Machaut's "Douce dame jolie"

Learn about the great composer Guillame de Machaut, priest, canon, composer, and one of his most famous pieces, the "Douce dame jolie."

"He who writes and composes without feeling spoils both his words and music"---Machaut 

Overview  

The Middle Ages were an incredibly creative period in western Europe. Despite the fact that some earlier scholars saw part of it as “the Dark Ages,” the overall period is one of the most varied in European history. The fact that the period is usually given almost 1000 years is part of the reason it is so mottled, yet a closer look at various segments of the Middle Ages reveals periods of great inspiration and inventiveness. 

Musically, we typically begin the Middle Ages with the earliest notated music. Before that time, we have no real idea of how music sounded. Early depictions of instruments tell us something about earlier music (this study is called iconography), but not a great deal. In the ninth century (the time of Charlemagne), monastic singers at St. Gall in Switzerland began singing a new type of music, which ultimately led to fast developments in music notation. Many new developments notation (most notably the rhythmic modes) are associated now with Notre Dame in Paris. 

Many things happened between the ninth century and the period under investigation here, the fourteenth century. Since the earliest records of notated music are contained in church-related documents or with religious institutions, it should come as no surprise to learn that most notated early medieval music is sacred. That began to change somewhat in later centuries until we get to what I like to refer to as the first century of rock’n’roll in Western classical music: the fourteenth century. 

In her captivating book A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous Fourteenth Century (Ballantine, 1987), historian Barbara Tuchman demonstrates how tumultuous this period really was. Among its events were the really devastating occurrences of the bubonic plague (Black Death) and most of the Hundred Years War (between England and France). The literary feats of this century include Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and Boccaccio’s Decameron. Musically, it is the age of the Ars nova—new art. This title actually appeared on a treatise written c. 1320 by the composer Philippe de Vitry. Several new stylistic devices characterize the Ars nova, including the emphasis on secular music, new developments in rhythm (including duple meter—not the sacred triple meter that signified the Trinity), sophisticated approaches to polyphony, national styles (the Italian counterpart to the Ars nova is called the Trecento), and the prominence of musical (compositional) technique. No composer represented the Ars nova better than Guillaume de Machaut (1300-1377), the composer of "Douce dame jolie."

Machaut 

Machaut is undoubtedly the most famous composer of the fourteenth century. Not only was he a recognized musical genius, but scholars of French poetry of this period rank his literary works among the best as well. Such is the reputation of the man who helped to solidify secular song as a legitimate interest for “classical” composers. Ordained as a priest, Machaut worked for some of the most notable political figures of his day, including Charles II of Navarre, Jean de Berry, and the famous Charles, Duke of Normandy, who would become King Charles V in 1364. Machaut is one of the first composers about whom a great deal is known concerning his biography, and he was one of the earliest composers whose likeness appears in medieval manuscripts. 

Machaut and the formes fixes 

One of the most influential developments in secular song of the fourteenth century was the adoption of standard forms. These are known collectively as the formes fixes (fixed forms); it is a French term because French culture (or the culture of French-speaking people since France as we know it did not exist as a nation in the fourteenth century) dominated European ideals at this time. That composers of Machaut’s stature gave credence to these secular forms in a world that had hitherto been dominated by sacred music (essentially because only members of The Church were trained to compose and write music) is significant. It demonstrates a sincere recognition of secular song—something that before this time had not seen quite the same emphasis by church composers, at least as far as the manuscript evidence demonstrates. 

There are three formes fixes: the ballade, rondeau, and virelai. (Some authors include more, but these three are the most commonly used.) In each, a specific use of text and musical material defines the form. When we write out these forms, lower-case letters mean that the music repeats (so “a a” means the same music for two different verses of text), and upper-case letters mean that the music and text are repeated. 

The ballade has the shortest form (AaB, four stanzas) but is the most unrestrained of the formes fixes. In his polyphonic ballades, Machaut set highly crafted emotional texts that contained detailed symbolism. (He was also a gifted poet, remember.) Machaut created them for the most important occasions, and they are generally the most serious of his secular songs. Musically they feature a prominent upper voice supported by two lower voices (which may have been performed on instruments). The rondeau has the form ABaAabAB—it’s easy to remember if one thinks of the music coming “round and round” again. (The rondo of the Classical period has a slightly similar form in that the A section comes “round” several times.) 

The virelai, an example of which is the very popular “Douce dame jolie,” has the form AbbaA. In this case, the first and last strains are exactly the same. The music of the second repeats (with a different text), and the fourth strain is the same music as the first, but with different words. A contemporary Italian version of this form was called the ballata. 

Machaut “Douce dame jolie” 

One of the most famous monophonic melodies ever composed is Machaut’s virelai “Douce dame jolie.” A quick search of YouTube reveals several different versions, and many anthologies of medieval music on CD also include this tune. Its combination of conjunct and disjunct melodic motion, as well as catchy rhythms (first heard on “jolie”), make this melody remarkably singable. “Douce dame jolie” is not a piece that only a professionally trained classical musician can perform, but rather one that singers with style ranges from neo-Celtic to historically-informed classical to heavy metal can readily perform with success.

Source: http://music.ippreciation.com/?q=node/276

YouTube videos of "Douce dame jolie":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Z8rt3hHUEY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5w9Kb4NtqI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKCixB3zaX0