Leuven Chansonnier

In 2015, an art historian, acting on behalf of an art dealer, contacted the Alamire Foundation in Leuven to request musicological advice about a small music manuscript. After the initial examination, it became apparent that it was not just an insignificant little book, but a previously completely unknown 15th-century chansonnier. Since the original owner could not yet be identified and the songbook is now kept in Leuven, it was named the Leuven Chansonnier. The manuscript is of exceptional value. It contains 50 compositions: Ave Regina, a religious work by Walter Frye, followed by 49 French chansons, without any mention of composers' names. Because 38 pieces can also be found in other chansonniers from that period, 26 songs could be identified and attributed to prominent 15th-century Franco-Flemish masters such as Johannes Ockeghem, Antoine Busnois, Firminus Caron and others. However, the other chansons remain anonymous.