From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Chanson
is the
French
word for "
song
". The word is often used in
music
to mean any song with French words, but it is more often used when talking about songs in which
lyrics
have been set to music by French
classical
composers.
Very often "chansons" refers to the French songs that were sung in the late
Middle Ages
and
Renaissance
. People who sang these chansons were called "chansonniers". They had various forms, including
ballade
,
rondeau
and
virelai
. Some composers at the time liked to set popular poetry to music. The earliest chansons were for two, three or four voices, many of them being for three voices. By the
16th century
most were for four voices. Sometimes, the singers were accompanied by
instruments
.
The first important composer of chansons was the
medieval
composer
Guillaume de Machaut
. In the Renaissance
Guillaume Dufay
and
Gilles Binchois
wrote many simple chansons. Later
Johannes Ockeghem
and
Josquin des Prez
composed chansons which had lots of imitation between the voices.
Clement Janequin
wrote more simple,
homophonic
chansons. He worked in the area around
Paris
. Later composers such as
Orlando de Lassus
were influenced by the Italian
madrigal
. The style of music started to be used in music for instruments.
The first book of
sheet music
printed from movable type was
Harmonice Musices Odhecaton
, a collection of 96 chansons by many composers, published in
Venice
in 1501.
During the 16th century French songs started to be composed with
lute
or
keyboard
accompaniment
. In the
19th century
many composers wrote songs with piano accompaniment. These chansons were often called
melodies
.
In
France
today "chanson" often refers to the work of more popular singers such as
Georges Brassens
,
Jacques Brel
,
Edith Piaf
,
Camille
,
Olivia Ruiz
.
French chansons of Jacques Brel have been translated and are interpreted in English by Arnold Johnston, Professor at West Michigan University. More than 100 chansons of Brel, Brassens, Barbara, Becaud, Ferrat, Aznavour, Trenet et Ferre have been translated and are interpreted in German language by the Duo Stephane & Didier (see www.deutsche-chanson-texte.de).