ballade (n.) A form of French versification, sometimes imitated in
English, in which three or four rhymes recur through three stanzas of
eight or ten lines each, the stanzas concluding with a refrain, and the
whole poem with an envoy.
Chambers DictionaryChamber's 20th Century Dictionaryđ
ballade ba-ladâČ, n. a poem of one or more terns
or triplets of seven or eight lined stanzas, each ending with the same
line as refrain, and usually an envoy: now frequently used of any poem in
stanzas of equal length.âBallade royal, stanzas of seven or
eight lines of ten syllablesâcalled also Rime or Rhythm
royal. [An earlier spelling of Ballad.]
Wikipedia
A ballade is a medieval French verse or song which tells a story. Like the rondeau and the virelai it was very popular in 14th and 15th century France. All these three songs were originally dances. Famous composers like Guillaume de Machaut wrote ballades.
Ballade verses often had three stanzas which had the same metre and rhyme scheme, and the last line was often the same. They might end with an envoi which meant that it was addressing a king or prince. The great English poet Geoffrey Chaucer wrote ballades.
musical form
"This article is about the instrumental ballade that was popular in the 19th century.
For the medieval French ballade see Ballade "
A ballade is a piece of music, usually for piano. It has several tunes, and one can easily imagine that it is telling a story (a ballade is a medieval French song which tells a story).
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