A great Mass

I just finished to listening to the Messe De'Notre Dame by Guillaume de Machaut 1300-1377. I do not like all medieval polyphony, it gets on my nerves, but there is something about the Messe De'Notre Dame that grabs me by my...well it grabs me... and doesn't let go until the end. It is a complex and difficult piece of music to listen to and unless you are willing to be patient and listen to it five or six times you will fail to appreciate all the levels of polyphonic, isorythmic detail. Machaut was not known as a religious composer so much as a composer of poetry and secular songs to punctuate the high art of courtly love. The music is large, complete, and done by one man. It gives you a window into the grand religious life of the 14th century. Probably performed at the new cathedral of Notre Dame of Rheims, this must have been shocker. There had never been anything like this before in the presentation of liturgical music. Machaut seems to have wanted to use the Mass itself as a kind of musical stage. Anyhow he rocks and the Messe D'Notre Dame is a great work that is like a very complex dish of food that takes time to enjoy.