Plourés dames is a polyphonic song composed by the fourteenth-century French composer and poet Guillaume de Machaut (c.1300-1377). It is written for three parts; a tenor and countertenor against which is placed an polyphonically independant cantus, , although only the cantus of this work has lyrics and the other two voices would probably have been performed by instruments. This work is an example of the genre known as the ballade and is catalogued as Ballade No. 32. As all ballades, it is a refrain song on the subject of love.

Machaut was the most represented and famous composer of the fourteenth century, as well as being one of the major poets of the age. Although his compositions are rhythmically far more complex than those of the thirteenth centuries and earlier are, in many ways Machaut was continuing the traditions of the trouvères and, before that, of the troubadours. As the monophonic songs (and polyphonic songs) of the trouvères, the ballade was a highly stylized love song, with a highly complex rhyming scheme.

© All Music Guide

Portions of Content Provided by All Music Guide.
© 2008 All Media Guide, LLC. All Music Guide is a registered trademark of All Media Guide, LLC.