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June 1, 2025 * First Congregational Church, Kalamazoo
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Program Notes
“Douce Dame Jolie”: Christine de Pizan and Guillaume de Machaut in Dialogue
As musical ensembles make the laudable shift to expand their programming to be more diverse and inclusive, those specializing in early music are faced with a somewhat different challenge than ensembles focusing on more recent repertoire. While materials from both living composers as well as known (though often ignored) artists from the last several hundred years can present a wide variety of perspectives, highlighting marginalized voices in music from the Middle Ages is tremendously difficult, since so little music survives that was written by anyone other than white, aristocratic men. While there are important and precious exceptions–such as Hildegard von Bingen or the chant traditions associated with specific convents–these voices are easily drowned out by the deluge of canonical white male composers. For that reason, this concert will include prose responses from the protofeminist author Christine de Pizan that reflect on some of the themes present in the well-known poetic and musical repertoire of Guillaume de Machaut.
Guillaume de Machaut
Like Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven, Guillaume de Machaut was a seminal composer, almost singlehandedly responsible for the musical developments of fourteenth-century France known as the Ars Nova (the new art). Like those later figures, Machaut composed in all of the available genres of the period, as well as inventing some new ones.
Machaut’s poetry and lyrics are considered to represent the final word on the poetic and compositional tradition of the troubadours and trouvères dating back to the early twelfth century. Topically, much of this repertoire, both sung and unsung, deals with medieval themes of courtly love emphasizing nobility and chivalry.
Machaut’s virelai (a French poetic form) Douce Dame Jolie celebrates courtly love as the poet declares he is completely subject to and enthralled by his “sweet lovely lady.” For all the rhetorical power the poet gives to the object of his affection, she is still treated as an object with little agency or opportunity to respond to his amorous advances. For this, we look to the writings of Christine de Pizan.
Christine de Pizan
Active around the turn of the fifteenth century, Italian-born French court poet Christine de Pizan took issue with much of the objectification of women throughout centuries of courtly love poetry. As you will hear in a number of excerpts from her writings tonight, Christine de Pizan was disenchanted with the narrative viewpoint of the lovesick poet, instead highlighting the hypocrisy of the courtly love enterprise. Indeed, Christine de Pizan’s arguments extend beyond the secular world of courtly love to invoke a theological argument for the importance, strength, and moral virtue of women, claiming that “God never created anything else of comparable dignity or goodness, excepting only the person of Jesus.”
Messe de Nostre Dame
In addition to words from Christine de Pizan responding to both the sacred and secular position of women in a world dominated by the hypocrisy of courtly love, this concert also presents Machaut’s monumental Messe de Nostre Dame. Composed no later than 1365, this is the first known setting of the mass ordinary by a single composer. Though the exact details of its composition are sketchy, Machaut likely composed it for a Saturday Lady Mass at the Catheral of Reims – – a celebration of the Virgin Mary whom Christine de Pizan described as having goodness, nobility and honor so great that she was elected to carry the son of God. Following Machaut, there have been seven centuries of composers dedicated to musical settings of the Mass from Palestrina to Bach, Mozart, Schubert, and even Leonard Bernstein.
Machaut spared no compositional complexity when setting the liturgy. The four-voice counterpoint is extremely complicated, exploring compositional techniques such as isorhythm, a compositional tool in which a series of pitches and a series of rhythms are combined to generate the musical content. Though isorhythm as a device is difficult to hear, a more audible complexity is the hocket throughout. Hocket, a term deriving from the Latin word for “hiccup,” is the musical technique of splitting a melody between voices so that the complete, composite melody is heard only through the back-and-forth of dueling parts. If written and performed well, this is almost unnoticeable to the audience but is extremely challenging for the performer. In addition, the harmonic language of the mass is quite complex, with unexpected dissonances that appear, seemingly out of nowhere, and have remarkable effects on listeners.
– Dr. Luke Conklin, Artistic Director
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Program & Translations
Douce Dame Jolie
Guillaume de Machaut
Virelai, verse 1
Read by Mitch Rogers-MacDonald
Douce dame jolie,
Pour dieu ne pensés mie
Que nulle ait signorie
Seur moy fors vous seulement.
Qu’adès sans tricherie
Chierie
Vous ay et humblement
Tous les jours de ma vie
Servie
Sans villain pensement.
Helas! et je mendie
D’esperance et d’aïe;
Dont ma joie est fenie,
Se pité ne vous en prent.
Douce dame jolie,
Pour dieu ne pensés mie
Que nulle ait signorie
Seur moy fors vous seulement.
Sweet Lovely Lady
Guillaume de Machaut
Virelai, verse 1
Sweet lovely lady,
For God’s sake do not think
That anyone has power
Over me except you alone.
For always without trickery
Cherished
Have I you and humbly
All the days of my life
Served you
Without any base thought.
Alas! And I beg
For hope and help;
Because my joy is ended
Unless pity seizes you.
Sweet lovely lady,
For God’s sake do not think
That anyone has power
Over me except you alone.
Ballad 53, “Qui plus se plaint n’est pas le plus malade”
“Who complains the most is not the most ill”
Christine de Pizan, trans. Renate Blumenfeld-Kosinski
Read by Ginny Shilliday
Wise are those who know how to guard against false lovers who have the habit of ceaselessly betraying women with their words. They complain about the force of love which holds them prisoner like a bird in a cage, and pretend they’re all pale with love. But I am firmly convinced that he who complains the most is not necessarily the sickest person.
When you hear them swear and carry on, pretending to be more submissive than a page at court, go about, reflect and look around–and when they talk they twist their tongue in order to deceive, and hardly any one is the wiser when they complain with such charm and grace! But one can well judge by their faces: he who complains the most is not necessarily the sickest person.
May God correct such lovers. Sadly, there are many of them, I believe, who go around asking the ladies for grace and mercy, and who send messages with the only aim of gaining advantage. This is why my ballad says that in this case, be he ever so highly placed, he who complains the most is not necessarily the sickest person.
Messe de Nostre Dame – Kyrie and Gloria
Guillaume de Machaut
Kyrie
Kýrie, eléison.
Kýrie, eléison.
Kýrie, eléison.
Christe, eléison.
Christe, eléison.
Christe, eléison.
Kýrie, eléison.
Kýrie, eléison.
Kýrie, eléison.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
Gloria
Glória in excélsis Deo.
Et in terra pax homínibus bonæ voluntátis.
Laudámus te. Benedícimus te.
Adorámus te. Glorificámus te.
Grátias ágimus tibi propter magnam glóriam tuam.
Dómine Deus, Rex cæléstis, Deus Pater omnípotens. Dómine Fili unigénite, Jesu Christe.
Dómine Deus, Agnus Dei, Fílius Patris.
Qui tollis peccáta mundi, miserére nobis.
Qui tollis peccáta mundi, súscipe deprecatiónem nostram.
Qui sedes ad déxteram Patris, miserére nobis.
Quóniam tu solus Sanctus.
Tu solus Dóminus.
Tu solus Altíssimus, Jesu Christe.
Cum Sancto Spíritu, et in glória Dei Patris.
Amen.
Glory be to God on high.
And on earth peace to men of good will.
We praise You. We bless You.
We adore You. We glorify You.
We give You thanks for Your great glory.
Lord God, heavenly King, God the Father Almighty.
Lord Jesus Christ, Only-begotten Son.
Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father.
You Who take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. You Who take away the sins of the world, receive our prayer.
You Who sit at the right hand of the Father, have mercy on us.
For You alone are holy.
You alone are Lord.
You alone, O Jesus Christ, are most high.
With the Holy Ghost, and in the glory of God the Father.
Amen.
Douce Dame Jolie
Guillaume de Machaut
Virelai, verse 2
Read by Mitch Rogers-MacDonald
Douce dame jolie,
Pour dieu ne pensés mie
Que nulle ait signorie
Seur moy fors vous seulement.
Mais vo douce maistrie
Maistrie
Mon cuer si durement
Qu’elle le contralie
Et lie
En amour tellement
Qu’il n’a de riens envie
Fors d’estre en vo baillie;
Et se ne li ottrie
Vos cuers nul aligement.
Douce dame jolie,
Pour dieu ne pensés mie
Que nulle ait signorie
Seur moy fors vous seulement.
Sweet Lovely Lady
Guillaume de Machaut
Virelai, verse 2
Sweet lovely lady,
For God’s sake do not think
That anyone has power
Over me except you alone.
But your sweet rule
Rules
My heart so harshly
That it fights it
And binds it
In such a love
That it desires nothing
Other than being under your power;
And yet your heart gives it
No relief.
Sweet lovely lady,
For God’s sake do not think
That anyone has power
Over me except you alone.
The God of Love’s Letter, Excerpt 1
Christine de Pizan, trans. Kevin Brownlee
Read by Jan Tucker
From Cupid, king by the grace of himself, god of lovers, ruling in the shining sky with no one’s help, son of the powerful goddess Venus, lord of love and all its objects, to all our loyal, obedient servants….
We make it publicly known that complaints and piteous accusations have been made before us at our court by all ladies, married and unmarried, noblewomen, middle-class women, and young girls. All these women have together humbly requested our help, without which they will all be robbed of their honor and deeply shamed. And the above-mentioned ladies complain of the great crimes, the accusations, the slanders, the betrayals, the great outrages, the deceptions, and the many other pains that they receive every day from disloyal men, who blame, defame, and deceive them. …
At present, there are many ill-trained knights and squires who regularly betray them by using pretty blandishments. They pretend to be loyal lovers, and cover their intentions with varied disguises. Thus they say that they suffer intensely because of their love for the ladies, which possesses them completely: one man complains of this; another says his heart is in pain; yet another gives the appearance of crying and sighing; another pretends that he is in great suffering, that he is pale from loving so much, almost dead, languishing; and they all swear and make lying promises to be loyal and discreet, and then go bragging about their exploits.
Messe de Nostre Dame – Credo and Sanctus
Guillaume de Machaut
Credo
Credo in unum Deum patrem omnipoténtem, factórem cæli et terræ, visibílium ómnium et invisibílium.
Et in unum Dóminum Jesum Christum, Fílium Dei unigénitum.
Et ex Patre natum ante ómnia sæcula.
Deum de Deo, lumen de lúmine, Deum verum de Deo vero.
Génitum, non factum, consubstantiálem Patri: per quem ómnia facta sunt.
Qui propter nos hómines et propter nostram salútem descéndit de cælis.
Et incarnátus est de Spíritu Sancto ex María Vírgine: Et homo factus est.
Crucifíxus étiam pro nobis: sub Póntio Piláto passus, et sepúltus est.
Et resurréxit tértia die, secúndum Scriptúras.
Et ascéndit in cælum: sedet ad déxteram Patris.
Et íterum ventúrus est cum glória judicáre vivos et mórtuos: cujus regni non erit finis.
Et in Spíritum Sanctum, Dóminum et vivificántem: qui ex Patre, Filióque procédit.
Qui cum Patre, et Fílio simul adorátur, et conglorifícatur: qui locútus est per Prophétas.
Et unam, sanctam, cathólicam et apostólicam Ecclésiam. Confíteor unum baptísma in remissiónem peccatorum.
Et expecto resurrectionem mortuorum, et vitam et ventúri sæculi.
Amen.
I believe in one God, the Father Almighty Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only-begotten Son of God.
Born of the Father before all ages.
God of God, Light of Light, true God of true God.
Begotten, not made: consubstantial with the Father; by Whom all things were made.
Who for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven.
And was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary: and was made man.
He was crucified also for us, suffered under Pontius Pilate, and was buried.
And on the third day He rose again according to the Scriptures.
And He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father.
And He shall come again with glory to judge the living and the dead: of Whose kingdom there shall be no end.
And in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of Life: Who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
Who together with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified: Who spoke through the Prophets.
And in One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.
I confess one Baptism for the remission of sins.
And I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life and of the world to come.
Amen.
Sanctus
Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus.
Pleni sunt cæli et terra glória tua.
Hosánna in excélsis.
Et benedíctus qui venit in nómine Dómini.
Hosánna in excélsis.
Holy, holy, holy.
Heaven and earth are full of Your Glory.
Hosanna in the highest.
And blessed is He Who comes in the Name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.
Je Vivroie Liement
Guillaume de Machaut
Virelai
Ginny Shilliday, soloist
Je vivroie liement.
Douce creature.
Se vous savies vraiement
Qu’en vous fust parfaitement
Ma cure.
Dame de meintieng joli.
Plaisant, nette et pure.
Souvent me fait dire: Aimi!
Li maus que j’endure
Pour vous servir loyauement.
Et soies seure
Que je ne puis nullement
Vivre einssi, se longuement
Me dure.
Je vivroie liement.
Douce creature.
Se vous savies vraiement
Qu’en vous fust parfaitement
Ma cure.
Car vous m’estes sans mercy
Et sans pite dure.
Et s’aves le cuer de mi
Mis en tel ardure
Qu’il morra certeinnement
De mort trop obscure.
Se pour son aligement
Merci n’est procheinnement
Meure.
Je vivroie liement.
Douce creature.
Se vous savies vraiement
Qu’en vous fust parfaitement
Ma cure.
I should live happily
Guillaume de Machaut
Virelai
I should live happily.
Gentle creature.
If you knew certainly
That in you lies perfectly
All my care.
Lady fair in appearance.
Pleasing, neat and pure.
Often I am caused to say: Ah me!
By the pains I endure
For serving you loyally.
And be certain
That I can in no wise
Live thus.
If this lasts for long.
I should live happily.
Gentle creature.
If you knew certainly
That in you lies perfectly
All my care.
For you have no mercy on me
And remain without pity.
And you have set my heart
In such burning
That it will certainly die
Too sad a death
Unless for its relief
Mercy does not soon
Ripen.
I should live happily.
Gentle creature.
If you knew certainly
That in you lies perfectly
All my care.
The God of Love’s Letter, Excerpt 2
Christine de Pizan, trans. Kevin Brownlee
Read by Jan Solberg
If they are not careful, ladies are often deceived, for they are trusting and only see the good side of things. Because of this, whether they want to or not, it often happens that they fall in love with deceivers, and are betrayed before they become aware of what is happening. And when they have
been completely taken in by the disloyal lovers who have tricked them, listen to how these lovers behave toward them: it is not enough for them to have betrayed the ladies; they have companions in their wicked behavior.
There is no need or promise that they do not recount to one another, nor do they neglect to exaggerate their amorous successes: they brag that they live in the bedrooms of the ladies who love them; then they swear body and soul that this is the truth, and tell how they lay naked in their ladies’ arms. They tell their drinking companions; and the noblemen gossip together in ducal or royal courts, or elsewhere; these are the kinds of lessons they teach. …
God, what speakers! God, what encounters where the honor of ladies is stolen away! And how does this kind of defamation profit those who should arm themselves in order to guard and to protect women’s honor? For every man should be well disposed toward women, who are the mothers of all of them.
Douce Dame Jolie
Guillaume de Machaut
Virelai, verse 3
Douce dame jolie,
Pour dieu ne pensés mie
Que nulle ait signorie
Seur moy fors vous seulement.
Et quant ma maladie
Garie
Ne sera nullement
Sans vous, douce anemie,
Qui lie
Estes de mon tourment,
A jointes mains deprie
Vo cuer, puis qu’il m’oublie,
Que temprement m’ocie,
Car trop langui longuement.
Douce dame jolie,
Pour dieu ne pensés mie
Que nulle ait signorie
Seur moy fors vous seulement.
Sweet Lovely Lady
Guillaume de Machaut
Virelai, verse 3
Sweet lovely lady,
For God’s sake do not think
That anyone has power
Over me except you alone.
And since my illness
Cured
Will never be
Without you, sweet enemy,
Who rejoices
In my torment,
With joined hands I beg
Your heart, since it forgets me,
To kill me quickly,
For I have languished too long.
Sweet lovely lady,
For God’s sake do not think
That anyone has power
Over me except you alone.
The God of Love’s Letter, Excerpt 3
Christine de Pizan, trans. Kevin Brownlee
Read by Becky Straple-Sovers
Sweet Jesus, when wounded, injured, and dead, was abandoned by all except women. The entirety of the faith remained in a single woman. Therefor anyone who defames women is extremely foolish, if only because of the reverence required by the Queen of Heaven, in memory of her goodness, which was so noble and worthy that she was elected to carry the son of God. God the Father conferred great honor of women by choosing a woman to be his wife and mother, God’s temple joined to the Trinity. Women should thus be joyous and gay, for they have the same form as she; God never created anything else of comparable dignity or goodness, excepting only the person of Jesus.
Thus he who mocks women is very foolish, when a woman is seated on the highest throne, next to her son, at the right hand of the Father…. And we can find no instance where the good Jesus reproached women; rather, he loved them and valued them. God formed women in his worthy image and gave to her knowledge, awareness, and the gift of understanding, so that she might save herself.
Messe de Nostre Dame, Agnus Dei and Ite Missa Est
Guillaume de Machaut
Agnus Dei
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.
Lamb of God, Who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.
Ite Missa Est
Deo gracias.
Thanks be to God.
Performers
Are you interested in performing with EMM? We welcome new singers and instrumentalists, as well as volunteers! Learn how to get involved with EMM.
Early Music Michigan
Luke Conklin, Artistic Director
Becky Straple-Sovers, Administrative Director
Triplum
Christine Hains
Marilyn Ossentjuk
Ginny Shilliday (soloist)
Jan Solberg
Becky Straple-Sovers
Motetus
Kaethe Durham
Susan Firestone
Becca Harrington
Jennifer Sanderson
Tenor
Paula Jamison
Phil Johnson
Marjorie Harrington
Paul O’Malley (intonations)
Mitch Rogers-MacDonald
William Sanderson
Contratenor
John Fink
Gary Jensen
Jan Tucker
Instrumentalists
Autumn – organ
Luke Conklin – recorders, harp
Nathan Durham – oud
Jan Solberg – soprano recorder
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Ginny Shilliday
2025–2026 Season Sneak Peek
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