Branwyn
Message:
31644
20 Sep 04 9:58 AM
Reply To:
31617
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Raksha--
I checked the OED on-line for "lay" (and for "lai," the French source of the word) and "chant." The entry for lay is below; the term is associated with poetry intended to be sung. "Chant" can mean to recite, but an earlier meaning (back from the days of Chaucer) was simply to sing. One of the alternative modern meanings of chant is to sing without much variation in pitch (sort of a cross between singing and reciting).
Note that the OED definition states that lays were originally narrative poems sung by minstrels. It seems safe to assume that JRRT the medievalist would be using the term in this specific sense. (At the end of LOTR, the minstrel of Gondor stands up and--I believe--sings the story of Frodo and the Ring of Doom.)
Based on this, I would guess the lays were sung, but possibly in a monotonous fashion (without much variation in pitch). If you listen to Ben Bagby's recreation of how he believes "Beowulf" was recited/sung, he uses a very simple accompaniment (on a small harp) and sings the text of the poem to a small set of simple, repeated musical phrases.
Hope this is helpful--
Branwyn
1. A short lyric or narrative poem intended to be sung.
Originally applied spec. to the poems, usually dealing with matter of history or romantic adventure, which were sung by minstrels. From the 16th to the 18th c. the word was a mere poetical synonym for ‘song’. This use still continues, but lay is now often employed (partly after G. lied, with which it is often erroneously supposed to be etymologically connected) as the appropriate term for a popular historical ballad such as those on which the Homeric poems are by some believed to be founded.
