jan 1, 1350 - Machaut: ballad, “Dame, comment” (“My lady, however little")

Description:

Two voiced ballade on the theme of courtly love poetry (longing of a man for an unattainable woman)
Possibly related to obvious unavailability of the Virgin Mary, which carried over into secular life

Vocal line contains rhythm of two minims and long melisma interrupted by rests
Freer with dissonance than pieces by composers of the ars antiqua
Several unprepared dissonances on strong beats
Mixed various rhythmic modes
Melody has many syncopations and irregular groupings with no sense of regular meter

The polyphonic medieval ballade solidified bar forms
Musica ficta is critical to this piece → F# and Bb in A section + Eb in the B section

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