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Many of the remarkable creative music developments of Fourteenth century
France and Italy can be attributed to the famed Frenchman, Guillaume de Machaut, and
Francesco Landini of Italy. France was facing a declining economy and population, war,
plague, and conflicts within the church. However, innovations in science, literature and
music brought about important creative changes. People started to separate science from
religion, new technologies brought social change, and there were advancements in
literature and music. The developments in music, also known as the Ars Nova, began to
represent the secular interests of the period. Both Guillaume de Machaut and Francesco
Landini are known for their many secular compositions and other contributions to the
music world.
Guillaume Machaut was the leading composer of the French Ars Nova and a
distinguished poet and musician. He was born in 1300 in the province of Champagne in
northeastern France. In 1323, he became secretary to King John of Bohemia, and later
became involved with other high-ranking personages such as King Charles of Navarre,
the Dauphin of France, and his brother Jean, Duc de Berry. Machaut is also famed for his
talent in literature with his many poems. Despite the fact that he was in Holy Orders,
Machaut’s works were almost entirely secular pieces (Harman and Mellers 130). His
works consist of nineteen monophonic or polyphonic lais, forty-two ballades, twenty-two
polyphonic rondeaux, thirty-three monophonic or polyphonic virelais, twenty-three
motets, a three-part instrumental piece entitled ‘Hoquetus David’, and a four-part setting
of the complete Ordinary of the mass. In many of Machaut’s compositions, he stays
close to the trouvère tradition (Abraham 123).
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A virtuoso organist, lutanist, and flautist, Francesco Landini was renowned as the
most outstanding composer of the Italian Ars Nova. Born in 1325 in Florence, Italy, he
became blind at a young age from smallpox, but it seemed to have no effect on his ability
to compose and play music as well as write poetry. (Mellers 167) He was educated in
the seven liberal arts: arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, musical theory, dialectic, rhetoric,
and grammar (Ellinwood). He was well known in Florence as the leading organist of the
city, and for his talent with the portative organ. Landini’s outstanding works make up
about one-fourth of the repertoire of the Italian Ars Nova. With a French influence,
Landini focused on the ballata, which is the equivalent to the French virelai. He wrote
140 ballatas with ninety-one for two voices, and forty-two for three, and eight for two
and three voices. He also composed eleven madrigals, and two caccias. Today, the
majority of Landini’s works can be found in the Squarcialupi Codex. Francesco
Landini’s works show a great deal of French influence, and it is most evident in his
ballatas. The ballata is the equivalent of the French virelai from which it derived. The
form is the same, following an AbbaA pattern; however, Landini made it his own with a
smoother, lighter, and more graceful flow. His pieces showed a concentration on the
voice (Seay 161-163).
During this time, both the French and Italians were very interested in polyphonic
secular music. The French secular forms were derived from the songs of the troubadours
and trouvères, while the Italians developed secular music independently with their own
style and new system of notation (Ulrich 97). However, it has been found that there is
some French influence in Italian polyphony. We can see such an influence in Landini’s
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works. With the use of many French ideas, his ballatas can be analyzed in contrast with
Guillaume de Machaut’s virelais.
The ballata was originally tied to dance, and followed a poetic form. A musical
performance of a ballata alternated between a soloist and chorus (Landini-CD booklet).
It began as a monophonic work, but after 1365, it became polyphonic for two or three
voices. Just like the virelai, there are two sections. The first section is for the refrain and
the third and fourth lines of the strophe. The second section is for the first and second
lines of the strophe, and they are often sung twice with first and second endings. Thusly,
the form in musical terms is AbbaA (Seay 158).
The virelai is one of the three formes fixes, and just like the ballata, it follows an
AbbaA pattern. As one of the formes fixes, it derived from styles associated with dance,
as is also true with the ballata. Of Machaut’s thrity-three virelais, twenty-five of them are
monophonic, while the remaining eight are for two voices (Seay 144). In Machaut’s
virelais, he uses a syllabic melody (jstor). Landini himself actually wrote a virelai.
Entitled Adiu, adiu, this piece is completely unlike any of his other compositions, and is
completely in French (Seay 163).
When comparing compositional styles, it is found that unlike Machaut, Landini’s
works show a concentration on the voice. This is supported by his use of melismata and
the clear flow of the melody. Landini incorporates the style and techniques of the Italian
Ars Nova, but his works also hint to some French musical concepts. For example, many
of his ballatas were written for vocal solo with accompaniment for two instruments,
which suggests some French influence. Landini also used some French rhythmic ideas as
well as formal construction concepts, and he even used some aspects of notation that had
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been perfected by the French. An example of French rhythmic influence can be found in
the madrigal Si Dolce. It shows a completely isorhythmic tenor line (Seay 163-164).
Another important technique that Landini was known for was the “Landini cadence”, or
as it is otherwise known as the “under-third cadence.” This is when the sixth scale step is
inserted between the leading tone and the tonic, often with another leading tone a fourth
below the upper one. It was once believed that Landini was the first to use the cadence,
but it is essentially an element found in French works even earlier than Landini’s (Ulrich
and Pisk 101). However, he does use this technique, and it is part of what makes his
compositions so unique, fluid and graceful. In the polyphonic works of both composers,
the main characteristic of polyphony is seen in the independence of parts by using
contrasting rhythms in different voices. Essentially it was a French idea, used more by
Machaut than Landini, but even still, they both showed unification through isorhythm or
sonority (Harman and Mellers 167-172).
To compare these two great composers on a more specific level, Guillaume de
Machaut’s Douce Dame Jolie, and Francesco Landini’s Gram Piant’Agli Ochi’ provide
examples of each musician’s style. Douce Dame Jolie is a monophonic virelai that
occurs in five manuscripts of the works of Machaut. However, Machaut referred to this
type of song as chansons balladées (Hunmanby). It is a very structured piece with a
simple syllabic melody. Machaut’s tendency for descending melodic patterns is clearly
shown throughout. Each phrase contains a group of stepwise descending notes. The
form follows an ABBA form and repeats three times. The ends of phrases are interesting
because they never return to tonic; each one is a half cadence.
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(Hunmanby)
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Francesco Landini’s Gram piant’ agli ochi’, is an example of one of his ballatas.
Right in the beginning, the famous “Landini cadence” is found in bars 8-9. It is shown
with the inserted E between the F and G. In comparison to Machaut’s virelai, it is more
rhythmically complicated and intricate. Ornamentations in the top line lighten the piece
and add variety to the melody. The bottom two lines have a less complicated rhythmic
pattern, but they also provide harmonic clarity. The piece is slow, connected and
flowing. In many of Landini’s works, there is a harmonic clarity and avoidance of
dissonances as well as parallel seconds, sevenths, fifths and octaves. This results in a
pure, “sweet” and light sound that is unique to Landini’s compositions.
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Despite their many differences, the musical compositions of Francesco Landini
and Guillaume de Machaut also have some similarities. Machaut’s poems, songs, and
nobility brought him success during the French Ars Nova. While in Italy during the
Trecento, Landini’s French influence with an Italian twist helped him achieve great
things.
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