(Sp.: ‘little song’).
A Spanish refrain song similar to the villancico but usually sacred. The word was derived from the French ‘chansonnette’ in the 13th or 14th century, probably through Provençal. The chanzoneta resembles the villancico in form but is more cheerful and less refined in style. Sebastián de Covarrubias Horozco (Tesoro de la lengua castellana, 1611) confirmed its resemblance to the villancico, defining both forms as Christmas carols. It is also related in form to the 16th-century Italian canzonetta. Venegas de Henestrosa published a number of chanzonetas in his Libro de cifra nueva (1557; ed. in MME, ii, 1944/R) and Francisco Guerrero referred to his Canciones y villanescas espirituales (1589; ed. in MME, xvi, xix, 1955–7) as ‘chanzonetas y villancicos’. Further examples are found in 15th-century sources such as the Cancionero de Baena, in the early 16th-century plays of Gil Vicente, in the writings of Juan Bermudo and in numerous manuscripts of the 16th and 17th centuries (in E-Bc, Mn, P-Ln, US-NYhsa).
JACK SAGE