The Court of the Dukes of Burgundy saw the greatest flowering of the chanson during the first half of the fifteenth century. While maintaining medieval forms and functions, the chanson of this period acquired an eloquence and creative scope which are manifest in the works of the leading composers, resulting in a genre which the author describes as the musical voice of Burgundian melancholy. Professor Kemp considers in this book the polyphonic chanson within the literary, aesthetic, and social context of court culture during the reign of Philip the Good. He explores its role in creating the atmosphere and sustaining the fantasy of that pseudo-courtoisie which coloured Philip's chivalric humanism. The author's particular study is of the anonymous songs collected in the manuscript Escorial, Biblioteca del monasterio MS V.III.24. Through analysis of the cadences, melodies, mensuration, textures, and rhythmic figures, he has been able to establish stylistic criteria for the ascription of these songs to the masters of the period, Dufay and Binchois. Over a dozen chansons are added to the catalogue of Binchois' acknowledged works, and the book is a significant contribution to the appreciation of his repertoire and style.

Walter H. Kemp's profile page

Walter H. Kemp, Chairman, Department of Music, Dalhousie University.

'the book forms a useful complement to his edition of the anonymous Escorial music' Journal of the RMA

'slim, scholarly monograph' C. Adams, Franklin and Marshall College, Choice, Dec '90

'slim, scholarly monograph' C. Adams, Franklin and Marshall College, Choice, Dec '90

'A patient reader will find here in abundance interesting observations.' Renaissance Quarterly

'This book is significant as much for the subjects it addresses as for the insights it affords ... His thought-provoking descriptions fill a major void. While necessarily somewhat technical, they are often elegant and always engaging ... important, pathbreaking work ... a pleasure to read and to look at. Most significant, one cannot read it without quickened interest in the music itself. In that sense its value is inestimable.' Early Music

'A patient reader will find here in abundance interesting observations.' Renaissance Quarterly

'W.H. Kemp's book has the considerable merit of giving late medieval French song its full weight in the literary and social, as well as the musical, context.' Nigel Wilkins, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, Modern Language Review, Vol. 87, Part 2

'Kemp's findings have been known to specialists for some time, but it is useful to have them more generally available in up-to-date form. This is a significant book which will do much to rehabilitate one of the finest composers of the Burgundian chanson.' Times Literary Supplement

'This book is significant as much for the subjects it addresses as for the insights it affords ... His thought-provoking descriptions fill a major void. While necessarily somewhat technical, they are often elegant and always engaging ... important, pathbreaking work ... a pleasure to read and to look at. Most significant, one cannot read it without quickened interest in the music itself. In that sense its value is inestimable.' Early Music

'Kemp's findings have been known to specialists for some time, but it is useful to have them more generally available in up-to-date form. This is a significant book which will do much to rehabilitate one of the finest composers of the Burgundian chanson.' Times Literary Supplement