Guillaume de Machaut

High school (ages 12+)
History & Culture

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Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/guillaume-de-machaut

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. When was Guillaume de Machaut born?Circa 1300
2. When did Guillaume de Machaut die?April 1377
3. Where was Guillaume de Machaut born?Machaut, Champagne, France
4. What is the career?Poet, composer, cleric (priest), courtier
5. Who was Guillaume de Machaut?Guillaume de Machaut was a 14th‑century composer and poet from France, famous for his music and poems.
6. What is the Ars Nova?The Ars Nova was a musical style of the 14th century with more complex rhythms and new notation, and Machaut was a leading composer of it.

Ars Nova: A 14th-century musical style characterized by advanced rhythmic notation, isorhythm, and increased harmonic complexity.
Isorhythm: A compositional technique in medieval music where a rhythmic pattern is repeated throughout a musical section.
Mass Ordinary: The unchanging parts of the Catholic Mass: Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei.
Polyphony: Music consisting of two or more independent melodic lines sounding simultaneously.