Burgundian School - Manuscript Sources

Manuscript Sources

There are approximately 65 manuscript sources which contain music by Burgundian composers. The most prominent of these include:

• Canonici Manuscript (containing music from around 1400 to 1440). This manuscript is at the Bodleian Library in Oxford, England; it is named after a previous owner, Matteo Luigi Canonici, an 18th century Venetian Jesuit. It has 380 compositions in all, including works by 60 composers. Both sacred and secular music are well represented in this collection.
• Laborde Chansonnier (containing music mainly composed during the reign of Charles the Bold, 1467–1477). It is named after the Marquis de Laborde, and is presently at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. It has 106 pieces of music in all.
• Mellon Chansonnier (containing music from approximately 1440 to 1477). It is named after Paul Mellon, who gave it to Yale University; currently it is in the Beinecke Library there. It has 57 compositions, and includes some non-Burgundian music as well (for example, works by contemporary English and Italian composers)
• Dijon Chansonnier (containing music from approximately 1470 to 1475). Some of the music is by composers not normally associated with the Burgundian school, such as Ockeghem, Loyset Compère, and Johannes Tinctoris. It is at the public library in Dijon, and contains 161 pieces of music in all.
• El Escorial Chansonnier (containing music from about 1430 to 1445). It is in the Biblioteca del Monasterio, El Escorial, V.III.24, and is commonly referred to as EscA. It contains a total of 62 compositions, only one of which is attributed (to Gilles Binchois), although many of the rest have been assigned to Binchois, Dunstaple, Dufay, and others, on stylistic grounds.