List of compositions by Guillaume de Machaut

This article presents a complete list of the musical works of Guillaume de Machaut. Works are organized by genre. The numbering scheme, from the classic edition of Machaut's works by Leo Schrade, does not represent chronology, since few of Machaut's works can be reliably dated.

Since many titles are merely the first lines of the texts used, in different sources individual pieces may be referred to by slightly different titles. For example, R20 is known both as "Douce dame" and "Douce dame tant qui vivray". Furthermore, some of Machaut's works (most notably the motets) employ simultaneous performance of several different texts. In such cases, the title of the work lists all texts used, starting from the top voice.

Machaut was the first composer to concentrate on self-anthologization of his works, supervising the creation of three complete-works manuscripts during his life. In the last manuscript, written c. 1370, the scribe wrote "Vesci l'ordinance que G. de Machau wet qu'il ait en son livre"—"Here is the order that G. de Machaut wants his book to have."[1]

Contents

Ballades

Complainte

Chanson Royale

Double Hocket

Lais

Mass

Motets

Rondeaux

Virelais

Alternate cataloging

The works from Le Remède de Fortune have presented a problem for modern-day collections, as they appeared in the manuscript in the poem, not with other works of its genre. Thus, occasionally Le Remède de Fortune works are given their own category and catalogued according to the order of their appearance:

Notes

  1. ^ Lawrence Earp, "Machaut's Role in the Production of Manuscripts of His Works," Journal of the American Musicological Society 42:3 (Fall 1989), 461.

References