Guillaume de Machaut

Guillaume de Machaut (around 1300 – 1377), was a French poet and composer of the late Medieval era. He was the most famous and historically significant representative of the musical movement known as the ars nova, and was especially influential in the development of motets and secular song (chanson).

Music

Machaut was by far the most famous composer of the 14th century. His secular song output includes monophonic lais and virelais, which continue, in updated forms, some of the tradition of the troubadors. However, his work in the polyphonic forms of the ballade and rondeau was more significant historically.

Related Topics:
Monophonic - Lai - Virelai - Troubador - Polyphonic - Ballade - Rondeau

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Machaut also wrote the first Mass which can be attributed to a single composer, his Messe de Nostre Dame (Mass of Our Lady).

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