Guillaume de Machaut

Paper Summary:

In this article, the writer looks at the life of Guillaume de Machaut who was one of the first composers that left substantial information behind about his life and music. This paper provides an account of Machaut's biography, followed by a discussion of his major musical achievements. A summary of the research and salient findings are presented in the conclusion. The writer maintains that an indication of Machaut's expertise can be seen in the recent resurgence of interest in Machaut by 21st century scholars, but Machaut himself can be credited with much of this attention since he was so careful in leaving them so much material for study. The writer concludes that it is reasonable to assert that based on the dearth of comparable historical accounts of his contemporaries, 22nd century scholars will also be studying Guillaume de Machaut. The paper includes an appendix that provides an alphabetical listing Machaut's works.

Outline:
Introduction
Review and Discussion
Conclusion
References
Appendix A

From the Paper:

"There were some other techniques that Machaut used to help keep his audience amused and entertained. For example, Brown reports that medieval authors frequently employed various textual signatures to either encode their names or otherwise provide their readers with plays on word. In Machaut's case, he named himself directly in his Jugement dou roy de Navarre and the Prise d'Alexandrie, and usually followed the style established by Nicole de Margival in the Dit de la panthere d'amours (ca. 1300) and in almost of all his other dits ... "

Sample of Sources Used:

• Brown, Cynthia J. 1995. Poets, Patrons, and Printers: Crisis of Authority in Late Medieval France. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
• Chance, Jane. 1990. The Mythographic Art: Classical Fable and the Rise of the Vernacular in Early France and England. Gainesville, FL: University of Florida Press.
• De Looze, Laurence. 1997. Pseudo-Autobiography in the Fourteenth Century: Juan Ruiz, Guillaume de Machaut, Jean Froissart, and Geoffrey Chaucer. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida.
• Grout, Donald Jay and Claude V. Palisca. 2001. A History of Western Music. New York: W. W. Norton.
• Hughes, Dom Anselm and Gerald Abraham. 1960. Ars Nova and the Renaissance, 1300-1540. London: Oxford University Press.

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