Listening Assignment, MU111, #5, Part 2:
Machaut and the Ars Nova

Prof. Saunders

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mu111 Assignment 5-1

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mu111 Assignment 5-3
Before listening, read the assignment in your text, Wright, Listening to Music.
II. Machaut, "Messe de Nostre Dame" (Mass of Our Lady)

Machaut's Messe de Nostre Dame (Mass of Our Lady), which is discussed by Wright in the textbook, is unique for several reasons. It was Machaut's largest composition; the only one that is strictly for use in church; and it is the first complete setting of the Ordinary of the Mass written by a single composer that we know.

We will concentrate on the Kyrie, the first section of the Ordinary of the Mass set by Machaut. Listen to the Kyrie, following the Listening Guide in the Wright text. Pay particular attention to the following features:

  • The obvious alternation between polyphony and Gregorian Chant.
  • The frequent sound of open 5ths, especially at the beginnings and endings of the polyphonic sections.
  • Triple meter in the polyphonic sections.
  • The Kyrie was written for 4 voices; can you hear that the sound is fuller and more sonorous than the 2-voice organum "All the Ends of the Earth" by Perotin?
  • Try to fix the sound of Machaut's style in your ear. Do you think you could tell it apart from one of the compositions by Perotin that we studied in the last class? How?

Listen to Machaut "Kyrie from the Messe de Nostre Dame":      


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