French secular music of the late fourteenth century

The present publication is intended to fill, in some measure, the most serious gap in our knowledge of the history of polyphonic music, that is, the development of French music between Machaut and Dufay. - Preface. The present publication is devoted to the first of these two schools, formed by the immediate successors of Machaut. The total repertory contained in the sources of this period consists of liturgical pieces (mass items, etc.), motets, and secular compositions, with the last category far outnumbering the two others. For instance, the above-mentioned three main sources contain approximately a dozen sacred compositions, about 15 motets, and over 200 secular pieces, mostly with French, but occasionally with Italian and Latin texts. In the following study only the French secular compositions, exclusive of those by Machaut, are considered. More than half of these are attributed to composers. The number of these composers is surprisingly great, and a complete list would include more than forty names. Practically all the compositions of our repertory belong to one of the three traditional formes fixes of French medieval poetry and music, that is, the ballade, the virelai, and th