Chansons d'Amour

How do I love thee
Let me count the ways snails..

Is there some esoteric medieval connection between love and escargots (not involving garlic) that I'm missing? Or do snails evoke music making devices like the wind instruments and conch shells? Odd, very.


The french-burgundian parchment manuscript, 'Chansons d'Amour' - also known as 'The Copenhagen Chansonnier' [Thott 291 8º] - was produced in the late 15th century. It consists of illuminated scores for 30 love songs, arranged for 3 voices.



The Danish Royal Library, who own and host this work, regard it as the most "interesting and valuable" among their musical manuscript collection. I tried without success to find some example tunes online but doubtless they are out there. Actually, there is a snippet of music sans voices available for the mid-15th century Johannes Ockeghem song 'Prenez sur moi vostre exemple' a third of the way down the page here. The manuscript contains the earliest known score for that chanson.

The whimsical lettrines and caricature adornments kept me smiling, paging through this ~44 page work. Love likes a sense of humour. I've posted less than half of the illustrations I would think, with the occasional touch up to artifact.