Gontier de Soignies, French trouvère; no biographical data available. He probably came from Soignies (near Mons, Hainaut province).
His name appears in the texts of seven undated songs. The linguistic and stylistic features of Gontier de Soignies’s works suggest that he probably belonged to the earliest generation of trouvères, active at the end of the 12th century. On the basis of the absence of contrafacta of his works, which in the case of more popular trouvères was a common phenomenon, it is assumed that Gontier de Soignies did not achieve wider recognition. Gontier de Soignies wrote about 30 songs in various versions, of which 19 preserve musical notation. Most of them represent fairly varied types of refrain forms; five are preserved in manuscripts designated as “rotrouenge.” From a musical point of view, with few exceptions (e.g. Chanter m’estuet de recomens), they are syllabic works with very simple melodic structure. The absence of mensural notation suggests the use of free rhythm. The melodies of Gontier de Soignies have not yet been published.
Literature: A. Scheler Trouvères belges, new series Chansons d’amour, jeux-partis, pastourelles, satires, dits et fabliaux, Leuven 1879; F. Gennrich Die altfranzösische Rotrouenge, «Literarhistorischmusikwissenschaftliche Studie» II, Halle 1925; H. Spanke Eine altfranzösische Lieder Sammlung, Halle 1925; F. Gennrich Grundriss einer Formenlehre des mittelalterlichen Liedes, Halle 1932, repr. 1970.
