The unica of the Leuven chansonnier – a portfolio of songs by an ambitious young musician: With an edition of the twelve unique songs

When the announcement of the discovery of the Leuven chansonnier came in 2015, it raised great expectations. Here was a new source for the rich repertory of polyphonic French chansons from the 15th century, in a fine state of preservation and with twelve new, previously unknown songs. Gradually, however, one could detect a certain disappointment. There were no hidden treasures among its unique songs that could be compared to the international hit songs of the known repertory. Its unica were interesting, but a little difficult to place in relation to the known songs, a bit provincial with many old-fashioned features, and they in general could not live up to the best standards of musical craftsmanship. With this article I hope to counter this mild disappointment by pointing out some special features of the group of unica, which may have an impact on our view of the manuscript and its context.