Chansonnier du Roi
The Manuscrit du Roi or Chansonnier du Roi ("King's Manuscript" or "King's Songbook" in English) is a famous songbook drawn towards the middle of the thirteenth century, probably between 1255 and 1260. It is currently French manuscript 844 of the Bibliothèque nationale de France. It is also troubadour manuscript W in the lettering of Karl Bartsch, trouvère manuscript M and motet manuscript R.
The manuscript contains more than 600 songs composed for the most part between the late twelfth and early thirteenth century. Some were written by famous troubadours and trouvères as Guiot de Dijon or Richard de Fournival, but others are anonymous. It contains as an addendum a booklet of songs by King Theobald I of Navarre, sometimes known as manuscript Mt. Around 85% of its material is French, while only 61 songs are by troubadours. Of these, 51 have music.
The creation of this songbook is attributed to Count Charles of Anjou, who probably had it made as a gift for William of Villehardouin, Prince of Achaea. In 1270, it returned to Charles's possession. Today, the state of conservation of the collection is bad. Eighteen pages have are missing and several decorative initials have been cut out, but it is remains a major testimony of medieval music.
Recordings
- The Manuscrit du Roi was recorded in 1992 by the Ensemble Perceval, and was published in 1993 by Arion.
- Estampies & Danses Royales by Hespèrion XXI and Jordi Savall (2008)[1]
References
Sources
- Aubrey, Elizabeth (1996). The Music of the Troubadours. Bloomington.
- Aubrey, Elizabeth. "Sources, MS, §III: Secular monophony, 4. French". Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 14 November 2015. Originally in Stanley Sadie, ed., The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (London 1980), vol. 23, p. 853.
- Haines, John (1998). The Musicography of the Manuscrit du Roi. Toronto.
- Haines, John (1998–2002). "The Transformations of the Manuscrit du Roi". Musica Disciplina 52: 5–43.
- Haines, John (2013). "The Songbook for William of Villehardouin, Prince of the Morea (Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, fonds français 844): A Crucial Case in the History of Vernacular Song Collections". In Sharon Gerstel. Viewing the Morea: Land and People in the Late Medieval Peloponnese. Cambridge, MA. pp. 57–109.
- Page, Gill (2015). "Literature in Frankish Greece". In Nickiphoros I. Tsougarakis; Peter Lock. A Companion to Latin Greece. Leiden. pp. 288–325.
- Spanke, Hans (1943). "Der Chansonnier du Roi". Romanische Forschungen 57: 38–104.
External links
- Manuscript 844 on the Gallica project of the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
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