t the Burgundian court of the fifteenth century, it was already customary to render chansons – music conceived for the voice – on the recorder. When the Parisian printer Pierre Attaingnant published his 27 Chansons musicales à quatre parties in 1533, he both preserved and refined this practice, singling out certain pieces as especially suited to transverse flutes, others to recorders.
In April 2021, a traverso consort presented the first half of this collection at ReRenaissance, with the tacit promise that a recorder consort would one day complete the arc. Now, five years later, that promise is fulfilled, though not without expansion: alongside vocal and instrumental chansons, the art of dance also claims center stage.
Attaingnant’s prints, as well as those of his widow Marie Lescaloppier, abound in bransles, pavanes, galliards, basse danses, and tourdions – each with its own distinct temperament. From this abundance emerges a miniature theatrical universe in which prince and peasant, fool and doctor, knight and shepherd make their appearances. Newly devised choreographies, drawing on the movement language of sixteenth-century France, set the music quite literally in motion.
Hubert Hazebroucq – dance
Emma-Lisa Roux – lute, voice
Marc Pauchard – recorder
Mirko Schacht – recorder
Siri Löffel – recorder
Tabea Schwartz – recorder; direction
Free entry – Collection
Saturday, 30 May 2026, 18:15
Klosterkirche Dornach, Amthausstrasse 7, 4143 Dornach
Sunday, 31 May 2026, 18:15
Barfüsserkirche, Historisches Museum Basel
Hubert Hazebroucq. Photo: Ana Lucia Montezuma
I’ll be there
by David Fallows
Pierre Attaingnant stands as one of the great pioneers of music printing in the sixteenth century, having issued over fifty sets of partbooks, mostly of songs in four voices. His publications never matched the beauty of Petrucci (to whom various earlier ReRenaissance concerts have been devoted) let alone the peerless Peter Schöffer the younger (who has already been the theme of one concert and deserves more very soon). To compensate, he pioneered a single-impression technology (in the general view: quite a few of us think it was pioneered in London by John Rastell), which made the entire production process far quicker and far cheaper, becoming the most common means of music printing for well over a century thereafter.
This concert is devoted to pieces printed by Attaingnant but including newly designed choreographies for many of them, offering a new view of sixteenth-century music.
Sa Nydeggkirche, Bern
Su Barfüsserkirche, Historisches Museum Basel
Kirche Reigoldswil &
Barfüsserkirche Basel
Martinskirche
Basel
Barfüsserkirche
Historisches Museum Basel
