
| url = http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/aubade
}}</ref> It has also been defined as "a song or instrumental composition concerning, accompanying, or evoking daybreak".<ref name="free-dictionary">{{Citation |title=aubade |url=https://www.thefreedictionary.com/aubade |work=The Free Dictionary |access-date=2023-12-05}}
</ref>

In the strictest sense of the term, an aubade is a song sung by a departing lover to a sleeping woman.<ref name="sigal" /> Aubades are generally conflated with what are strictly called [[Alba (poetry)|alba]]s, which are exemplified by a dialogue between parting lovers, a refrain with the word ''alba'', and a watchman warning the lovers of the approaching dawn.<ref name="sigal">{{cite book
| last = Sigal
| first = Gale
| title = Erotic dawn-songs of the Middle Ages: voicing the lyric lady
| year = 1996
| page = 5
}}</ref>

The tradition of ''aubades'' goes back at least to the [[troubadour]]s of the [[Provençal literature|Provençal]] schools of [[courtly love]] in the [[High Middle Ages]].<ref>
{{cite book
 | last1 = Fauriel
 | first1 = Claude Charles
 | author-link1 = Claude Charles Fauriel
 | translator1-last = Adler
 | translator1-first = George J.
 | translator-link = George J. Adler
 | year = 1846
 | chapter = The lyrical poetry of the troubadours
 | editor1-last = Adler
 | editor1-first = George J.
 | editor1-link = George J. Adler
 | title = History of Provençal Poetry
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=V24Y8XYWM2AC
 | location = New York
 | publisher = Derby & Jackson
 | publication-date = 1860
 | page = 412
 | access-date = 2020-06-01
 | quote = [...] the aubades of the Troubadours were intended to wake up at the dawn of day the chevalier who had spent the night with his lady, and to admonish him to withdraw speedily, in order to escape detection.
}}
</ref>
The aubade gained in popularity again with the advent of the [[metaphysical poets|metaphysical]] fashion in the 17th century. [[John Donne]]'s poem "The Sunne Rising" exemplifies an aubade in English. Aubades were written from time to time in the 18th and 19th centuries.  In the 20th century the focus of the aubade shifted from the genre's original specialized courtly-love context into the more generalized theme of a human parting at daybreak.  In this reformulated context several notable aubades were published in the 20th century, such as "[[Aubade (Larkin)|Aubade]]" by [[Philip Larkin]].<ref name="brennan">{{cite book
| last = Brennan
| first = Maeve
| title = The Philip Larkin I knew
| url = https://archive.org/details/philiplarkinikne0000bren
| url-access = registration
| year = 2002
| page = [https://archive.org/details/philiplarkinikne0000bren/page/64 64]
}}</ref> French composers of the turn of the 20th century wrote a number of aubades. In 1883, the French composer [[Emmanuel Chabrier]] composed an "Aubade" for piano solo, inspired by a four-month visit to [[Spain]].<ref name="murray">{{cite web
 |title=Sleeve notes: Chabrier – Piano Works Regis RRC 1133 
 |work=Kernow Classics 
 |last=Murray 
 |first=James 
 |url=http://www.kernowclassics.co.uk/consultancy/sleeve-notes.htm 
 |year=2002 
 |access-date=2010-11-05 
 |url-status=dead 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120314173539/http://www.kernowclassics.co.uk/consultancy/sleeve-notes.htm 
 |archive-date=2012-03-14 
}}</ref> [[Maurice Ravel]] included a Spain-inspired aubade entitled "Alborada del gracioso" in his 1906 piano suite ''[[Miroirs]]''.<ref>{{cite web
 |url=http://www.angelahewitt.com/record.php?record_id=3 
 |title=The Complete Piano Works of Ravel: Sleeve notes 
 |last=Hewitt 
 |first=Angela 
 |year=2002 
 |access-date=2010-11-05 
 |url-status=dead 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110904015639/http://www.angelahewitt.com/record.php?record_id=3 
 |archive-date=2011-09-04 
}}</ref> An aubade is the centerpiece of [[Erik Satie]]'s 1915 piano suite ''[[Avant-dernières pensées]]''.<ref>{{cite web|first=Robert |last=Orledge|title= Liner notes to Eve Egoyan's Satie album "Hidden Corners"|year= 2002|url= http://eveegoyan.com/EveEgoyan/hiddennoteseng.html}}</ref><ref>[http://www.allmusic.com/composition/avant-derni%C3%A8res-pens%C3%A9es-next-to-last-thoughts-pieces-3-for-piano-mc0002657941 Allmusic review of Satie's ''Avant-dernières pensées''.]</ref> The composer [[Francis Poulenc]] later wrote (in [[concerto]] form) a piece titled ''[[Aubade (Poulenc)|Aubade]]''; it premiered in 1929.<ref name="classical-net">{{cite web
| title = A Side of French
| last = Schwartz
| first = Steve
| work = Classical Net
| year = 2006
| url = http://www.classical.net/music/recs/reviews/e/ess01086a.php
| access-date = 2010-11-05
}}</ref>

In 2014 postmodern dancer and choreographer [[Douglas Dunn (choreographer)|Douglas Dunn]] presented a piece titled ''Aubade'', with costumes, video and lighting by [[Charles Atlas (artist)|Charles Atlas]], and poetry by [[Anne Waldman]].<ref>
{{cite news
|url= https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/19/arts/dance/douglas-dunn-explores-his-past-in-aubade.html
|title=Douglas Dunn Explores His Past in 'Aubade'|first=Gia|last=Kourlas
|newspaper=The New York Times|date=4 December 2017}}
</ref>

Montreal pop-composer [[Jean-Michel Blais]]' 2022 album, [[Aubades_(album)|Aubades]], is inspired by the theme.

==See also==
* [[Lyric poetry]]
* [[Tagelied]]
* ''[[Las Mañanitas]]'', commonly sung in the morning
* [[Reverdie]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Wiktionary}}
*[http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/178058 'Aubade' – a poem by Philip Larkin]
* [http://www.bartleby.com/101/139.html 'Aubade' – a poem by William Shakespeare]

{{Western medieval lyric forms}}

[[Category:Medieval music genres]]
[[Category:16th-century music genres]]
[[Category:17th-century music genres]]
[[Category:18th-century music genres]]
[[Category:19th-century music genres]]
[[Category:20th-century music genres]]
[[Category:21st-century music genres]]
[[Category:Western medieval lyric forms]]


{{Poetry-stub}}
{{Classical-music-stub}}