Le Codex de Chypre. Vol. I: Rondeaux et Virelais I. [English and French edition]

The Codex J.II.9 is a volume of 159 large-framed folios of richly decorated parchment. It is composed of 302 pieces, polyphonic for the most part, belonging to very different types in both the sacred and secular fields. The present volume offers diplomatic transcriptions of the first 30 virelais and rondeaus of the last booklet of J.II.9. Although the exact date of the compilation of the pieces in this codex is not known, we do know that it was probably part of the dowry provided by Anne de Lusignan for her marriage to Louis de Savoie in 1434. Cyprus was then under french domination and the style of the songs that we find here often evoke the style of the Burgundian songs of the first third of the 15th century. This manuscript has the particularity of having no attributions or concordances: all the pieces are unicae and anonymous. The musical styles of the songs are varied, alternating pieces of simple construction in the manner of the 3 part Burgundian song of the first third of the 15th century, with examples of the most refined and elaborate types that can exist.