Beinecke MS 91                                                         Italy, s. XV^^2
Mellon Chansonnier

Restricted material. May not be seen without the permission of the appropriate curator.

     1. f. 1r with staves, but no notation or text.

     2. ff. 1v-2r    [Busnois], Bel Acueil.

     3. ff. 2v-3r    [Busnois], En soustenant vostre querelle.

     4. ff. 3v-4r    [Caron], Accueilly m'a la belle.

     5. ff. 4v-5r    Johannes Okeghem, Petitte Camusette.

     6. ff. 5v-6v    [Busnois], A une damme. f. 7r with staves only.

     7. ff. 7v-8r    Loing de vo tresdoulce presence.

     8. ff. 8v-9r    Busnois, Est-il merchy.

     9. ff. 9v-10r    Busnois, Ung plus que tous.

     10. ff. 10v-11r    G. Joye, Ce qu'on fait a quatimini.

     11. ff. 11v-12r    Busnois, A qui vens tu tes coquilles.

     12. ff. 12v-14r    Johannes Regis, Puis que ma damme ne puis voir/Je
     m'en voy et mon cueur demeure.

     13. ff. 14v-16r    [Busnois], Je ne puis vivre ainsy.

     14. ff. 16v-17r    [Joye], Non pas que je veuille penser.

     15. ff. 17v-18v    [Busnois], Ja que li ne s'i attende. f. 19r with
     staves only.

     16. ff. 19v-20r    Busnois, Pour entretenir mes amours.

     17. ff. 20v-22r    [Busnois], Quant ce viendra.

     18. ff. 22v-23r    Guillaume Dufay, Vostre bruit et vostre grant fame.

     19. ff. 23v-24r    Vincenet, Fortune, par ta cruaulte.

     20. ff. 24v-25r    Johannes Tinctoris, O Virgo, miserere mei.

     21. ff. 25v-26r    Johannes Okeghem, L'aultre d'antan.

     22. ff. 26v-27r    Busnois, Le corps s'en va.

     23. ff. 27v-28r    Se mon service vous plaisoit.

     24. ff. 28v-29r    Joye, Mercy, mon dueil.

     25. ff. 29v-30r    Robert Morton, N'aray je jamais mieulx que j'ay?

     26. ff. 30v-31r    Barbingant, L'omme banny.

     27. ff. 31v-32r    Vincenet, Ou doy je secours querir.

     28. ff. 32v-33r    Gilles Binchois, Comme femme desconfortee.

     29. ff. 33v-36r    Petit Jan, Mon trestout et mon assotee/ Il estoit
     ung bonhomme.

     30. ff. 36v-38r    Busnois, Joye me fuit.

     31. ff. 38v-40r    Okeghem, Ma bouce rit.

     32. ff. 40v-42r    G. le Rouge, Se je fayz dueil.

     33. ff. 42v-43r    Hayne van Ghizeghem, De tous biens plaine.

     34. ff. 43v-44r    G. Dufay, Dona gentile.

     35. ff. 44v-45r    [Morton], Il sera pour vous conbatu/ L'ome arme.

     36. ff. 45v-46r    Walter Frye, Tout a par moy.

     37. ff. 46v-48r    Caron, s'il est ainsi.

     38. ff. 48v-49r    [Busnois], O Fortune, trop tu es dure.

     39. ff. 49v-51r    Enferme suys je en la tour.

     40. ff. 51v-52r    [Busnois], Au povre par necessite.

     41. ff. 52v-54r    Caron, Mort ou mercy.

     42. ff. 54v-55r    [Morton], Paracheve ton entreprise.

     43. ff. 55v-56r    [Busnois], A vous sans aultre.

     44. ff. 56v-57r    Vincenet, Triste qui spero morendo.

     45. ff. 57v-59r    Vincenet, La pena sin ser sabida. ff. 59v-61r with
     staves only.

     46. ff. 61v-63r    Walter Frye, So ys emprentid.

     47. ff. 63v-65r    [Bedingham], Gentil madona.

     48. ff. 65v-67r    [Bedingham], Myn hertis lust.

     49. ff. 67v-69r    Ou lit de pleurs.

     50. ff. 69v-71r    Or me veult bein Esperance mentir.

     51. ff. 71v-73r    Dufay, Donnes l'assault.

     52. ff. 73v-74r    Dufay, Par le regart.

     53. ff. 74v-75r    Hora cridar "Oyme".

     54. ff. 75v-76r    Puis que je vis le regart.

     55. ff. 76v-77r and 50v    Ma dame de nom/ Sur la rive de la mer.

     56. ff. 77v-79r    [Frye], "Alas, alas, alas" is my chief song.

     57. ff. 79v-80r    A. Basin, Nos amys, vous vous abuses.

     58. ff. 80v-81r    Jo. Tinctoris, Virgo Dei throno digna.

          A facsimile edition with a detailed commentary has been published
     by L. L. Perkins and H. Garey, The Mellon Chansonnier (New Haven and
     London, 1979), 2 vols.

          Parchment (thin, fine quality), ff. ii (parchment) + 81 + ii
     (parchment), 191 x 133 (ca. 130 x 82) mm. Written in 7 staves, with or
     without text below each; single vertical bounding lines ruled in lead,
     staves ruled in brown ink, no ruling for text.
          I-VII^^10, VIII^^10 ( + 1, following f. 80).
          Written by one scribe in batarde, usually one line below each
     staff, but sometimes text written on every other line of the staves.
          The style of the Chansonnier's initials points to one of the
     ateliers active in the service of Ferrante I of Naples, in particular
     to the shop of Matteo Felice, for whom cf. Valencia, Bibl. Univ. 887
     (olim 662; see Perkins and Garey, op. cit., pp. 26-28 and pl. 9, and
     Exhibition Catalogue, pp. 236-38, no. 62, where the signature of the
     Valencia MS is incorrectly cited). One 2-line initial (f. 1r) tan,
     shaded purple and green, with curling floral serifs, blue and puce,
     filled with curling leaves against burnished gold and blue, with white
     filigree, against gold ground, framed in blue with white filigree;
     short, 3-stemmed flowers, gold, with brown hair-spray stems project
     from upper serif and midpoint; 3 gold dots with hair-spray
     symmetrically disposed around letter; floral border in outer margin,
     hair-spray stems with gold and green leaves and flowers, blue, purple,
     and gold at midpoint and terminals. One-line initials throughout, gold,
     infilled blue or purple, with white filigree, against irregular
     grounds, purple or blue, edged in black, with white filigree and two
     short flowering tendrils, as in border on f. 1v; often with a gold dot
     with hair-spray adjacent in outer margin.
          Binding: s. xix-xx. Brown goatskin, blind-stamped, by Henri
     Marius-Michel of Paris (1846-1925), whose name is stamped inside the
     front cover. Not in his usual style. For a photograph of the binding,
     see Perkins and Garey, op. cit., v. 1, pl. 1. Included in the center
     front and back panels are monograms of Baron Joseph Vitta (see
     Provenance).

          Written probably at the Aragonese court in Naples in the 1470's,
     perhaps as a wedding gift for Beatrice of Aragon, who married Matthias
     Corvinus, King of Hungary, in 1476 (see Perkins and Garey, op.
     cit.,
     pp. 4-28). Inscription on f. 1r, mostly effaced and not legible even
     under ultra-violet light or with infrared photography, includes the
     date 1574. Inscription written over the effaced inscription states that
     the codex was given to Johan Georg Trigbor by Matteus Rohn [?] of
     Glatz, in the city of Freudenthal, 3 October 1609. Belonged (s. xix-xx)
     to Baron Joseph Vitta, a Parisian [?] book collector, for whom it was
     bound. Acquired from him by an anonymous owner, perhaps in the 1930's.
     Offered for sale by that owner through A. Rosenthal's of London, in
     1939. Given to Yale by Paul Mellon in 1940.

     secundo folio: Bel accueil

     Bibliography: Faye and Bond, p. 28, no. 91.
     Exhibition Catalogue, pp. 236-38, no. 62.
	     M. Bukofzer, "The Mellon Chansonnier," Gazette 15 (1940) pp. 25-
     28.
          For a detailed bibliography, see Perkins and Garey, op. cit.

     Barbara A. Shailor