O. de Lassus and others. Sixteenth-century volume of tenor parts for French chansons, 1578-1588

LASSUS, ORLANDE DE

Sixteenth-century volume of tenor parts for French chansons by Lassus, Claude Le Jeune, Jacques Maudit and others, Paris: Adrian le Roy & Robert Ballard, 1578-1588

1) BONNET, PIERRE. Airs et villanelles mis en musique à 4. 5. & 6. Parties, Le Roy, & Ballard, 1588, ff.52. [RISM B 3530; Lesure no. 299bis (only one contratenor part survives in Chicago)]  

2) TESSIER, GUILLAUME. Premier livre d'airs tant François, Italien, qu'Espagnol, reduitz en Musique, à 4. & 5. parties, Le Roy & Ballard, 1585. ff.40 [RISM TT 597a; Lesure no. 271]  (does not survive complete), careful repair to f.38

3) PLANSON, JEHAN (1559-1611). Airs mis en musique à quatre parties par Iean Planson Parisien, 

Le Roy & Ballard, 1588, ff.40, [RISM PP 2507a; Lesure no. 301 (does not survive complete)], ff.28, 29 & 31 misbound from item 4 (Caietain), 

4) CAIETAIN, FABRICE MARIN. Airs mis en musique à quatre parties. Premier livre...sur les poësies de P. de Ronsard, & autres excelens poëtes, Le Roy & Ballard, 1578, ff.36 (of 40), [RISM C 28; Lesure 213], ff.26, 28, 29 & 31 misbound from item 3 (Planson) lacking ff.26, 33, 37 & 40, careful repairs to ff.17/18 & 34, slight loss to f.25 

5) LE BLANC, DIDIER. Airs de plusieurs musiciens sur les poesies de Ph. Desportes, Le Roy & Ballard, 1582, ff.39 (of 40), [RISM L 1233; Lesure 253 (one copy in Paris)], lacking title

6)  MAUDIT, JACQUES (1557-1627). Chansonnettes mesurees. de Ian-Antoine de Baïf, Mises en musique a quatre parties par Iacques Mauduit Parisien, ff.24, Le Roy & Ballard, 1588, [RISM M 1427; Lesure 300 (does not survive complete)]

7) LASSUS & CLAUDE LE JEUNE (c.1530-1600). Vingtcinquieme livre d'airs et de chansons à quatre parties, Le Roy & Robert Ballard, 1587, ff.16, containing 8 chansons by Lassus, [RISM Recueils 1587(4); Lesure no. 297 (does not survive complete; soprano and bass parts are in Paris)], small tear in f.15,

8) LASSUS & CLAUDE LE JEUNE. Vingtquatrieme livre d'airs et chansons à quatre parties, Le Roy & Ballard, 1587, ff.16, containing 4 chansons by Lassus, one in two sections, [RISM Recueils 1587(3); Lesure 296 (does not survive complete; soprano and bass parts are in Paris)]

9) CONDOMIRIO, ANTONIO. Cantiques du Sr. de Maisonfleur mis en Musique à 4. parties, par le S. Antonio Condomirio, Grec de nation, first edition, Le Roy & Ballard, 1582, [RISM C 3495; Lesure no.252 (the tenor part hitherto unrecorded)], ff.15 (of 16), lacking last leaf (containing one chanson)

9 volumes in one, Tenor part only (of 4), oblong 8vo (c.9 x 13cm), titles within elaborate wood-cut borders, large historiated initials in items 2, 5 & 9, full-page devices in items 2 & 3, small device in 6, type-set music, contemporary brown parchment wrappers, early (ownership?) inscription to item no.6 ("Laurens") and inside rear wrapper ("Laurens Philippe"), small cuts to lower edges in items 7 & 8, wrappers stained, hole to front cover, stitching renewed  

VERY RARE: most of these French chansons are recorded in one or two parts in national libraries, sometimes the only survivals from sets that have become dispersed. Modest part-books of secular music from this era often disappear altogether. Besides, Lassus, the greatest master of the French chanson, this volume also contains settings influenced by the humanist Académie de poësie et musique of Jean-Antoine de Baïf (1532-1589), which promoted the composition of musique mesurée, where musical rhythms were dictated by the vers mesurés. The publications of Claude Le Jeune and the exceedingly rare Jacques Maudit and are among the most significant examples of this genre, notably Maudit's 'Vous me tuez' and 'Vostre tarin' in item 6 and Le Jeune's 'La belle aronde' in item 7

LITERATURE:

F.Lesure & G.Thibault, Bibliographie des éditions d'Adrian Le Roy et Robert Ballard 1551-1598. (Paris 1955); G. Reese, Music in the Renaissance (1959), pp.381-386 & 390-395.