The first stage of the open access project “The Copenhagen Chansonnier and the ‘Loire Valley’ chansonniers” is now completed and can be accessed at:
The web site contains new editions of all the polyphonic songs in the French 15th century chansonnier in The Royal Library, Copenhagen, MS Thott 291 8° (the so-called Copenhagen chansonnier). Each song is here edited as a ‘performance on paper’ according to the manuscript, and all the concordances in the related ‘Loire Valley’ chansonniers are edited in a similar way. Each song is accompanied by a list of sources, an edition of the poem(s), incl. English translation, links to online facsimile editions, and extensive comments on sources, texts and music. The site further contains detailed descriptions of the five chansonniers and proposes hypotheses concerning their genesis and dating; the latter is summarized in the introduction, which also discusses the principles of the edition.
Furthermore, the site offers supplementary materials, which serve to support the investigation of the repertory. They comprise articles and editions concerning the composers Gilles Mureau (complete works), Philippe Basiron (complete chansons) and Fede alias Jean Sohier, about the French music manuscript Florence, Biblioteca Riccardiana, Ms. 2794, about chansons notated in ‘clefless notation’, etc.
