1 L'Autre Jour Par Ung Matin [Chansonnier Cordiforme, Geneva, C. 1475, Cord 16]
2 Helas, N'Aray Je Jamais Mieulx [Chansonnier Cordiforme, Geneva, C. 1475, Cord 40]
3 Terriblement Suis Fortunee [Chansonnier Cordiforme, Geneva, C. 1475, Cord 38]
4 De Tous Biens Plaine Est Ma Maistresse [Chansonnier Cordiforme, Geneva, C. 1475, Cord 19]
5 Comme Femme Desconfortée [Chansonnier Cordiforme, Geneva, C. 1475, Cord 29]
6 Fortune, Par Ta Cruaulté [Chansonnier Cordiforme, Geneva, C. 1475, Cord 27]
7 Adieu Vous Dy L'Espoir De Ma Jonesse [Chansonnier Cordiforme, Geneva, C. 1475, Cord 37
8 Le souvenir [Segovia Codex, Toledo, c. 1501-1503]
9 Ben Lo Sa Dio Se Sum Vergine E Pura [Chansonnier Cordiforme, Geneva, C. 1475, Cord 2]
10 Chiara Fontana De Belli Costumi [Chansonnier Cordiforme, Geneva, C. 1475, Cord 5]
11 N'Aray Je Jamais Mieulx Que J'Ay [Chansonnier Cordiforme, Geneva, C. 1475, Cord 25]
12 Dona Gentile He Bella Come L'Oro [Chansonnier Cordiforme, Geneva, C. 1475, Cord 3]
13 De tous biens playne [Segovia Codex, Toledo, c. 1501-1503]
14 O Pelegrina, O Luce, O Clara Stella [Chansonnier Cordiforme, Geneva, C. 1475, Cord 6]
15 Ma Bouche Rit Et Ma Pensee Pleure [Chansonnier Cordiforme, Geneva, C. 1475, Cord 31]
16 Ma Bouche Plaint Les Pleurs De Ma Pensee [Chansonnier Cordiforme, Geneva, C. 1475, Cord 33]
17
La Gratia De Vos, Donsella [Chansonnier Cordiforme, Geneva, C. 1475, Cord 8]
18 Comme Ung Homme Desconforté [Chansonnier Cordiforme, Geneva, C. 1475, Cord 14]
19 Perla Mya Cara, O Dolce Amore [Chansonnier Cordiforme, Geneva, C. 1475, Cord 9]
cast:
Els Janssens-Vanmunster (voice), Raitis Grigalis (voice), Elizabeth Rumsey (viola d'arco), Mathias Spoerry (voice), Baptiste Romain (vielle), Marc Lewon (gittern), Marc Lewon (lute)
Ensemble Leones, Marc Lewon
2016
The Chansonnier Cordiforme is a songbook, probably copied in 1475 for a roguish but musically cultivated priest named Jean de Montchenu – a contemporary chronicler called him ‘dissolute and full of all the vices’. The beautiful manuscript containing 43 songs is, uniquely, heart-shaped and covered in velvet. This recording presents both a representative crosssection of the manuscript’s repertoire, the majority of which is set to French texts and is among the best known and beautiful of the age, and a portfolio of differing performance options including instruments. In addition to works by such luminaries as Gilles Binchois and Johannes Ockeghem – music of elegant melody, textural refinement, and sometimes startling harmonic turns – there are ingenious and anonymous parodies of popular songs.