This volume is the second of the thirteen in preparation that will offer the first complete scholarly edition of the poetry and music of Guillaume de Machaut, the foremost practitioner of these related arts at the end of the Middle Ages in France. It provides a freshly prepared edition based on the most reliable manuscript of two of Machaut's best known dits, the Remede de Fortune (Remedy for Fortune) and the Confort d'ami (Consolation from a Friend), both of which adapt the central ideas of Boethian philosophy to the love poetry tradition. The French texts are accompanied by facing English translations, and the musical passages are presented in situ in a performance-accessible form.

Guillaume de Machaut, a pioneer of a new school of lyric compositions, is the most important poet and composer of late medieval France. This volume provides a freshly prepared edition based on the most reliable manuscript of two of Machaut’s best known dits, the Remede de Fortune (Remedy for Fortune) and the Confort d’ami (Consolation from a Friend), both of which adapt the central ideas of Boethian philosophy to the love poetry tradition.  Less well known than the Remede, the Confort d’Ami is an important political document and exemplifies one of the most significant of medieval literary forms, the regiment principum. The work is addressed to Machaut’s imprisoned patron, Charles of Navarre, who attempted to seize the throne of France upon his release. The music of the intercalated lyrics in the Remede is here included in situ in performance-accessible form, as are the manuscript illuminations in grisaille. Detailed commentaries on Machaut, these poetical works, the accompanying music, and the art program of the base manuscript are also included.

While waiting for their parents to pick them up after school, Christopher, his little brother Alex, and their cousin Andrea are playing hide and seek on the school playground. Suddenly, a flash of lightning strikes, and the three children are transported to another dimension.

They arrive in the desolate tenth planet of our solar system, TerraNize. The story focuses on the adventure and exploits taking place in a once majestic land. The beautiful planet of TerraNize with its splendid terrain and idyllic environment has been transformed into an epic wasteland. Shrouded in a constant haze of ash and soot, the air is toxic. The once fertile land and gorgeous mountain ranges now bear unforgiving scars rendered by intense heat. The riverbeds are cracking from lack of moisture while the ocean lines have receded precipitously. What little wildlife remains mostly suffers from disease and starvation. Partitioning off distinctive boundaries of land are a vast array of divergent beings who have assumed control of their portion of this seemingly useless land. As the children journey through the vast arrays of lands on Terranize, they unfold the catastrophic events that have delivered it to this point of despair. The evil eternal, Antigond, is destroying the five kingdoms of men. Small groups of Cyclops, elves, dwarfs, and different tribes of men have survived Antigond's destruction, but with the help of his creations, the Trougliites, The Dreafs mighty winged beasts and Brounts. Antigond has united all the sub humans in a war against these last inhabitants of TerraNize.

Led by Draagho, the warrior king, the children embark on a harrowing mission. They must find the orbs in which the life essence of the gods of TerraNize, called the eternals, is endowed. If the children are successful, the eternals can be regenerated and destroy Antigond before he obliterates all of humanity. In a journey fraught with peril, the three children dig deep into their souls for the strength and perseverance to survive.

A delightful mixture of fantasy and faith, "The Messengers: The Secret of the Orbs" brims with action, adventure, and the strength of the human spirit.

Guillaume de Machaut is the most important poet and composer of late medieval France. His unique and inventive output is the subject of this new, integrated edition of Machaut's complete poetry and music. Volume 1, The Debate Series, presents the two "judgment" poems, which are among his most important artistically in terms of their formal innovations and their influence on contemporaries, notably Geoffrey Chaucer, and the associated Lay de plour, presented here with its music. This volume includes the French originals and facing English translations.