A chansonnier ( ca, cançoner, oc, cançonièr, Galician and pt, cancioneiro, it, canzoniere or ''canzoniéro'', es, cancionero) is a manuscript or printed book which contains a collection of chansons, or

polyphonic Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice, monophony, or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords, h ...

and monophonic

setting Setting may refer to: * A location (geography) where something is set * Set construction in theatrical scenery * Setting (narrative), the place and time in a work of narrative, especially fiction * Setting up to fail a manipulative technique to eng ...

s of songs, hence literally " song-books"; however, some manuscripts are called chansonniers even though they preserve the text but not the music, for example, the

Cancioneiro da Vaticana The ''Cancioneiro da Vaticana'' (, ; ''Vatican Songbook'') is a compilation of troubadour lyrics in Galician-Portuguese. It was discovered c. 1840 in the holdings of the Vatican Library and was first transcribed by D. Caetano Lopes de Moura in 18 ...

and

Cancioneiro da Biblioteca Nacional The ''Cancioneiro da Biblioteca Nacional'' (, ; "The National Library Songbook"), commonly called ''Colocci-Brancuti'', is a compilation of Galician-Portuguese lyrics by both troubadours and ''jograes'' (non-noble performers and composers) . The ...

, which contain the bulk of Galician-Portuguese lyrics. The most important chansonniers contain lyrics, poems and songs of the troubadours and trouvères used in the

medieval music Medieval music encompasses the sacred and secular music of Western Europe during the Middle Ages, from approximately the 6th to 15th centuries. It is the first and longest major era of Western classical music and followed by the Renaissance ...

. Prior to 1420, many song-books contained both sacred and secular music, one exception being those containing the work of

Guillaume de Machaut Guillaume de Machaut (, ; also Machau and Machault; – April 1377) was a French composer and poet who was the central figure of the style in late medieval music. His dominance of the genre is such that modern musicologists use his death to ...

. Around 1420, sacred and secular music was segregated into separate sources, with large choirbooks containing sacred music, and smaller chansonniers for more private use by the privileged. Chansonniers were compiled primarily in France, but also in Italy, Germany and in the Iberian peninsula.

List of chansonniers

Catalan

French

*Cangé Chansonnier *Cappella Giulia Chansonnier *

Casanatense chansonnier The ''Casanatense chansonnier'' (I-Rc MS 2856) was a major collection of Renaissance vocal music made in Ferrara , including compositions from Europe's leading composers. Overview It was likely compiled for Isabella d'Este's marriage to Frances ...

Chansonnier Cordiforme The Chansonnier Cordiforme (1470s), or Chansonnier de Jean de Montchenu, is a cordiform (heart-shaped) music manuscript, Collection Henri de Rothschild MS 2973, held in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, France. The manuscript was commiss ...

*Chansonnier de Arras *

Chansonnier du Roi The ''Manuscrit du Roi'' or ''Chansonnier du Roi'' ("King's Manuscript" or "King's Songbook" in English) is a prominent songbook compiled towards the middle of the thirteenth century, probably between 1255 and 1260 and a major testimony of Europea ...

(also Occitan) *Chansonnier Nivelle de la Chaussée *Copenhagen Chansonnier *Dijon Chansonnier *Florentine Chansonnier *Laborde Chansonnier *Mellon Chansonnier *Noailles Chansonnier *Seville Chansonnier *Wolfenbüttel Chansonnier

Italian

Cancionero de Montecassino The ''Cancionero Musical de Montecassino'' (Montecassino, Biblioteca dell'Abbazia, 871), known by the abbreviation "(CMM)" is an important Neapolitan manuscript of music from the 1480s, containing many otherwise unknown compositions. References ...

Occitan

Cançoner Gil The ''Cançoner Gil'' (, ) is an Occitan chansonnier produced in Catalonia in the middle of the 14th century. In the systematic nomenclature of Occitanists, it is typically named MS ''Sg'', but as ''Z'' in the reassignment of letter names by F ...

Cançoner Vega-Aguiló The Cançoner Vega-Aguiló (, ) is a chansonnier predominantly carrying Catalan and Occitan pieces, but also some Castilian and Middle French Middle French (french: moyen français) is a historical division of the French language that covers t ...

*Chansonnier de Saint-Germain-des-Prés *Philipps Manuscript *Poetarum Provinciali

Galician-Portuguese

Cancioneiro da Ajuda The ''Cancioneiro da Ajuda'' (, ; "Ajuda Songbook") is a collection of Galician-Portuguese lyric poems probably dating from the last quarter of the 13th-century. It is the oldest of the Galician-Portuguese ''cancioneiros'' with secular music. ...

Pergaminho Sharrer The Pergaminho Sharrer (; gl, Pergamiño Sharrer {{IPA-gl, peɾɣaˈmiɲʊ ˈʃarɪɾ}; "Sharrer Parchment") is a mediaeval parchment fragment containing seven songs by King Denis of Portugal, with lyrics in the Galician-Portuguese language and m ...

(fragment) * Pergaminho Vindel see Martin Codax

Portuguese

Cancioneiro de Belém The Cancioneiro Musical de Belém (English: Belém Musical Songbook) or simply Cancioneiro de Belém (Santa Maria de Belém, Lisbon, National Archaeology Museum, Ms 3391) is a Portuguese Renaissance manuscript from the beginning of the 17th century ...

Cancioneiro de Elvas The ''Cancioneiro de Elvas'' (in English: ''Elvas Songbook'') is one of the four Renaissance songbooks of Portuguese music from the 16th century - along with the Lisbon Songbook, the Belém Songbook, and the Paris songbook. It is one important s ...

Cancioneiro de Lisboa :''This article refers to a Renaissance songbook. For the Portuguese medieval songbook, see Cancioneiro da Biblioteca Nacional'' ''Cancioneiro musical da Biblioteca Nacional'' or simply ''Cancioneiro de Lisboa'' is the name given to the manuscript ...

Cancioneiro de Paris The ''Cancioneiro de Paris'' (in English: ''Paris Songbook'' - École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, manuscript Masson 56) is one of the four Renaissance songbooks of Portuguese music from the 16th century. It is one important source of secul ...

Spanish

* Cancionero de Baena * Cancionero de la Colombina * Cancionero de Medinaceli * Cancionero de Palacio *

Cancionero de Segovia The Cancionero de Segovia or Cancionero Musical de Segovia (CMS) (Segovia Cathedral, Archivo Capitular, s.s. ntiguo18, also known as Cancionero of the Segovia Cathedral, is a manuscript containing Renaissance music from the end of the 15th century ...

References

*Howard Mayer Brown. "Chansonnier (i)", ''

Grove Music Online ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language ''Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and theo ...

'', ed. L. Macy (accessed July 30, 2006)
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