Versions and Revisions

Abstract This chapter concerns the tricky matter of judging whether different versions of a song in different manuscripts are the result of a composer rethinking, of a copyist adjusting, or simple error. It begins with examples that seem direct evidence of Binchois having reconsidered his own work. Then follow the versions of Une foys avant que morir, which led to the conclusion that there are two entirely different forms of the song. Ben la so Dio, with a history stretching from around 1410 to well into the sixteenth century, similarly has various versions, each following the stylistic norms of its own time. Finally, exploration of Busnoys’ Je ne puis vivre reaches the inevitable conclusion that the version in the Mellon chansonnier is a badly botched attempt at eliminating the diminished 5th triads in the original, which, with a few obvious errors, appears in the Dijon chansonnier.