ALBA

a Provenal song of lament for lovers parting at dawn or of a watchman's warning to lovers at dawn. Albas were sung by the 11th- and 12th-century troubadours. Some sources consider the alba an early form of an aubade, though, unlike the alba, an aubade is usually a celebration of the dawn. Examples of albas for which music also survives include Reis glorios by Guiraut de Bornelh and the anonymous Gaite de la tor. The minnesingers, German counterparts of the troubadours, also used the form, calling it Tagelied.