Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A contention in verse between rival troubadours, before a tribunal of love or gallantry; hence, a subdivision of a chanson composed by one of the contestants or competitors; also, one of the pieces of verse sung by the competitors, for which a peculiar meter was thought appropriate.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • When more than two singers took part in a tenson, it became a tournament.

    Woman's Work in Music Arthur Elson

  • Among the Troubadours, this species of musical dialogue took the form of the tenson, or contention.

    Woman's Work in Music Arthur Elson

  • Disputes before these courts usually took the form of the tenson, or contention, already described.

    Woman's Work in Music Arthur Elson

  • Somewhere out in the gloom coyotes chattered and yelped, and from far across the dusky valley others answered -- a doleful tenson.

    The River and I John G. Neihardt 1927

  • _This group contains two-part songs, arranged dialogue-fashion, like a debat or a tenson.

    A Syllabus of Kentucky Folk-Songs Josiah Henry Combs 1923

  • He soon rejected this manner and claimed in tenson (poem in form of a dialogue) that "easy and simple poetry is more esteemed and liked".

    The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 6: Fathers of the Church-Gregory XI 1840-1916 1913

  • The name of _tenson_ was given to those poetical contests in verse which took place in the Courts of Love, or before illustrious princes.

    Handbook of Universal Literature From the Best and Latest Authorities Anne C. Lynch Botta 1853

  • Germany, the place of his imprisonment was discovered by Blondel, his minstrel, who sang beneath the fortress a _tenson_ which he and Richard had composed in common, and to which Richard responded.

    Handbook of Universal Literature From the Best and Latest Authorities Anne C. Lynch Botta 1853

  • _ Well, Miss Gryll, I should like, some winter evening, to challenge you to a _tenson_, and your uncle should be umpire.

    Gryll Grange Thomas Love Peacock 1825

  • I should much prefer a _tenson_ of the twelfth century, when two or three masters of the _Gai Saber_ discussed questions of love and chivalry.

    Gryll Grange Thomas Love Peacock 1825

Comments

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  • Itinerant troubadors tired

    But gigs at the palace required

    They stake their ascents on

    A winnowing tenson,

    Before they were comfortably hired.

    August 26, 2016