World Premiere of a 15th-century Music Manuscript Containing Music from the Low Countries at The Morgan Library & Museum

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE World premiere of a 15th-century music manuscript containing music from the Low Countries at The Morgan Library & Museum The General Delegation of the Government of Flanders to the USA and the Alamire Foundation are proud to announce a very special event at The Morgan Library & Museum in New York: the world premiere of a 15th-century music manuscript containing music from the Low Countries. July 5, 2017 - This precious manuscript, recently re-discovered by the Alamire Foundation, International Centre for the Study of Music in the Low Countries (University of Leuven, Belgium), will now enjoy an exclusive presentation in the United States. In 2014, a small Brussels auction-house sold a lot containing a statue, an illuminated initial, and a songbook, to a private art-dealer. The songbook was brought to the Alamire Foundation/KU Leuven Musicology Research Group for further investigation. The book, it turned out, was a previously entirely unknown late fifteenth-century chansonnier, complete and in its original cloth binding. The appearance of a new such source in unaltered form is extremely rare. It has been almost a century since the last time such a discovery was made. The manuscript was acquired through the Léon Courtin – Marcelle Bouché Fund, administered by the Belgian King Baudouin Foundation. The songbook was subsequently loaned long-term to the Alamire Foundation. Like several other similar chansonniers, this codex has been named after the location where it is preserved. The Leuven Chansonnier is a unique witness from the fifteenth century. What makes this manuscript so special? • this very small and yet substantial book, penned more than 500 years ago, is in astonishingly good condition • it contains 50 medieval compositions representing the very best of Franco-Flemish polyphony (by composers including Ockeghem, Binchois, and Busnois) • it has been some 100 years since a music manuscript of this quality and importance has resurfaced • it contains 12 previously unknown songs, thus offering a new perspective on the polyphony of the Low Countries • the Alamire Foundation not only rediscovered this source, but has partnered with the King Baudouin Foundation, which has purchased the book and loaned it long-term to the Foundation The presentation of this manuscript, including a concert by the Sollazzo Ensemble and a reception on the occasion of Flanders Day, will take place on July 11, at 6:00 PM in The Morgan Library & Museum. The songbook itself will be on special view. As a guest you will be the first to hear several of the unica in the collection, performed for the first time in centuries. All press materials can be found at www.press.alamirefoundation.org. About The Alamire Foundation The Alamire Foundation was founded in 1991 as a co-operative association between the University of Leuven (KU Leuven, Musicology Research Unit) and the non-pro?t organization Musica (Impulse Centre for Music). Its mission is to undertake, stimulate, and coordinate innovative research on music and musical life in the Low Countries from the early Middle Ages until 1800. It uses state-of-the art methods, including digital preservation. The Foundation’s research results appear as monographs, critical editions, facsimile publications, and articles in leading journals. The Foundation also publishes its own journal, the Journal of the Alamire Foundation. The Alamire Foundation takes its name from the music copyist and entrepreneur Petrus Alamire (Nuremberg, c. 1470 – Mechelen, 1536). Alamire was born to the Bavarian merchant family Imhoff and moved at an early age to the Low Countries, where he was active in Habsburg-Burgundian court circles. His choice of a pseudonym referring to the music pitch A (called A-la-mi-re in Renaissance music theory) reflects his work as a music scribe and calligrapher. About the General Delegation of the Government of Flanders to the USA The New York City based General Delegation the Government of Flanders to the USA is the diplomatic presence of Flanders, a regional government of the federal country of Belgium that enjoys full treaty making powers. Together with Flanders Investment & Trade and Visit Flanders, the General Delegation is your source of information on Flemish cultural, academic, economic, touristic, and scientific activities and exchanges in New York and the rest of the United States. We are located on the 44th floor of The New York Times Building in Midtown Manhattan and aim to be a bridge between Flanders and the United States. Learn more at www.flandershouse.org. ### For further information, please contact: Bart Demuyt, Director Alamire Foundation bart.demuyt@kuleuven.be | 32 475 399 324 Bart Brosius, Director Culture General Delegation of the Government of Flanders to the USA bart@flandershouse.org | 1 646 448 7146