Guillaume de Machaut

Born around 1300, Machaut became the central figure of the ars nova style, a late medieval movement so defined by his work that musicologists mark its end at his death in April 1377. He stood at the last peak of the poet-composer tradition that stretched back through the troubadours, writing verse that Chaucer and others would study for decades. He pushed the motet forward, refined secular forms like the lai, rondeau, virelai, and ballade, and composed the Messe de Nostre Dame - the earliest known complete Mass setting by a single composer. His poetry and music survived in unusual volume because he involved himself directly in preserving the manuscripts, ensuring that works like "Ma fin est mon commencement" would outlast the century that considered him its leading composer.