Ensemble Leones

One of the most remarkable manuscripts of polyphonic songs from the second half of the fifteenth century is the Chansonnier Cordiforme de Jean de Montchenu. It is a magnificent songbook in the shape of a heart, overlaid with a deep red velvet binding and the only example of this type of songbook binding that we know from the Renaissance.

Hidden inside are 43 chansons by Binchois, Busnois, Ghizeghem, Dufay and Ockeghem, among others, on French and Italian texts. The manuscript thus contains a sample of the most popular songs that were in circulation at that time.

Research into the performance practice of these courtly chansons focuses in particular on the role that instruments played in the interpretation of this music. Did these compositions belong to a purely vocal tradition or not? Led by Marc Lewon, Ensemble Leones explores the Franco-Flemish chanson tradition as recorded by one of the most famous sources of the 15th-century song repertoire.

Music by Gilles Binchois, Antoine Busnois, Hayne van Ghizeghem, Guillame Du Fay and Johannes Ockeghem.