Songs, Scribes, and Society: The History and Reception of the Loire Valley Chansonniers (review)

Jane Alden's 'Songs, Scribes, and Society: The History and Reception of the Loire Valley Chansonniers' offers the first comprehensive synthesis of scholarly work on five fifteenth-century French secular song collections—the Loire Valley Chansonniers—challenging long-held assumptions about their chronology. By integrating paleographic and codicological evidence, Alden argues that the Nivelle chansonnier should be redated to a later position in the sequence, displacing it from its assumed primacy. Her study also sheds light on the socio-cultural context of these manuscripts, identifying French royal court secretaries and notaries as key patrons. While her conclusions are not without controversy—particularly regarding dating and evidence interpretation—the work provides a significant contribution to understanding the production, ownership, and cultural significance of these musical artifacts during the late medieval period.

(Ed.). (2011). Songs, Scribes, and Society: The History and Reception of the Loire Valley Chansonniers (review). Notes, 68(2), 337–340. https://doi.org/10.1353/not.2011.0155