Category: Piece of the Week (Music)

This week I move from the ars antiqua period of medieval music into the ars nova period with the best known composer of the 14th century, Guillaume de Machaut. Guillaume was both a composer and a poet who was highly regarded in his lifetime.

The major piece I’ll be looking at is the Messe de Nostre Dame. This piece of music is widely regarded as the greatest composition of the Medieval Period and the earliest known complete setting for the Ordinary of the mass written by a single composer.

Also check out his Remede de Fortune and the Douce Dame Jolie, arguably the most famous song from the Medieval Period.

Pérotin (c. 1200), aka Pérotin the Great or Pérotin the Master, was the successor to Léonin at the Notre Dame school of polyphony.

Pérotin, as well as Léonin, were written about by a source known only as Anonymous IV, and If it weren’t for him we wouldn’t be able to attribute either of these men to the works that they composed.

These two composers really are the very beginnings of the history of western music.

Check out his Monophony: Beata viscera and his Polyphony: Viderunt omnes and Sederunt principes

Léonin was the first known composer of polyphonic organum and was the leading liturgical composer of his generation who flourished in the 12th century and is associated with the Notre Dame or Parisian school of composition.

It is with Léonin that we begin our journey through the history of western music with its origins located firmly in the medieval period.

The Magnus Liber Organi (Great Book of Organum c.1170) is attributed to him by a source known as Anonymous IV. .

The piece I’m focusing on this week is his Messe du jour de Noël (Christmas Day Mass).

Enjoy!