Plural of aubade; dawn songs or morning serenade poems, typically expressing lovers' reluctance to part at daybreak.
From French 'aubade,' from Old French 'aube' (dawn), which comes from Latin 'alba' (white/dawn). The '-ade' suffix is from Old Provençal. The genre developed in medieval troubadour tradition as songs performed at dawn.
Aubades are basically medieval romance at its most poetic—imagine musicians showing up to sing outside your lover's window at sunrise because they have to say goodbye. Shakespeare referenced them in Romeo and Juliet, and they're the opposite of serenades, which happen at night.
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