The Mass was likely written for the Saturday "Lady Mass" at Reims Cathedral , where Machaut served as a high-ranking cleric.
Machaut was the leading figure of the Ars Nova movement, which introduced complex rhythms and four-voice textures to 14th-century music. Machaut Messe de Nostre Dame
: It expanded sacred music to four independent voices, adding a "contratenor" for deeper harmonic richness. The Mass was likely written for the Saturday