Guillaume de Machaut

3 pièces de Guillaume de Machaut

Regarded as the most significant French composer and poet of the 14th century, Guillaume de Machaut was the central figure of the ars nova style in late medieval music. The three vocal pieces included in this collection are two rondeaux Ma fin est mon commencement, Rose, liz, printemps, verdure along with the motet Je suis aussi com cils qui est ravis. An additional curiosity, the iconic rondeau Ma fin est mon commencement (My end is my beginning) has a very intricate form built on palindromic form; while one voice reads the line from left to right, the other uses the same line in the opposite direction. Both voices meet in the middle of the piece, thus creating a mirror-symmetric form. While maintaining the principal upper part vocal, my arrangement relegates the two additional voices to the guitar.