(Fr. Savoie; It. Savoia).
A mountainous region (formerly a county, then a duchy) in south-east France, which included parts of present-day Italy, France and Switzerland (see map). The house of Savoy assumed power in 1003 and held the Italian crown from 1860 to 1946. The court took a leading part in the European development of music during the second quarter of the 15th century, sharing with nearby Burgundy a critical role in the early development of Renaissance styles.
Medieval and Renaissance music of the region illustrates both Franco-Burgundian and Italian characteristics. Numerous Provençal troubadours (e.g. Elias de Barjols, Arnaut Catalan and Aimeric de Belenoi) were connected with the Savoyard court in the 13th century, and poems by Savoyards (e.g. Tommaso II di Savoia, Albertet de Savoia and Nicoletto da Torino) show that they quickly adopted the new art. Minstrelsy flourished during the 14th and 15th centuries, its vestiges probably contained in some Piedmontese folksongs of later collections. The local language also appears in 15th-century laude, canzoni and sacre rappresentazioni. Medieval chant and music theory manuscripts survive at Aosta, Chambéry, Asti, Ivrea, Novara, Turin and Vercelli.
Amadeus VIII (1391–1451), first Duke of Savoy, extended his territory and was a lavish patron of the arts in the manner of the Burgundian dukes. He himself played the organ, and the court enjoyed extravagant tournaments, banquets and festivals, such as that at Chambéry in 1434 when Amadeus's son, Louis, married Anne of Cyprus. The courts of Burgundy and Savoy were both present; Du Fay was maître de chapelle, and it was probably on this occasion that he met Binchois, a meeting recorded by Martin Le Franc, poet and secretary to Amadeus. Amadeus left minor court duties to Louis in 1434, when he retired to a hermitage. Du Fay returned to Savoy and is listed on the register of Louis' musicians from 1437 to 1439. In 1439 Duke Amadeus was elected Antipope Felix V by the Council of Basle. Although Du Fay temporarily severed his ties with Savoy, many other musicians, including Brassart and Nicolas Merques, were associated with the council. Large sections of manuscripts (I-AO 15 and I-TRmp 87 and 92) probably preserve repertories valued at the antipope's court; these manuscripts, among the most prized collections of Burgundian repertory, contain much music by Du Fay and are the two most important surviving sources for Binchois' sacred works. Felix V abdicated in 1449; Du Fay visited Savoy again in 1450, and served Duke Louis there (1450–56).
Louis (d 1465) and Anne continued the splendour of earlier court life, maintaining a chapel with ten to 23 adult singers, six to eight boys, and several chaplains, priests and organists; this was also the pattern for subsequent generations. The Chansonnier Cordiforme (F-Pn 2973), probably copied in the 1470s, was made locally and contains numerous chansons by leading composers of that period; its special value lies in anonymous unica which illustrate two local stylistic practices, Franco-Burgundian and Italian. Musical patronage was particularly vigorous at the turn of the century, during the rule of Duke Philibert II and his wife, Margaret of Austria. One of Margaret's celebrated chansonniers (B-Br 11239) most probably originated at the Savoyard court; another local manuscript (I-Tn I.27) includes chansons and sacred Latin pieces. Composers brought to the court at this time included Brumel, Févin, Therache, Longueval and Lodovico Fogliano.
After the death of Philibert II (1504) and the departure of Margaret (1507) the prosperity of the duchy declined, although the chapel survived and regained much of its splendour by the end of the Renaissance. Instrumentalists also continued to perform at the court, and violinists are known to have played there as early as 1523. Violin making and solo and ensemble playing later became specialities of the region. If the bassadanza roll dated 1517 (Archivi Biscaretti, Turin, Mazzo 4, no.14) was made locally, it anticipates the area's significant achievements in dance during later centuries. Printers at Turin brought out various liturgical books, one of the graduals (Porris, 1512) having been formally dedicated to Duke Charles III. The Genevan Psalter, first printed in 1542 with Jean Calvin's endorsement, strongly influenced numerous subsequent Reformation movements. The court settled at Turin in 1563; its rich patronage of music, theatre and dance was thereafter connected with that city.
A. Dufour and F. Rabut: ‘Les musiciens, la musique et les instruments de musique en Savoie du XIII au XIX siècle’, Mémoires et documents de la Société savoisienne d'histoire et d'archéologie, xvii (1878), 5–225
G. Bertoni: I trovatori d'Italia (Modena, 1915)
S. Cordero di Pamparato: ‘Emanuele Filiberto di Savoia, protettore dei musici’, RMI, xxxiv (1927), 229–47, 555–78; xxxv (1928), 29–49
M. Tegen: ‘Baselkonciliet och kyrkomusiken omkr. 1440’, STMf, xxxix (1957), 126–31
H. Ménabréa: Histoire de la Savoie (Chambéry, 1958)
R.H. Hoppin, ed.: The Cypriot-French Repertory of the Manuscript Torino, Biblioteca Nazionale, J.II.9, CMM, xxi (1960)
M. Bersano Begey: Le cinquecentine piemontesi (Turin, 1961–6)
E.L. Kottick: The Music of the Chansonnier Cordiforme, Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, Rothschild 2973 (diss., U. of North Carolina, 1962)
M. Picker: The Chanson Albums of Marguerite of Austria (Berkeley, 1965)
C. Brero and R. Gandolfo: La letteratura in Piemontese (Turin, 1967)
E.L. Kottick, ed.: The Unica in the Chansonnier Cordiforme, CMM, xlii (1967)
M.-T. Bouquet: ‘La cappella musicale dei duchi di Savoia dal 1450 al 1500’, RIM, iii (1968), 233–85
M.-T. Bouquet: ‘La cappella musicale dei duchi di Savoia dal 1504 al 1550’, RIM, v (1970), 3–36
C. Wright: ‘Dufay at Cambrai: Discoveries and Revisions’, JAMS, xxviii (1975), 175–229
M.W. Cobin: The Aosta Manuscript: a Central Source of Early-Fifteenth-Century Sacred Polyphony (diss., New York U., 1978)
P. Wright: ‘The Compilation of Trent 871 and 922’, EMH, ii (1982), 237–71
P. Wright: Trent, Museo provinciale d'art, MSS 87–1 and 92–2: a Paleographical and Text-Critical Study (diss., U. of Nottingham, 1986)
DAVID CRAWFORD