Thanh-Tam Le explains:

>The form of the romance is basically a very simple "Lied form", ABA, or
>even A (...) in some cases.  As for its origin, it seems that the first
>romances were sung, and originated in medieval songs (chansons de geste),

Aha!  I always wondered why Russian art-songs are so often referred to
as romances.

len.