Machaut Weekend
Join us for a three-day festival featuring the poetry and music of 14th-century Europe’s greatest poet and composer, Guillaume de Machaut (d. 1377). We’ll explore the courtly chansons that are the heart of his work, sample his poly-textual motets, sing the celebrated Messe de Nostre Dame by candlelight in Emmanuel Church’s gothic Lindsey Chapel, and finish up with a cabaret concert of songs by Machaut and the next generation, the bewitchingly smoky Ars subtilior.
Opening Festivities: Keynote, Performance & Sing-Along
Friday, May 1, 2026, 7:30 pm
The Allen Center, 35 Webster St, West Newton, MA 02465
Tickets: $11.50–$32.50
Our celebration of Machaut begins with a keynote talk by one of the world’s leading scholars of 14th-century music, Anne Stone (CUNY Graduate Center), performances of pieces in several of the genres represented in Machaut’s oeuvre, and a sing-along of the Kyrie from the Messe de Nostre Dame.
Talks & Demonstrations
Machaut & Nature’s Children: An introduction to poetry and visual art in Machaut
Saturday, May 2, 2026, 10:00 am–12:00 pm
Margaret Jewett Hall, First Church in Cambridge, Congregational
FREE — no ticket required
Machaut was both a poet and a composer, and he took great pains to preserve his artistic creations in complete-works manuscripts that were lavishly illustrated and illuminated. This pair of talks by Ardis Butterfield of Yale University, a specialist in medieval French literature and music, and Domenic Leo, the world’s foremost expert on the Machaut illustrations, offers a guide to the forms, genres, and themes of 14th-century lyric poetry and a survey of the visual art in the Machaut manuscripts. We’ll also include a demonstration of middle French pronunciation.
Concert: Le grant rhetorique: The Music & Poetry of Guillaume de Machaut
Saturday, May 2, 2026, 2:00 pm
Sanctuary, First Church in Cambridge, Congregational
Tickets: $11.50–$95.50
Our mainstage Cambridge concert presents a broad range of Machaut’s captivating secular music—by far the largest part of his output—including the lay, the most virtuosic of the old forms; the polytextual motet, combining French courtly texts with plainchant melodies deployed allegorically; and the three modern lyric forms codified by Machaut himself: the ballade, virelai, and rondeau.
Please note: This concert is NOT included in the Weekend Pass.
Candlelight Concerts: Messe de Nostre Dame
Saturday, May 2, 2026, 7:00 pm & 8:30 pm
Lindsey Chapel, Emmanuel Church, 15 Newbury St, Boston, MA 02116
Tickets: $11.50–$37.50
Join us on Saturday evening for an intimate performance of Machaut’s entrancing Messe de Nostre Dame in the most gothic venue in Boston, lit entirely by candles—as close as we could come to the piece’s likely original context, a Saturday evening Lady Mass at a side altar in Reims Cathedral.
Cabaret Concert: Machaut & the Ars subtilior
Sunday, May 3, 2026, 6:00 pm
The Allen Center, 35 Webster St, West Newton, MA 02465
Tickets: $11.50–$57.50
Wrap up the weekend with a program connecting Machaut to the next generation. Late-14th-century Ars subtilior (the “more subtle art”) composers built on his work, crafting songs about mysterious, smoky speculators known as fumeurs. Enjoy projected texts and illustrations, a taste of French food & drink, and—as an extra treat—learn how to sing and dance a virelai!
All concert dates, programs, and personnel are subject to change without notice.
Contact us at 617-960-7956 or office@blueheron.org if you need help with your order.
Blue Heron is pleased to participate in the Card to Culture program, a collaboration between the Mass Cultural Council, Department of Transitional Assistance, WIC Nutrition Program, and the Massachusetts Health Connector, by extending free tickets to EBT, WIC, and ConnectorCare cardholders. Please contact our box office to reserve your ticket(s).
Please contact the box office with any questions about accessibility or to purchase wheelchair and companion tickets. We are happy to assist.