Chantilly Codex

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The chanson Belle, Bonne, Sage by Baude Cordier, written in the shape of a heart, with a red note coloration string of notes forming another heart.
The chanson Belle, Bonne, Sage by Baude Cordier, written in the shape of a heart, with a red note coloration string of notes forming another heart.

The Chantilly Codex (Chantilly, Musee Conde MS 564) is a manuscript of medieval music containing pieces from the style known as the Ars subtilior.

Most of the compositions in the Chantilly Codex date from ca. 1350-1400. There are 112 pieces total, mostly by French composers, and all of them polyphonic. The codex contains examples of many of the most popular courtly dance styles of its time, such as ballades, rondeaus, virelais, and isorhythmic motets. Some of the motets are rhythmically extremely complex, and are written in intricately exact musical notation. Two pieces by Baude Cordier were added at a slightly later date at the front of the manuscript, and use unusual shapes to reflect their musical contents. The piece "Belle, Bonne, Sage," at right, is a play on words on the "Cor" ("heart") in "Cordier."

The Chantilly Codex is known to contain music from the composers Johannes Symonis, Jehan Suzay, Pierre des Molins, Goscalch, Solage, Baude Cordier, Grimace, Guillaume de Machaut, Jean Vaillant, Franciscus Andrieu, Cunelier, Trebor, and Senleches.

[edit] Recordings

  • Ensemble Organum. Codex Chantilly. Harmonia Mundi, 1987.
  • Ensemble P. A. N. Ars Magis Subtiliter. New Albion, 1989.

[edit] References and further reading

  • Richard H. Hoppin, Medieval Music. New York, W.W. Norton & Co., 1978.
  • "Sources, MS, VII: French polyphony 1300–1420" in Grove Music Online (Accessed October 9, 2006), (subscription access)
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