Middle AgesPhilippe de Vitry
Philippe de Vitry lived in Paris about seven hundred years ago.
Philippe de Vitry’s life
The big moments of this life, and what was happening in the world at the same time.
A life at a glance
- 1291👶 Birth
Born on 31 October, probably in Paris
- 1310📚 Trainingage 19
Studies at the University of Paris; becomes master of arts
- 1316🎼 Workage 25
His early motets appear in the Roman de Fauvel
- 1322🎼 Workage 31
The Ars nova treatise, drawn from his teaching, circulates
- 1337🏛️ Landmarkage 46
The Hundred Years’ War begins
- 1337🌍 Meanwhile
The Hundred Years’ War begins
- 1346🎩 Careerage 55
Counsellor and secretary to King Philip VI
- 1348🌍 Meanwhile
The Black Death sweeps across Europe
- 1350🎩 Careerage 59
Close to the future King John II; friend of Petrarch
- 1361🕯️ Deathage 70
Dies in Meaux on 9 June
Listen to the music
Press the big button to listen. Close your eyes: how does it make you feel?
How does this music feel to you?
How does this music feel to you?
Excerpts of up to 90 seconds, freely licensed recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
Once upon a time…
Philippe de Vitry lived in Paris about seven hundred years ago. He was a very learned man: he wrote poems, composed music and advised the kings of France.
He invented a new, more precise way of writing notes, which could show faster and more varied rhythms. It was called the “new art”. Some people thought it was far too modern: even the Pope complained!
In his songs he liked to make several different texts be sung at the same time, like a conversation in which everyone speaks in their own way. At the end of his life he became Bishop of Meaux, a town near Paris.
Philippe de Vitry’s instruments
Tap an instrument to hear it!
Cards to flip
Are you an expert on Philippe de Vitry?
Answer the questions and win stars!
Same era · Middle Ages
1098 – 1179Middle AgesHildegard von Bingen
More than nine hundred years ago in Germany, a little girl called Hildegard was entrusted to nuns.
c. 1135 – c. 1201Middle AgesLéonin
More than eight hundred years ago in Paris, workers began building a huge cathedral: Notre-Dame.
c. 1160 – c. 1230Middle AgesPérotin
Pérotin lived in Paris about eight hundred years ago, while Notre-Dame cathedral was being built.
c. 1300 – 1377Middle AgesGuillaume de Machaut
Guillaume de Machaut was born more than seven hundred years ago in Champagne, near Reims.