Guillaume de Machaut

 

Background: 14th Century Music

• A new rhythmic notation called Ars Nova was expounded in the early 14th century by the scholar-composer Philippe de Vitry (c.1291-1361) or his associates.

• One of the first places this more complex style made a compelling impact was in the famous Roman de Fauvel

• Following in the wake of the more sophisticated notation of the Ars Nova, the first great syntheses of the various threads of medieval music began to occur in the hands of well-known masters. The first such composer to personally dominate decades of music history is Guillaume de Machaut (c.1300-1377). 

From: The Enjoyment of Music•The Enjoyment of Music pg. 80•The music of the French Ars nova is more refined and complex than music of the Ars antiqua (old art), which it displaced. •Writers such as Petrarch, Boccaccio, and Chaucer were turning to human subjects: painters soon discovered the beauty of nature and the attractiveness of the human form. •Composers turned increasingly from religious to secular themes. The Ars nova ushered in developments in rhythm, meter, harmony, and counterpoint that transformed the art of music •The later 14th century was a period during which the French style dominated secular composition throughout Europe. It was modified to reflect local tastes in Italy and England, but remained largely French in inspiration for some decades. However, Italian composers continued to develop a more native idiom, combining French Ars Nova ideas with indigenous genres

Brief Biography:

• Born around 1300 in Machault, France.

• Died in 1377 in Reims, France.

• French poet and composer, traveled Europe as secretary to the King of Bohemia.

• Appointed canon of Reims Cathedral in 1337.

• Most famous composer of the Middle Ages.

• Known for his narrative and lyrical poems, as well as his musical compositions

• Remains best known for his musical composition, Mass of Notre Dame.

Messe de Nostre Dame

• His most famous work

• Composed before 1635

• It is comprised of 5 movements

• Pieces include: Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus

• The mass as a whole is a celebration of Mary, the mother of Jesus.

Tournai Mass

• His earliest mass, other composers accompanied him in composing this work.

• It is comprised of 6 movements

• Including: Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Agnus, and Ite Missa Est.

• It is now preserved in a manuscript from the library of the Tournai Cathedral

Machaut's Influences

Ballad- narrative song with a recurrent refrain 

Used in: 

Rock 

Pop 

Opera 

Jazz 

Blues 

Polyphonic Music

Bach Mozart Church Music Jazz 

Motet

Polyphonic music with four or five voice parts singing one religous text.

  

Rondeau 

Renaissance music form based on rondeau poetry

Ballade

• The ballade typically featured a prominent upper voice, which was texted, and two lower voices which may have been vocalized or performed with instruments.

 • The poetic form is typically A–a–B, in which the B is a

shorter, concluding line, or refrain.

Refrain

• Today we are most familiar with a refrain in music. • Refrains usually, but do not always, come at the end

of the verse. There lived a lady by the North Sea shore, Lay the bent to the bonny broomTwo daughters were the babes she bore. Fa la la la la la la la la.As one grew bright as is the sun, Lay the bent to the bonny broomSo coal black grew the other one. Fa la la la la la la la. 

Example

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhlLzjE0ONA

Work Cited

http://www.medieval.org/emfaq/composers/machaut.html http://www.classical.net/music/comp.lst/machaut.php

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhlLzjE0ONA

http://www.medieval.org/emfaq/beginlst/medieval.htm

http://www.medieval.org/emfaq/beginlst/medieval.htm