Published in 1572 and dedicated to the Duke of Anjou — the future Henry III — Jean-Antoine de Baïf’s Amours comprise three of the prolific Pleiade poet’s works: a revised version of the Amours de Méline originally published in 1552, a new version of the Quatre Livres de l’Amour de Francine published in 1555, and the first edition of the Diverses Amours.

The sonnets, songs, and baisers that compose Baïf’s Amours de Méline were written in the wake of Ronsard’s Amours, and Jean Vignes shows in his introduction that although they were clearly inspired by Petrarch’s Canzoniere, they also represent a more original form of refined erotic poetry that bears the imprint of Catullus, Marullus, and Jean Second’s Neo-Latin Basia. The editor also reminds us of the musical dimension of the style created by Baïf, a writer who would become the founder of the Académie de Poésie et de Musique in 1570.

Variety of form predominates in the Amour de Francine, a volume in which André Gendre sees a perfect illustration of the concept of composite imitation and contaminatio that Emile Faguet named innutrition. Gendre unveils a form of “dialogue” (1:75) between three types of sonnets that evokes the successive meditations on love as an ordeal, love as joy, and platonic love found in Bembo’s Gli Asolani. Studying the various Greek, Neo-Latin, and French sources of the Amours de Francine, the editor focuses on the originality of Baïf’s style, and in particular on his innovative use, many years before Mallarmé, of the rhetorical figure of sinchysis. The poet was especially skillful at exploiting the countless possibilities offered by the sonnet form, and Gendre’s presentation shows that by including numerous irregular pieces in his Amours de Francine and Diverses Amours, Baïf in turn became a model for Ronsard, who would imitate his friend in his 1555 Continuation des amours.

The copious annotations which make up volume two of this critical edition are a treasure trove of information on Baïf’s sources and style; they also allow readers to better understand the role of the poet within the brigade, as well as the overall significance of his contribution to French Renaissance poetry and humanism. This second volume includes invaluable grammatical and linguistic notes, as well as variants from all other sixteenth-century editions of Baïf’s Amours. Its substantial glossary and index are completed by a transcription of the musical adaptations of sixteen of the poet’s Chansons by Janequin, Arcadet, Roussel, Cléreau, La Grotte, Caiétain, and Le Jeune in the period that extends between 1556 and 1578. Pierre Bonnifet’s study of these musical re-creations of Baïf’s poetry provides insightful analyses on the genre of the humanist chanson, as well as on the complex relationship between text and music that developed in late sixteenth-century France.

Jean Vignes, Véronique Denizot, André Gendre, and Pierre Bonnifet have been most successful in preparing a faultless critical edition of Baïf’s collection of poems; this impressive work of erudition will doubtlessly replace the rather poorly annotated Marty-Laveaux edition as a text of reference for all those who are interested in Pleiade poetry and Renaissance literature.