ABSTRACT
Scribal recognition of a distinctive metrical structure is a thorny issue in vernacular as well as in Latin songs. The signs marking the physical appearance of the text for both reading and recollection were as important as musical notation was to a singer. Most scholars have concluded that no single joglar could be expected to know the enormous repertoire presented in the lists, and have labelled the texts as a marginal, and somewhat tedious, example of a gap. An important feature of troubadours' references to knowledge of a song, the focus on the knowledge of theincipit, titulus or opening was derived from the memorization of the Psalms, a crucial qualification for aclericus. The anonymous song 'Gioglaretz, quant passaretz' contains the following strange statement: Ceu darre un moi descleSen carta qen tereglePoi scriver una tal coblaSun daquist moti non si dubla.
