Guillaume de Machaut - Quant en moy (16/25) {isorhythmic motet}

Guillaume de Machaut, sometimes spelled Machault, (c. 1300 - April 1377), was an important Medieval French poet and composer. He is one of the earliest composers for whom significant biographical information is available.

David James, John Potter, Rogers Covey-Crump (organ)

Guillaume de Machaut was "the last great poet who was also a composer," in the words of the scholar Daniel Leech-Wilkinson. Well into the 15th century, Machaut's poetry was greatly admired and imitated by other poets including the likes of Geoffrey Chaucer.

Machaut was and is the most celebrated composer of the 14th century. He composed in a wide range of styles and forms and his output was enormous. He was also the most famous and historically significant representative of the musical movement known as the ars nova.

Machaut was especially influential in the development of the motet and the secular song (particularly the lai, and the formes fixes: rondeau, virelai and ballade). Machaut wrote the Messe de Nostre Dame, the earliest known complete setting of the Ordinary of the Mass attributable to a single composer, and influenced composers for centuries to come.

Machaut was by far the most famous and influential 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 troubadours. However, his work in the polyphonic forms of the ballade and rondeau was more significant historically, and he wrote the first complete setting of the Ordinary of the Mass which can be attributed to a single composer. He was the last important representative of the trouvère tradition.

The vast majority of Machaut's works were secular in nature. His lyrics almost always dealt with courtly love. A few works exist to commemorate a particular event, such as M18, "Bone Pastor/Bone Pastor/Bone Pastor." Machaut mostly composed in five genres: the lai, the virelai, the motet, the ballade, and the rondeau. In these genres, Machaut retained the basic formes fixees, but often utilized creative text setting and cadences. For example, most rondeaux phrases end with a long melisma on the penultimate syllable. However, a few of Machaut's rondeaux, such as R18 "Puis qu'en oubli," are mostly syllabic in treatment. Machaut's motets often contain sacred texts in the tenor, such as in M12 "Corde mesto cantando/Helas! pour quoy virent/Libera me." The top two voices in these three-part compositions, in contrast, sing secular French texts, creating interesting concordances between the sacred and secular. In his other genres, though, he does not utilize sacred texts.

Machaut's cyclic setting of the Mass, his Messe de Nostre Dame (Mass of Our Lady), was probably composed for Rheims Cathedral in the early 1360s. While not the first cyclic mass the Tournai Mass is earlier it was the first by a single composer and conceived as a unit. Machaut probably was familiar with the Tournai Mass since the Messe de Nostre Dame shares many stylistic features with it, including textless interludes.

Whether or not Machaut's mass is indeed cyclic is of some contention, indeed after lengthy debate musicologists are still deeply divided. However, there is a consensus that this mass is at best a forerunner to the later fifteenth century cyclic masses by the likes of Josquin des Prez. Machaut's mass differs from these in the following ways. One: he does not hold a tonal centre throughout the entire work, as the mass uses two distinct modes, (one for the Kyrie, Gloria and Credo, another for Sanctus, Agnus and Ita missa est). Two: there is no extended melodic theme that clearly runs through all the movements, and the mass does not use the parody technique. Three: there is considerable evidence suggesting that this mass was not composed in one creative motion; although the movements may have been placed together this does not mean that they were conceived so.[3]

Having said that, stylistically the mass can be said to be consistent, and certainly the chosen chants are all celebrations of Mary, the mother of Jesus. Also adding weight to a claim that the mass is cyclic is the possibility that the piece was written/brought together to be performed at a specific celebration. The possibility that it was for the coronation of Charles V, which was once widely accepted, is thought unlikely in modern scholarship. The intention by the composer for the piece to be performed as one entire mass setting most commonly gives 'Le Messe de Nostre Dame' the title of a cyclic composition.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• de
• Machaut
• Quant
• en
• moy
• {isorhythmic
• motet}

[racerboyGTR]

Umm guys, is this really M16 (of 25?)

On Wikipedia the number for this tune is "M1". Can someone please verify?

[bartje11]

@racerboyGTR Yes, this is video 16 out of 25. I up-loaded them in historical order, as much as possible, from oldest (Gregorian) to newest (Late Medieval, Ars Nova)

[practicecrazypianist]

Where can I get the sheet music for this, please? I love it! :) I have also been searching in vain for Francesco Landini's Cara mia Donna for 3 voices...do you happen to know where I can get the music? Thanks for posting!!

[bartje11]

@practicecrazypianist The book with the scores is called: Music of the Middle Ages; An Anthology for Performance and Study by David Fenwick Wilson.

There were two cass. tapes with it, but I think they are now also (maybe) available on CD.

ISBN 0-02-872-952-8 Schirmer Books.

So, the book should come with audio.

[Pofop]

I wish I could like this but I don't enjoy listening to this.

[bartje11]

@Pofop So, why comment? 

[0casteloencantado0]

i prefer it faster.

[menifestation7]

@practicecrazypianist sorry, i got no idea :D

[Tempestosa1]

@Pofop You are very honest:). This is a matter of getting used to the (at least for us) unusual texture - they thought more horizontal than vertical, so don`t look for "harmonies". Maybe if you would read some books about this era and the intention they had behind the music? It was such a fascinating time...Good luck:)!

[Tempestosa1]

@racerboyGTR Hi, I am just dealing with Machault as I teach music history, and I have read about this motet as motet nr.1. Machault ordered his work systematically.

[fleurdefietska]

I cannot thank you enough for putting this up! I have to give a presentation in my music class about him and I just have to tell everything in your discription box;)

This music is not what I usually listen to but I quite enjoy it actually (:

[practicecrazypianist]

@bartje11; Thank you!! :D

[Basko1880]

@bartje11 so that he gets my thumbs up