"Not only was he really the, possibly the most famous French poet and composer in the 14th century, but he also he knew what he was doing," he says. "He seems to have supervised the copying of several complete manuscripts. which means that he had an eye on posterity. Which is not your typical idea of a medieval person.

"I think he was also aware he was making something new. His harmony is extraordinary. It's very beautiful, a little bit weird to modern ears but only in the way some forms of jazz are."

Pitts even describes some of the sections as "pretty boppy".

True Love Story – de Machaut originally called it Le Voir Dit (A True Story) – tells the tale of a young superfan called Peronelle. Herself a singer and poet, she contacts her hero to ask for help.

"The very first thing that happens between them is she sends him a poem and says, 'Can you look at this poem?' You know, does it need improvement? And she's literally asking him for advice," says Pitts.

"Then she asks him to send her songs because she wants to learn them, and she's very flattering, says they're better than anybody else's, all that stuff."

De Machaut soon falls – and hard – for his much younger admirer. In all, some 9000 lines of prose and verse pass between the pair.

But de Machaut has a problem. After he sees a portrait of Peronelle, in a scenario that wouldn't be unfamiliar to modern users of online dating, he's terrified he will be a disappointment were he to meet her in person.

At one point he even considers sending a stand-in Cyrano de Bergerac style.

"So that has obviously parallels with, I don't know, Tinder or something," says Pitts.

The performance, which will be semi-staged, brings with it myriad technical challenges for the eight-voice ensemble.

"It's tough because there are these different levels," says Pitts. "There's the musical level that involves harmonies that are unusual but beautiful. The tuning that's different. And then there's the words, every vowel, you've got to think about every syllable. And then there's the dramatic context."

So – spoiler alert – what happens in the end between love-stricken de Marchaut and the equally smitten Peronelle?

Pitts is not giving too much away

"Well, they don't go off riding into the sunset," he says. "But they seem to be friends still at the end. She's played a nice game, and she's had some great entertainment over several years."

True Love Story previews in Sydney at the Yellow House on June 5 before touring.