EN | Zeghere van Male’s Songbook is of exceptional importance both for the beauty of its colourful illuminations as for the great diversity of musical genres included.
It contains over 1200 pages divided into four volumes, compiled in 1542 and kept in Cambrai’s municipal library. The section concerned with profane music contains 129 songs in French, 9 in Flemish, 3 Italian madrigals, 1 song in Latin and 12 instrumental pieces. In the section devoted to sacred music there are 63 motets, 13 masses and 2 fragments of masses. Among the authors are 35 known composers as well as a number of anonymous ones, of either Flemish or French origin (Josquin Desprez, Gheerkin de Hondt, Claude de Sermisy, Clément Janequin, etc.).
This modern and digital edition proposed by Dominique Visse is a world premiere.