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Medieval Music Database

Ma fin est mon commencement
rondeau by Guillaume de Machaut

Sources

New York: Wildenstein Collection, fol. 321 (lost);
Oxford: Bodleian Library, MS Canonici Latin Patristic [Scriptores Ecclesiastici] 229, number 10 (2/1);
Paris: Bibliothèque Nationale, fonds français 843 (text); Bibliothèque Nationale, fonds français 1584 (MachA), fol. 479v (3/1); Bibliothèque Nationale, fonds français 1585 (MachB), fol. 309 (3/1); Bibliothèque Nationale, fonds français 9221 (MachE), fol. 136 (3/1); Bibliothèque Nationale, fonds français 22546 (MachG), fol. 153 (3/1).

Facsimiles

1. WOLF, Johannes. Geschichte der Mensural-Notation von 1250-1460 nach den theoretischen und praktischen Quellen, 3 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1904. [reprinted Hildesheim: G. Olms, 1965], p. 40 (Pn22546, diplomatic).
2. NEWES, Virginia. 'Writing, reading and memorizing: the transmission and resolution of retrograde canons from the 14th and early 15th centuries', Early Music, XVIII/2: 218-234, p. 225.

Editions

1. WOLF, Johannes. Geschichte der Mensural-Notation von 1250-1460 nach den theoretischen und praktischen Quellen, 3 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1904. [reprinted Hildesheim: G. Olms, 1965], Vol. III, p. 64 (Pn22546).
2. Guillaume de Machaut: Musikalische Werke. Erster Band: Balladen, Rondeaux und Virelais, edited by Friedrich Ludwig, Wiesbaden: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1926, p. 63.
3. REESE, Gustave. Music in the Middle Ages, New York: W. W. Norton, London: J.M. Dent & Sons, 1940, p. 107.
4. Examples of Music Before 1400, edited by Harold Gleason, Rochester, New York: Eastman School of Music Series, 1942, p. 81.
5. History of Music in Sound. III. Ars Nova and the Renaissance, edited by Dom Anselm Hughes, London: Oxford University Press, 1953, p. 15.
6. The Works of Guillaume de Machaut, Second Part, edited by Leo Schrade, Monaco: Editions de L'Oiseau-Lyre, 1956. Polyphonic Music of the Fourteenth Century III, p. 156.
7. Omnibus Music Scores. Vol. I. Earliest Music Through the Works of Beethoven, edited by William J. Starr and George F. Devine, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1964, p. 23.
8. Florilegium Musicum: History of Music in 180 Examples from Antiquity to the 18th Century, edited by Erwin Leuchter, Buenos Aires: Ricordi Americana, 1964, p. 33.
9. Guillaume de Machaut (1300-1377), p. 22.
10. Guillaume de Machaut: Two Rondeaus, edited by Bernard Thomas, London: London Pro Musica, 1988. Early Music Library 131, p. (Pn1584).
11. NEWES, Virginia. 'Writing, reading and memorizing: the transmission and resolution of retrograde canons from the 14th and early 15th centuries', Early Music, XVIII/2: 218-234.

Text Editions

Guillaume de Machaut: poésies lyriques, 2 vols., edited by V. Chichmaref, Paris: 1909, p. 575.

Literature

1. MACHABEY, Armand. 'Guillaume de Machault'. La revue musicale, XII (1931), p. 338.
2. PRESTON, Raymond. 'Chaucer and the "ballades notées" of Guillaume de Machaut', Speculum, XXVI (1951), p. 617.
3. REANEY, Gilbert. 'John Dunstable and late medieval music in England', The Score, V (1953), p. 23.
4. MACHABEY, Armand. Guillaume de Machault, 130?-1377: La vie et l'oeuvre musicale, 2 vols, Paris: Richard-Masse-Editeur, 1955. Bibliothèque d'études musicales, pp. 165-167., pp. 165-167.
5. FANO, Fabio. Le origini e il primo maestro di cappella: Matteo da Perugia. Part 1 of La cappella musicale del duomo di Milano (with G. Cesari), Milan: Ricordi, 1956. Instituzioni e monumenti dell'arte musicale italiana, nuov. ser. 1., p. 39.
6. GÜNTHER, Ursula. Der musikalische Stilwandel der französischen Liedkunst in der zweiten Hälfte des 14. Jahrhunderts, dargestelt an Virelais, Balladen und Rondeax von Machaut., Ph.D. dissertation, University of Hamburg: 1957, Chapter 4.2.
7. GÜNTHER, Ursula. 'Die Mensuralnotation der Ars Nova in Theorie und Praxis', Archiv für Musikwissenschaft, XIX-XX (1962), pp. 13-14.
8. REANEY, Gilbert. 'The performance of medieval music', Aspects of Medieval and Renaissance Music: A Birthday Offering to Gustave Reese, edited by Jan La Rue, New York: W. W. Norton, 1966, p. 710.
9. POP, Rodica. 'Elemente ale gindirii functionale prezente in creatia lui Guillaume de Machaut (1300-1377)', Lucrari de Muzicologie, II (1967), pp. 7-9.
10. SALOP, Arnold. 'The secular polyphony of Guillaume de Machaut', [chapter 2 of his] Studies on the History of Musical Style, Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1971, pp. 76-77.
11. POIRION, Daniel. Le Moyen-Age. II: 1300-1480, Paris: Arthaud, 1971, p. 61.
12. GALLO, F. Alberto. Il Medioevo, vol. II, Turin: Edizioni di Torino, 1977. [English translation as Music of the Middle Ages, vol. II, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985], pp. 46-47.
13. WILKINS, Nigel. Music in the Age of Chaucer, Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1979. Chaucer Studies I, pp. 19-20.
14. WILKINS, Nigel. 'Rondeau (i)', The New Grove, XVI (1980): 166-170.
15. POIRION, Daniel. 'Le monde imaginaire de Guillaume de Machaut', Guillaume de Machaut, poète et compositeur. Colloque - Table Ronde, 1978, pp. 223-234.
16. GÜNTHER, Ursula. 'Contribution de la musicologie à la biographie et à la chronologie de Guillaume de Machaut', Guillaume de Machaut, poète et compositeur. Colloque - Table Ronde, 1978, pp. 95-116.
17. GÜNTHER, Ursula. 'Fourteenth-century music with texts revealing performance practice', Studies in the Performance of Late Mediaeval Music, edited by Stanley Boorman, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983, pp. 260-261.
18. HALLMARK, Anne. 'Some evidence for French influence in northern Italy, c.1400', Studies in the Performance of Late Mediaeval Music, edited by Stanley Boorman, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983, pp. 193-226.
19. REANEY, Gilbert. 'A consideration of the relative importance of words and music in composition from the 13th to the 15th century', Musik und Text in der Mehrstimmigkeit des 14. und 15. Jahrhunderts, Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1984, p. 189.
20. GÜNTHER, Ursula. 'Sinnbezüge zwischen Text und Musik in Ars nova und Ars subtilior', Musik und Text in der Mehrstimmigkeit des 14. und 15. Jahrhunderts, edited by U. Günther and L. Finscher, Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1984, pp. 229-268.
21. WILKINS, Nigel. 'The late mediaeval French lyric: with music and without', Musik und Text in der Mehrstimmigkeit des 14. und 15. Jahrhunderts, edited by U. Günther and L. Finscher, Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1984, pp. 155-174.
22. NEWES, Virginia. 'Writing, reading and memorizing: the transmission and resolution of retrograde canons from the 14th and early 15th centuries', Early Music, XVIII/2: 218-234, pp. 225-229.

Recordings

1. The History of Music in Sound. Vol. III. Ars Nova and the Renaissance (c. 1300 - 1540), Pro Musica Antiqua/Cape, Lemuel Hughes, Clarence Roberts, Br (1953): HMV HMS 20-31, 21=(78rpm mx. 2EA 15609-1B).
2. [Machaut], Joseph Sage (C-T) (1961): Studio S.M. 45-71 [45rpm.].
3. Guillaume de Machault. Balladen - Motetten - Rondeaus - Virelais, Capella Lipsiensis, directed by Dietrich Knothe (1971): Philips 6580 026.
4. The Art of Courtly Love. Vol. I: Guillaume Machaut and His Age, Early Music Consort of London, directed by David Munrow (1973): EMI/HMV SLS 863 (GB).
5. The Art of Guillaume de Machaut, Ars Antiqua Paris, directed by Michel Sanvoisin (1974): Arion ARN 38252 (FRA)/ ARN 90814 (USA).
6. Guillaume de Machaut: 1. The Musical Art of Machaut. 2. Le Remède de Fortune. 3. Veoir Dit., Ensemble Guillaume de Machaut of Paris (1975-1977): Adés 7078 (3 discs).
7. Hommage à Machaut, Ars Cameralis, Prague (1978): Panton 8111 0056.
8. Messe de Notre Dame, The Hilliard Ensemble, directed by Paul Hilier (1989): CDA66358.
9. Guillaume de Machaut Messe de Notre Dame, Hillard Endemble, directed by Paul Hillier (1989): Hyperion CDA 66358.

Text

ma fin est mon commencement
Et mon commencement ma fin
Et teneure vraiement.

Ma fin est mon commencement.
Mes tiers chans trois fois seulement
Se retrograde et einsi fin.

Ma fin est mon commencement
Et mon commencement ma fin.

Translation

My end is my beginning
And my beginning my end
And true tenor.

My end is my beginning.
My third part three times only
Moves backwards and so ends.

My end is my beginning
And my beginning my end.
Text revision and translation © Jennifer Garnham

Content Approved by: MMDB Director
Last updated: Wednesday, 19 March 2003

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