Question concerning source for "sur le jonc.."

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Riharc
Posts: 1
Joined: 12 Nov 2015 21:41

Question concerning source for "sur le jonc.."

Post by Riharc »

Hi !

Beeing new to this forum, I hope to have posted this request in the proper place..

I'm looking for the original source for a song called "sur le jonc, le jolis jonc"
I found a facsimile of the original score by P. Passerau (1560), nevertheless this song is often described as a (french) folksong -
still traceable in the tenor voice of the score.
Does anyone know something about the original source, where it comes from, when it was published, where it can be found, etc.?

Thank you,
regards,
Riharc
vaarky
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Posts: 2163
Joined: 22 Aug 2008 07:28

Re: Question concerning source for "sur le jonc.."

Post by vaarky »

I don't have any information about this, but asked Helene Whitson, Founder, San Francisco Bay Area Choral Archive (choralarchive.org). Here is her reply in case it is helpful:
I don't know about this chanson's origin as a folk song. It is in the Oxford Book of French Chansons. The composer listed there is Adrian Willaert. In fact, we've sung it. It's SSA. I looked it up on WorldCat, and it looks as if it comes originally from an Italian-published collection:

Il terzo Libro delle Muse, a tre voci.
by Adrian Willaert; Jean Mouton; N Reuez; Josquin, des Prez; Claudin de Sermisy; Scotto (Firm),;
Musical score
Language: Italian
Publisher: In Vinegia : Appresso Girolamo Scotto, 1562.

Here are the World Cat notes:

Collection of French chansons in three parts (ATB).
Title from the Basso part book title page.
Transcribed title page from the Basso part book: BASSO / IL TERZO LIBRO / DELLE MVSSE / A TRE VOCI. / DI CANZON FRANCESE / DI ADRIAN VVILLAERT, / Nuouamente con alcune d'altri / Autori insieme ristampate / & co[n] somma diligen- / za corrette. / In Vinegia, Appresso Girolamo Scotto 1562.
Copy at A.277.h.(3.). Basso: 24 leaves (, 1-46, [1]); paper dimensions: 162 x 117 mm.
Description: 3 part books ; 12 x 17 cm, octavo
Other Titles: Muse a 3 voci,
Responsibility: Di canzon francese di Adrian Willaert, nuovamente con alcune d'altri autori insieme ristampate & con somma diligenza corrette.

The Passereau can be found in Passereau's collected works (Opera Omnia), published by the American Institute of Musicology, 1967. A number of local libraries have that set.

If someone wanted to find out if there were a folk song origin, s/he should probably look in various music indices and/or see if someone had written a thesis or dissertation on the topic.

There might be something in the International inventory of musical sources, also called RISM.
Title R?pertoire international des sources musicales = Internationales Quellenlexikon der Musik = International inven
tory of musical sources
Other Titles Internationales Quellenlexikon der Musik.
International inventory of musical sources.
RISM.
Einzeldrucke vor 1800.
Rism Series A.
Publ/Date Kassel : B?renreiter, 1971-
Subject Music -- Bibliography.

Research libraries have it. Check first, because it might be in storage.

Musica, the international database, lists both the Passereau and Willaert, as well as a version arranged by Marc de Ranse (1881-1951). The latter was published by the Editions Musicales de la Schola Cantorum [Switzerland] . Here's more information on that version:

Genre-Style-Form : Folk music ; Popular ; Secular
Type of choir : SATB (4 mixed voices )
Text in : French
Origin : Switzerland

Two European libraries have copies, but that's it.
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