Canso

DEFINITION

(1) a strophic troubadour song with the musical form a a b (pes pes cauda) for each stanza. The pes has two phrases, the first inconclusive or "open" and the second conclusive or "closed"; music of the pes is then repeated to new text. The cauda is musically free, though in some cases the composer rounded the form by repeating musical material at the end of the cauda. Following the last complete stanza of poetry, the composer may include a partial stanza known as the envoy. (2) any troubadour song.