One of my favorite grad school memories was singing this ouroboros of a piece with one of my colleagues and getting to nerd out about how brilliant Machaut was. The notes on the video explain how the form works (reversing lines, switching parts, etc).
Machaut writes about the plague
This week Early Music Monday explores how Machaut survived the plague (and what we can learn from his experience). In the meantime, please remember that musicians (among others) are unemployed right now. The more you do your part to slow the spread of Covid-19, the sooner musicians can go back to work. Probably Machaut's solution is a little extreme...
Black Death Music Parties
Aside from the part where it killed people, the plague actually had a pretty significant impact on music (and culture in general) in medieval/renaissance times. And did you know that Machaut was a plague survivor?
Read more here: Weird Classical: The History of Black Death Music Parties