Guillaume de Machaut was born ca. 1300 in Reims, N. France. From 1320 to 1346 he served John of Luxemburg, King of Bohemia as a notary and a secretary. His earliest datable work is motet Bone pastor Guillerme/Bone pastor, composed in 1324 to honour the newly-selected archbishop of Reims, named Guillaume. Machaut was highly influential both as a composer and a poet for at least one century next to his own. He established the three "formes fixes" of secular -- mostly -- polyphonic music: ballade, rondeau and virelai, and personally supervised the collection and ordering of his work. The "Messe de Nostre Dame" is Machaut’s best known -- to non-specialists -- work, however the bulk of his creation consists of the formes fixes and the motets. He was famous and much-admired when he died in 1377 at his hometown, where he was living as a clerical beneficiary since 1330.

(contribution by Panos Vlagopoulos <pvlag@admin.megaron.gr>)