Program
MA DAME, TRESGENTE
ET BELLE
Courtly songs from Loire Valley manuscripts
15th century
Concerts given at:
October 18, 2023 - Tours (37)
October 9, 2022 - Music and Heritage, Lerné (37)
September 11, 2022 - Festival Voix et Route Romane, Guebwiller (67)
July 9, 2022 - Festival les Méridiennes, Tours (37)
February 5, 2022 - Abbey of Seuilly, (37)
"The fine flower of 15th century French songs, brought together in magnificent manuscripts produced in the Loire Valley."
This program covers songs from the end of the reign of Charles VII and the reign of Louis XI, dated between 1450 and 1480 approximately.
To date, there are more than 200 songs written by composers who notably officiated in Tours such as Antoine Busnois, Johannes Ockeghem, Delahaye... The sponsors and owners of these works would rather be people gravitating around the royal court, namely notaries , secretaries, etc.
These musical works have been collected in elegant portable books smaller than a modern paperback called chansonnier. Carefully decorated and personalized, they bear witness to a new genre held in high esteem, offering a combination of poetry, music and illuminations. The composers present, the identification of the sponsors and owners, the artistic conception of the works and the importance of the role of the scribes allow us to link these manuscripts and define their geographical origin: the Loire Valley.
These poems skilfully set to music are a veritable pleasure garden revealing the intimate sphere of courtly culture.