Notes on the Origin of the Parisian Chanson

Abstract

A mong the most enduring characterizations of the 16th-century chanson is the now traditional bifurcation of the genre into two repertories, Parisian and Franco-Flemish. This fundamental dichotomy was drawn deftly and precisely by Denes Bartha a half century ago,' and it has been greatly refined in subsequent decades. Soon after this partition was proposed, attempts were made to explain how the two repertories grew apart stylistically, or, more specifically, why the Parisian chanson diverged from its more constant equivalent further north. It is in these essays that we may discern the earliest efforts to trace the origin of Parisian chanson style. At first, much of what distinguished the style of the Parisian chanson from that of its Franco-Flemish counterpart was attributed to the influence of the lirica popolaresca italiana, most particularly to the frottola of the late 15th and early 16th centuries. From this lyric Italian genre the Parisian chanson was said to have derived its vertical texture, block-like melodies with repeated notes and undifferentiated rhythms, patter style, descriptive effects, echo-like devices, and economical imitative entries.2 Other features of the Parisian chanson were also characterized as having been cast in deliberate imitation of the Italian frottola, including the homophonic leanings of its texture, the clarity of its phrase structure, the strict correspondence of its poetic and musical forms, the strength of its cadences, and its generally airy, somewhat nonchalant character.3 Even the concern for the meaning of the poetry and the occasional depiction of individual words, both of which can be observed with greater frequency in Parisian as opposed to Franco-Flemish chansons, were said to parallel the aesthetic aims of the Italian madrigalists.4 *A shorter version of the present paper was read at the annual meeting of the American Musicological Society at Denver in 1980. Professor Edward E. Lowinsky saw the illustrative examples I distributed there and graciously suggested some improvements in the musica ficta. I have adopted most of his kind suggestions, for which I thank him most sincerely. 'Denes von Bartha, Probleme der Chansongeschichte im 16. Jahrhundert, Zeitschrift fur Musikwissenschafi