Messe notre dame guillaume de machaut biography

Mass setting by Guillaume de Machaut

Messe de Nostre Dame (Mass of Our Lady) is a polyphonicmass composed before 1365 by French poet and composerGuillaume de Machaut (c.

1300–1377). Widely regarded as one of the masterpieces of medieval music and of all religious music, it is historically notable as the earliest complete setting of the Ordinary of the Mass attributable to a single composer (in contrast to earlier compilations such as the Tournai Mass).

Messe notre dame guillaume de machaut biography

Structure

The Messe de Nostre Dame consists of six movements, namely the Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Agnus Dei, and the dismissal Ite, missa est. The tenor of the Kyrie is based on Vatican Kyrie IV, the Sanctus and Agnus correspond to Vatican Mass XVII and the Ite is on Sanctus VIII.

The Gloria and Credo have no apparent chant basis, although they are stylistically related to one another.^[1]

Machaut's Messe de Nostre Dame is for four voices rather than the more common