Guillaume de Machaut (c. 1300–1377) was a leading French composer and poet of the 14th century and the founder and central figure of the Ars Nova movement. Born near Reims, he served as secretary to John of Luxembourg, King of Bohemia, traveling widely before settling into a distinguished ecclesiastical career as a canon in several cities, including Reims.
Yet if you are expecting that the music of such an early French composer will sound lean and lifeless, be prepared to be surprised by the melodies and warmth his work contains. And Machaut’s influence was enormous: he perfected the motet and composed one of the earliest complete polyphonic Mass settings by a single composer, his Messe de Nostre Dame. Be prepared to be both delighted and surprised by its beauty and spiritual depth.
My lords, my ladies, and all who cherish the art of song — I bid you good day.
I am Guillaume de Machaut, poet, priest, and composer, born at the dawn of the fourteenth century, in the fertile region of Champagne, France. My life has been blessed with service, both sacred and artistic — to kings, to love, and to the beauty of ordered sound.
In my youth, I entered the service of John of Luxembourg, the noble King of Bohemia. Together we rode through many lands, and amid the din of battle I found refuge in the subtle harmonies of song and verse. Later, I became a canon at Reims Cathedral, where the great stone vaults seemed to echo the very music of heaven. There, my pen and my heart worked in tandem — for I believed that music and poetry, united, could elevate the soul and ennoble the mind.
I wrote messes and motets for the Church, and chansons for courts and hearts alike — for I saw no contradiction between the sacred and the courtly. My Messe de Nostre Dame, composed around 1360, remains among my proudest achievements — a complete setting of the Mass Ordinary by a single hand, a rarity in my time. I sought in it a perfect symmetry between text, tone, and faith — what I called the ars nova, the “new art.”
I was fortunate to live in an age of transition — when the old monophonic songs of the troubadours gave way to the rich polyphony of intertwined voices. I admired the works of Philippe de Vitry, a scholar and fellow master of rhythm and notation, whose friendship and intellect inspired me deeply. And I knew that our innovations — the precision of rhythm, the refinement of counterpoint — would shape the music of generations yet unborn.
Yet I was as much poet as composer. My solo songs were often born of love and reflection — works where words and melody entwine like two lovers bound by faith and longing. For in poetry, as in music, I sought the balance of reason and emotion — the harmony that mirrors divine order.
I spent my final years in Reims, still writing, still listening to the bells that had marked every chapter of my life. It was there, in the year of our Lord 1377, that my voice fell silent.
But the music remains — in parchment, in echo, and perhaps in the hearts of those who still find beauty in the meeting of sound and soul.
God keep you in grace and good measure
Merci . . .
A Selection of Works by Guillaume de Machaut Available for Listening on Classical Archives
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Masses
Ballades
Motets
- Aucune gent;Qui plus aimme;Fiat voluntas tua, motet (a4)
- Christe que lux es/Veni Creator Spiritus/Tribulatio proxima est (a4)
- Lasse! comment oublieray/Se j’aim mon loyal/Pour quoy me bat mes maris? (a3)
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