The alba (ˈalβɔ, ˈaɫβə or ˈaɫβa; "sunrise") is a subgenre of Occitan lyric poetry

Lyric poetry

Lyric poetry is a genre of poetry that expresses personal and emotional feelings. In the ancient world, lyric poems were those which were sung to the lyre. Lyric poems do not have to rhyme, and today do not need to be set to music or a beat...

. It describes the longing of lovers who, having passed a night together, must separate for fear of being discovered by their respective spouses.

A common figure found in the alba is the guaita ("sentry" or "guard"), a female friend who alerts the lovers when the hour has come to separate. The lovers often accuse the guaita of dozing, being inattentive or separating them too early. The lovers fear not just the lady's husband but also the lauzengiers, the jealous rival.

The following example, composed by an anonymous troubadour

Troubadour

A troubadour was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages . Since the word "troubadour" is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a trobairitz....

, describes the longing of a knight for his lady as they part company after a night of forbidden love. Though generally representative of the style, this particular verse uses an atypical strophic

Strophe

A strophe forms the first part of the ode in Ancient Greek tragedy, followed by the antistrophe and epode. In its original Greek setting, "strophe, antistrophe and epode were a kind of stanza framed only for the music," as John Milton wrote in the preface to Samson Agonistes, with the strophe...

 pattern.

Quan lo rosinhols escria ab sa part la nueg e.l dia, yeu suy ab ma bell'amia jos la flor, tro la gaita de la tor escria: "Drutz, al levar! Qu'ieu vey l'alba e.l jorn clar.

While the nightingale sings, both night and day, I am with my beautiful beneath the flowers, until our sentry from the tower cries: "Lovers, get up! for I clearly see the sunrise and the day.

Under the influence of the Occitan troubadours, the Minnesingers developed a similar genre, the Tagelied

Tagelied

The Tagelied is a particular form of mediaeval German language lyric, taken and adapted from the Provençal troubadour tradition by the German Minnesinger...

, in Germany, and in northern France the trouvère

Trouvère

Trouvère , sometimes spelled trouveur , is the Northern French form of the word trobador . It refers to poet-composers who were roughly contemporary with and influenced by the troubadours but who composed their works in the northern dialects of France...

s developed an equivalent aube

Aubade

An aubade is a morning love song , or a song or poem about lovers separating at dawn. It has also been defined as "a song or instrumental composition concerning, accompanying, or evoking daybreak"....

 genre. The alba itself was imported into the Galician-Portuguese

Galician-Portuguese

Galician-Portuguese or Old Portuguese was a West Iberian Romance language spoken in the Middle Ages, in the northwest area of the Iberian Peninsula. It was first spoken in the area bounded in the north and west by the Atlantic Ocean and the Douro River in the south but it was later extended south...

 trovadorismo movement, but only one example of it, by Nuno Fernandes Torneol, survives.

List of Occitan albas

Composer	Incipit Incipit Incipit is a Latin word meaning "it begins". The incipit of a text, such as a poem, song, or book, is the first few words of its opening line. In music, it can also refer to the opening notes of a composition. Before the development of titles, texts were often referred to by their incipits...	Type	Notes
Bernart de Venzac Bernart de Venzac Bernart de Venzac was an obscure troubadour from Venzac near Rodez in the Rouergue. He wrote in the Marcabrunian style, leaving behind five moralising pieces and one religious alba...	Lo Paire el Filh el sant Espirital	religious
Raimbaut de Vaqueiras Raimbaut de Vaqueiras Raimbaut de Vaqueiras was a Provençal troubadour and, later in his life, knight. His life was spent mainly in Italian courts until 1203, when he joined the Fourth Crusade....	Gaita be gaiteta del castel	profane
Guiraut de Bornelh	Reis glorios, verais lums e clartatz	profane
Folquet de Marselha Folquet de Marselha Folquet de Marselha, alternatively Folquet de Marseille, Foulques de Toulouse, Fulk of Toulouse came from a Genoese merchant family who lived in Marseille...	Vers Dieus el vostre nom e de Sainta Maria	religious
Cadenet Cadenet (troubadour) Cadenet was a Provençal troubadour who lived and wrote at the court of Raymond VI of Toulouse and eventually made a reputation in Spain. Of his twenty-five surviving songs, twenty-one are cansos, with one alba, one partimen, one pastorela, and one religious piece represented...	En sui tan cortesa gaita	profane
Raimon de las Salas Raimon de las Salas Raimon de Salas or la Sala was a Provençal troubadour probably of the 1220s/1230s. His short vida survives. He left behind four or five poems, but he must have composed more, since he is vida records his composition of cansos, albas, and retroensas...	Deus aidatz	profane
Bertran d'Alamanon Bertran d'Alamanon Bertran d'Alamanon, also spelled de Lamanon or d'Alamano , was a Provençal knight and troubadour, and an official, diplomat, and ambassador of the court of the Count of Provence...  or Gaucelm Faidit Gaucelm Faidit Gaucelm Faidit was a troubadour, born in Uzerche, in the Limousin, from a family of knights in service of the count of Turenne. He travelled widely in France, Spain, and Hungary...	Us cavalier si jazia	profane
Guilhem d'Autpol Guilhem d'Autpol Guilhem d'Autpol or Daspol was a troubadour from Hautpoul in the Languedoc. He wrote four works that survive, three dwelling on intensely religious themes. There exists some evidence internal in his songs that he was a jongleur early on.Esperansa de totz ferms esperans is a religious alba...	Esperansa de totz ferms esperans	religious
Guiraut Riquier Guiraut Riquier Guiraut Riquier is among the last of the Provençal troubadours. He is well known because of his great care in writing out his works and keeping them together—the New Grove Encyclopedia considers him an "anthologist" of his own works....	Ab plazer	profane
Guiraut Riquier	Qui vuelha ses plazer	religious
Uc de la Bacalaria Uc de la Bacalaria Uc de la Bacalaria was a Limousin troubadour from La Bachellerie near Uzerche, the home town of Gaucelm Faidit. According to his vida, he was a jongleur who travelled infrequently and was hardly known. He composed cansos, tensos, one alba, and one descort...	Per grazir la bon'estrena	profane
Peire Espanhol Peire Espanhol Peire Espanhol was a Limousin troubadour with three extant cansos, including one religious alba. "Ar levatz sus, francha corteza gans!". His works have appeared, edited and with French translations, in Peter T...	Ar levatz sus, franca cortesa gen	religious
Berenguer d'Anoia Berenguer d'Anoia Berenguer d'Anoia or de Noya was a Catalan troubadour from Majorca. He wrote the Mirall de trobar, an Occitan poetic, grammatical, and rhetorical treatise in the tradition of the Razos de trobar of Raimon Vidal and the Regles de trobar of Jofre de Foixà, a genre always popular in Catalan...	Gaita, be gardatz	religious
Anonymous	En un vergier, sotz folha d'albespi	profane
Anonymous	Ab la gensor que sia	profane
Anonymous	Quan lo rossinhol escria	profane	cobla esparsa
Anonymous	Dreitz que vol dreitamen amar	profane	cobla esparsa