chansonnier

A chansonnier is a term with two related meanings in French musical and literary history. In its primary sense, it refers to a performer and sometimes a composer of chansons, the vernacular songs of medieval and early modern France. In a secondary sense, it denotes a manuscript or book that collects a corpus of songs, sometimes including melodies, preserved from the same periods.

Etymology and scope: The word derives from the Old French chançon (song) with the agent-noun suffix -nier, indicating a person associated with songs. Historically, chansonniers were often male poets-musicians who wrote and performed lyric poetry set to music. In the medieval chanson tradition of northern France and the related trouvères and troubadours, chansonniers could travel among courts and urban centers, performing at noble gatherings and public venues.

Manuscript tradition: As a book-form designation, a chansonnier is a compilation that preserves a collection of chansons. Medieval and early modern chansonniers survive as codices or illuminated manuscripts, sometimes with musical notation or with texts intended to be sung. These compilations are important sources for the study of lyric poetry, musical form, and performance practice of their eras.

Modern usage: In contemporary French, chansonnier can describe a performer of chanson, especially within cabaret or lyric-song traditions. The term is largely gendered in practice, with female performers more commonly described as chanteuses, though some sources use chansonière or similar forms for feminine usage. The word also remains a descriptor for historical songbooks in musicology and manuscript studies.