Aucassin et Nicolette

The concept album „Aucassin Et Nicolette“ based on the book with the same name - a Chantefable (ca. 1225), was the first prosimetron (a mixture of prose and verse) in French literature. It tells the story of Aucassin, the son of a Count, and Nicolette, a beautiful slave, who fall in love with each other against the will of the Count and who can marry only after numerous ordeals and adventures - and when it becomes apparent that Nicolette actually is a Moorish princess who had been abducted as a small child. The anonymous author writes in Picardian dialect and tells his story in 21 rhymed passages and 20 prose passages with a subtle sense of irony. This work contains many - partly parodistic - elements gleaned from different fields of literature, such as the Hellenistic novels about love and fate in the manner of „Heliodor," the "Chanson de Geste," the courtly poetry and novels, the then-new chivalrous romances etc.