Description: Guillaume de Machaut, fourteenth-century French composer and poet, wrote the first polyphonic Mass and many other important musical works. Friend of royalty, prelates, noted poets, and musicians, Machaut was a cosmopolitan presence in late medieval Europe. He also served as canon of the cathedral of Reims, the coronation site of French kings. From this penetrating study of his music, Machaut emerges as a composer deeply involved in the great crises of his day, one who skillfully and artfully expressed profound themes of human existence in ardent music and poetry.
Brief description: Anne Walters Robertson is Professor of Music at The University of Chicago. She is the author of The Service Books of the Royal Abbey of Saint-Denis: Images of Ritual and Music in the Middle Ages (1991). She was awarded the John Nicholas Brown Prize of the Medieval Academy of America in 1995.
Review Quotes: "[A]rgues that Machaut's works are best understood in the context of his long-term relationship to Reims and its cathedral ... this is a wonderful study.... Recommended." Choice