A chanson (French pronunciation: [ʃãsɔ̃], "song", from Latin cantio) is in general any lyric-driven French song, usually polyphonic and secular. A singer specializing in chansons is known as a "chanteur"; a collection of chansons, especially from the late Middle Ages and Renaissance, is also known as a chansonnier.
The earliest chansons were the epic poems performed to simple monophonic melodies by a professional class of jongleurs or ménestrels....
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A chanson (French pronunciation: [ʃãsɔ̃], "song", from Latin cantio) is in general any lyric-driven French song, usually polyphonic and secular. A singer specializing in chansons is known as a "chanteur"; a collection of chansons, especially from the late Middle Ages and Renaissance, is also known as a chansonnier.
The earliest chansons were the epic poems performed to simple monophonic melodies by a professional class of jongleurs or ménestrels. These usually recounted the famous deeds (geste) of past heroes, legendary and semi-historical. The Song of Roland is the most famous of these, but in general the chanson de geste are studied as literature since very little of their music survives.
See also chanson de toile.
The chanson courtoise or grand chant was an early form of monophonic chanson, the chief lyric poetic genre of the trouvères. It was an adaptation to Old French of the Occitan canso. It was practiced in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Thematically, as its name...
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