The Man, The Myth, The Legend: Guillaume de Machaut
There are many unknown things can be about Guillaume de Machaut, but one thing for sure he embodied the 14th century artistically. Guillaume de Machaut was born around 1300 somewhere near Réthel in the Champagne of France. The ordinary mass has come a long way since it was created. Guillaume de Machaut created the first polyphonic cycle by a single composer, Messe de Nostre Dame was revolutionary not only because it was the first polyphonic cycle of the mass by a single composer, but because of how he accomplished it. In order to discover what made Machaut so special one must analysis the factors that went into his life. The factors this paper will discuss is his past, the music before, and the struggled he faced composing Messe de Nostre Dame.
Before Discussing Guillaume de Machaut’s mass there is much to discuss about …show more content…
Meaning the treble voices dominated the work. The mass was written for the Reims Cathedral were he served as a clergy member. Excluding the Kyrie Machaut seems to use his style of writing motet to compose this Mass. The mass contains 5 movements a Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus and a Agnus Dei. Though it was not the very first polyphonic cycle of the mass, it was the first by a single composer. Because of this the creation of this mass did come without a few obstacles. One of the largest obstacles is the text. The ordinary already had a set text. That meant he had to find a way to maneuver the text to keep its meaning while getting his musical idea across. Finding the points of when and what syllables to accent on each word. Machaut also had to battle with expressiveness of the composition. To create a composition that affected its listeners emotionally while staying true to the style of the church. Finally, the organization of the text. Machaut had to find a way to blend the texts of each section in order to create a coherent piece of
There are many unknown things can be about Guillaume de Machaut, but one thing for sure he embodied the 14th century artistically. Guillaume de Machaut was born around 1300 somewhere near Réthel in the Champagne of France. The ordinary mass has come a long way since it was created. Guillaume de Machaut created the first polyphonic cycle by a single composer, Messe de Nostre Dame was revolutionary not only because it was the first polyphonic cycle of the mass by a single composer, but because of how he accomplished it. In order to discover what made Machaut so special one must analysis the factors that went into his life. The factors this paper will discuss is his past, the music before, and the struggled he faced composing Messe de Nostre Dame.
Before Discussing Guillaume de Machaut’s mass there is much to discuss about …show more content…
Meaning the treble voices dominated the work. The mass was written for the Reims Cathedral were he served as a clergy member. Excluding the Kyrie Machaut seems to use his style of writing motet to compose this Mass. The mass contains 5 movements a Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus and a Agnus Dei. Though it was not the very first polyphonic cycle of the mass, it was the first by a single composer. Because of this the creation of this mass did come without a few obstacles. One of the largest obstacles is the text. The ordinary already had a set text. That meant he had to find a way to maneuver the text to keep its meaning while getting his musical idea across. Finding the points of when and what syllables to accent on each word. Machaut also had to battle with expressiveness of the composition. To create a composition that affected its listeners emotionally while staying true to the style of the church. Finally, the organization of the text. Machaut had to find a way to blend the texts of each section in order to create a coherent piece of