Guillaume de Machaut facts for kids

Machaut (right) receiving Nature and three of her children. From an illuminated Parisian manuscript of the 1350s

Guillaume de Machaut (born around 1300 – died April 1377) was a famous French composer and poet. He was a central figure in the musical style called ars nova during the late Middle Ages. Many people consider him the most important French composer and poet of the 14th century. He is often seen as the leading European composer of his time.

Machaut is one of the earliest European composers about whom we have a lot of information. An amazing amount of his music has survived. This is partly because he helped create and save his own music books. Machaut was a great example of a poet who was also a composer. His poetry was highly respected and copied by other poets, like Geoffrey Chaucer.

Machaut wrote many different kinds of music and poems. He helped develop the motet and popular song forms. These included the lai and the formes fixes (fixed forms). The fixed forms were the rondeau, virelai, and ballade. His Messe de Nostre Dame is one of his few surviving sacred works. It is the earliest known complete musical setting of the Ordinary of the Mass by a single composer. Other famous works include the rondeaux "Ma fin est mon commencement" and "Rose, liz, printemps, verdure." His virelai "Douce Dame Jolie" is also well-known.

Machaut's Life Story

Guillaume de Machaut was born around 1300. He was one of seven children. He grew up and went to school near Reims, a city in France. His last name probably comes from the nearby town of Machault. This town is about 30 kilometers (18 miles) northeast of Reims.

From 1323 to 1346, Machaut worked as a secretary. He served King John I of Bohemia and Count of Luxembourg. Machaut also became a canon, which is a type of priest, in 1337. He often traveled with King John on his many trips. Many of these were military journeys across Europe, including to Prague. He became a canon in Verdun in 1330 and in Arras in 1332. By 1337, he was a canon in Reims.

By 1340, Machaut was living in Reims. He had given up his other canon positions at the request of Pope Benedict XII. In 1346, King John was killed fighting in the Battle of Crécy. Machaut was very famous and in demand. He then worked for other important people. These included King John's daughter Bonne, who died in 1349 from the Black Death. He also worked for her sons Jean de Berry and Charles. Charles later became King Charles V of France. Machaut also served Charles II of Navarre.

Machaut survived the Black Death, which was a terrible disease across Europe. He spent his later years in Reims. There, he composed music and oversaw the creation of his complete works. His poem Le voir dit (written around 1361–1365) tells a story. It seems to be about a love affair with a 19-year-old girl named Péronne d'Armentières. However, we don't know if this story is completely true. Guillaume de Machaut died in 1377.

Machaut's Music

As a composer in the 14th century, Machaut wrote many secular songs. Secular means non-religious. These included monophonic lais and virelais. Monophonic means having a single melody without harmony. These songs continued some traditions of the troubadours. Troubadours were medieval poet-musicians.

Machaut also wrote polyphonic music. Polyphonic means having multiple independent melodies. He used polyphony in his ballades and rondeaux. He also wrote the first complete musical setting of the Ordinary of the Mass. This was the first one that can be linked to a single composer.

Secular Music Styles

The words in Machaut's songs were almost always about courtly love. This was a medieval idea of noble and respectful love. Some of his works were written to remember special events. An example is M18, "Bone Pastor/Bone Pastor/Bone Pastor." Machaut mainly composed in five types of music: the lai, the virelai, the motet, the ballade, and the rondeau.

In these types of music, Machaut kept the basic formes fixes (fixed forms). But he often used creative ways to set the text to music. He also used interesting cadences, which are musical endings. For example, most rondeau phrases end with a long melisma. A melisma is when many notes are sung on one syllable. However, some of Machaut's rondeaux, like R18 "Puis qu'en oubli," have mostly one note per syllable.

Machaut's motets often had religious words in the lowest voice, called the tenor. An example is M12 "Corde mesto cantando/Helas! pour quoy virent/Libera me." But the top two voices in these three-part songs sang non-religious French words. This created interesting connections between sacred and secular ideas. In his other types of music, he did not use religious words.

Sacred Music: The Mass

Machaut's famous Mass, called the Messe de Nostre Dame (Mass of Our Lady), was likely written in the early 1360s. It was probably for Rheims Cathedral. This was not the very first Mass where all parts were linked together. The Tournai Mass is older. But Machaut's Mass was the first by a single composer and designed as one complete piece. Machaut probably knew the Tournai Mass. His Mass shares many features with it, including musical parts without words.

Music experts still debate whether Machaut's Mass is truly "cyclic." A cyclic mass means all its parts are connected by a musical idea. There is a general agreement that this Mass was a very early example. It came before the later cyclic masses of the 15th century. Machaut's Mass is different in a few ways:

• It does not keep one main tonal center throughout the whole work. It uses two different musical modes.
• There is no long musical theme that clearly appears in all the movements.
• There is evidence that the Mass parts might not have been composed all at once.

However, the Mass does sound consistent in its style. Also, the chants chosen for it all celebrate Mary, the mother of Jesus. It is also possible that the piece was written for a specific event. This makes it seem more like a complete, connected work. The Messe de Nostre Dame is generally seen as a cyclic composition.

Machaut's Poetry

Guillaume de Machaut wrote about 400 poems. These include 235 ballades, 76 rondeaux, and 39 virelais. He also wrote 24 lais, 10 complaintes, and 7 chansons royales. Machaut did a lot to improve and set rules for these "fixed forms" of poetry. Some of his poems are part of his longer story poems, called "dits." An example is Le remède de fortune ("The Cure of Ill Fortune"). This poem includes one of each type of lyric poetry. Another is Le voir dit ("A True Story"). Most of his poems, however, are in a separate section called Les loanges des dames. The fact that most of his poems were not set to music suggests he usually wrote the words first.

Most of Machaut's poems are about courtly love. They talk about serving a lady and the poet's joys and pains. He was a master of complex rhyme schemes. This makes him an early example for later poets who focused on elaborate rhymes.

Machaut's longer poems are mostly "dits." These are first-person story poems. Most are written in octosyllabic rhymed couplets. This is like the "romance" poems of the same time. They often use allegorical dreams and characters. The narrator, who is also the lover, tries to win or please his lady.

Machaut also wrote a poetic history of the brave deeds of Peter I of Cyprus. This work is called Prise d'Alexandrie. He also wrote poems that offered comfort and moral lessons. He often used himself as the narrator in his "dits." This allowed him to share his own thoughts and ideas.

Near the end of his life, Machaut wrote a poem about his craft. This was his Prologue. It explains his ideas about how poetry should be organized into different types and rhyme schemes. It also talks about how these types should be arranged in his books. This focus on organizing his works is shown in an index to one of his manuscripts. It says, "Here is the order that G. de Machaut wants his book to have."

The poem below, Puis qu'en oubli, is his 18th rondeau.

Main Poetic Works

• Le remède de fortune ("The Cure of Ill Fortune") (around 1340s) – A lady asks the narrator if a poem she found is his. The narrator runs away and finds a garden. There, "Hope" comforts him and teaches him how to be a good lover. He then returns to his lady.
• Jugement du roy de Behaigne ("Judgement of the King of Bohemia") (before 1346) – The narrator hears a debate. It is between a lady whose lover has died and a knight whose lady betrayed him. To decide who is unhappier, the narrator asks the King of Bohemia. The king consults allegories, and the unhappy knight wins.
• Dit du Lyon ("Story of the Lion") (1342) – The narrator arrives at a magical island. A lion guides him to a beautiful lady. An old knight then tells the narrator what he sees means. He also gives him advice on being a better lover.
• Dit de l'Alérion also known as Dit des quatre oiseaux ("Story of the 4 Birds") (before 1349) – This is a symbolic tale about love. The narrator raises four different birds, but each one flies away. One day, the second (and favorite) bird returns to him.
• Jugement du roy de Navarre ("Judgement of the King of Navarre") (1349) – After the Jugement du roy de Behainge, a lady blames the narrator for giving the prize to the knight. The King of Navarre is asked for his opinion and he blames the poet.
• Confort d'ami (1357) – This poem was written for Charles II of Navarre, who was a prisoner in France. It offers comfort by giving examples from the Bible and classical stories about being strong.
• Dit de la fontaine amoureuse also known as Livre de Morpheus ("Story of the Amorous Fountain") (1361) – The narrator meets a sad lover who must leave his lady. The two men go to a magical fountain and fall asleep. In a dream, the lady comforts her lover.
• Le voir dit ("A True Story") (around 1362–65) – Many see this as Machaut's best work. It is an early example of meta-fiction. This means it's a story that talks about itself as a story. It tells of the narrator's sadness and separation from his lady. It also talks about false rumors spread about him. Even though it's called a "true story," Machaut includes many things that make the reader question its truth.
• Prologue (around 1372) – Written at the end of his life, this poem is a preface to his collected works. It uses allegory to describe Machaut's ideas about poetry, music, and writing. These ideas are given to him by Nature and Love.
• Prise d'Alexandrie ("The Capture of Alexandria") (after 1369) – This is a poetic retelling of the brave actions of Peter of Lusignan, who was King of Jerusalem and Cyprus.

Machaut's Legacy and Influence

When Machaut died in 1377, other composers wrote sad poems about his death. One such composer was F. Andrieu.

Machaut's poetry directly influenced the works of many other writers. These included Eustache Deschamps, Jean Froissart, Christine de Pizan, and Geoffrey Chaucer. It is possible, though unlikely, that Chaucer and Machaut met. This could have happened when Chaucer was captured near Reims in 1359. Or perhaps in Calais in 1360. Both poets were there for official business related to the Treaty of Brétigny.

According to food historian William Woys Weaver, nobles in the 14th century enjoyed listening to Machaut's Prise d’Alexandrie. This happened at the French-speaking Lusignan court in Nicosia, Cyprus. Stories like Machaut's, about heroic Crusader figures, helped these courtiers feel connected to their claims to Jerusalem.

See also

In Spanish: Guillaume de Machaut para niños