Lady Constance Fairfax's

Commonplace Book

Music and Poetry in the fourteenth century

(This essay was written for a final exam and has not been edited since)

Fourteenth century poetry and music can best be understood by viewing secular monophony.  Following the trends set by the great troubador poet/musicians of the previous century, in the fourteenth century, the music for a poem was often written by the poet.  The greatest example of the musician/poet iis Guillaume de Machaut.  The influence of the troubador and trouvere culture on both the melody and the poetry of the other European countries is clear. 

In Germany, minnesängers (courtly love singers) were highly influenced by the poetical and musical forms of the troubadours.  This trend began with the introduction of troubador and trouvere music and poetry in the twelfth century and it developed and continued into the fourteenth century.  The most important minnesängers of the fourteenth century were Heinrich von Müglin, Hermann Münch von Salzburg, and Hugo von Montfort.  Hermann Münch von Salzburg also wrote the earliest extant German polyphonic piece.  The poems used by these composers are narrative rather than amorous and are often religious:  a common topic was praise of The Virgin Mary.  The melodies used are modal, similar to church modes.  The minnesängers did not use all of the French forms:  they only used the Barform (based on the ballade), and the Leich(based on the lai).

In 1348 and 1349, the Black Plague claimed a third of the population.  With this disaster came a strange contribution to the history of music, Italian flagellants abandoned all to travel all over Europe, laying open their backs with barbed whips and loudly prophesying from the Book of Revelation, hoping their fervor and zeal would appease the God who had smitten them with war, plague, and famine.  When this phenomenon reached Germany, German flagellants, called Geissler  joined in as well.  The songs they sang came to be known as as Geisslerlied, and their form was either aabb or abab.  The penitential processional songs sung by the Italian flagellants, who were probably influenced by Gregorian chant, the troubadors, and by folk-song, came to be known as Laude Spirituali.  The structure of the Laude Spirituali is similar to that of  the virelai.

The legendary Italian poet Dante (1265-1321) wrote The Divine Comedy in Italian.  He sets his love, Beatrice, as the Divine Love which leads the subject to heaven.  The Italian poets spent most of their efforts writing of courtly love:  Dante wrote of Beatrice, Guido Cavalcanti wrote of Mandetta, and, of course, Petrarch wrote of Laura. 

The Italian composers had a doce stil nuovo  (sweet new style).  Francesco Landini was the most important composer of the trecento era(three hundreds, the fourteenth century).  The Italian Ivrea codex contains French compositions of the early fourteenth century.  The Squarcialupi codex contains madrigals, ballatas, and caccias.

As mentioned before, France was the home of Guillaume de Machaut.  The Roman de Fauvel was a large satirical poem which was written near the end of the thirteenth century.  Written into the poetical narration are many musical compositions in various formes fixes.  Some of the works in the Roman de Fauvel are by Philippe de Vitry, who was a well-known French composer and the theorist who developed the new theoretical rules for and coined the term Ars Nova.

Guillaume de Machaut was definitely the preeminent poet and composer in France during the fourteenth century.  Machaut was very interested in the formes fixes, which were secular song forms.  Around 1340, Machaut wrote Le Remede de fortune, which was a compilation of seven songs, each in a different form of poetry.  Remede is about a young lover who has not learned the secrets of love.  The formes fixes used are:

The lai, which was usually formed a4a4b7 a4a4b7 a4a4b7b7b7b7b7b7b7.

The complainte, which in Machaut's case was thirty six stanzas long, each with sixteen lines sung to the same melody.

The chant royal is in a simple aab aab form

The ballade, with varied strophic verses usually fitting ababbcC or ababccdD.

The balladelle, a simplified form of the ballade.

The chanson baladée, also called the virelai, which is formed Abba Abba Abba A

The rondeaux, which are usually formed AbaAabAB.

Chaucer was highly influenced by Machaut and drew much of his own material from Machaut's work.  While England's contribution to secular monophony has not survived (with the exception of beautiful examples like Byrd one brere), England's poetic contribution was high.  In 1386, Chaucer completed his Canterbury Tales.

Examining the swapping of musical styles between countries in the fourteenth century gives a greater understanding about the relationship of all these formes fixes to their relatives in other countries.