Renaissance Chanson

This series explores the wealth of French secular vocal music of the sixteenth century. Although we use the term “vocal”, it must be remembered that chansons were often performed instrumentally during this period. In fact in France there was virtually no purely instrumental music (except for lute and keyboard music, and dance music) published during the Renaissance. Chansons were particularly popular for instrumental use in Italy. It was out of this that the instrumental canzon da sonar of musicians like Maschera, Merulo and the Gabrielis developed. Many of these have been out of a print for a time, but we expect the new, revised editions to be available by the end of the year.