chanson

chanson, (French: “song”), French art song of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. The chanson before 1500 is preserved mostly in large manuscript collections called chansonniers. Dating back to the 12th century, the monophonic chanson reached its greatest popularity with the trouvères of the 13th century, and can still be found in the mid-14th-century lais (a verse-song form) of the composer and poet Guillaume de Machaut. Only the melodies survive. The monophonic chansons show the...