Guillaume Du Fay

Guillaume Du Fay (French: [dy fa(j)i]; also Dufay, Du Fayt; 5 August, c.

1397[1] – 27 November 1474) was a Franco-Flemish composer of the early
Renaissance. A central figure in the Burgundian School, he was regarded by
his contemporaries as one of the leading composers in Europe in the mid-15th
century.[1] His uniquely contrapuntal and complex motet "Nuper rosarum
flores" demonstrates the influential exchange of musical ideas among artists
[2]
around the world during the early Renaissance period.

Contents
Life
Du Fay (left), with Gilles Binchois
Early life
From Cambrai to Italy and Savoy
Return to Cambrai
Travels to Savoy and Italy
Final years in Cambrai
Death
Music and influence
Chant settings and fauxbourdon
Secular music
Writings on music theory
Influence
Sound samples
Notes
References
External links

Life

Early life
From the evidence of his will, he was probably born in Beersel, in the vicinity of Brussels, the illegitimate child of an unknown priest
and a woman named Marie Du Fayt. She moved with her son to Cambrai early in his life, staying with a relative who was a canon of
the cathedral there. The link between the Du Fay family and the Cathedral of Cambrai is the sole reason a large amount of
information is known about Du Fay's early life, as the institute kept detailed records on all affiliated persons.[3] His musical gifts
were noticed by the cathedral authorities, who evidently gave him a thorough training in music; he studied with Rogier de Hesdin
during the summer of 1409, and he was listed as a choirboy in the cathedral from 1409–12. During those years he studied with
Nicolas Malin, and the authorities must have been impressed with the boy's gifts because they gave him his own copy of Villedieu’s
Doctrinale Puerorum in 1411, a highly unusual event for one so young. In June 1414, aged around 16, he had already been given a
benefice as chaplain at St. Géry, immediately adjacent to Cambrai.[1] Later that year, on the evidence of music composed, and a later
relationship with the Malatesta court, members of which he met on the trip, he probably went to the Council of Konstanz. He likely
[4]
stayed there until 1418, at which time he returned to Cambrai.
From Cambrai to Italy and Savoy
From November 1418 to 1420 he was a subdeacon at Cambrai Cathedral. In 1420 he left Cambrai for Italy – first to Rimini and then
to Pesaro, where he worked for the Malatesta family. Several of his compositions can be dated to this period; they contain colloquial
references to Italy. There he met the composers Hugo and Arnold de Lantins, who were also among the musicians of the Malatesta
household. In 1424 Du Fay returned to Cambrai, because of the illness and subsequent death of the relative with whom his mother
was staying. By 1426, however, he had returned to Italy. In Bologna, he entered the service of Cardinal Louis Aleman, the papal
legate. While in Bologna he became adeacon, and by 1428 he was ordained priest.[1]

Cardinal Aleman was driven from Bologna by the rival Canedoli family in 1428, and Du Fay also left, going to Rome. He became a
member of the Papal Choir, the most prestigious musical establishment in Europe, serving first Pope Martin V, and then after the
death of Pope Martin in 1431, Pope Eugene IV. By this time his fame had spread, and he had become one of the most respected
musicians in Europe. As a consequence, honors in the form of benefices came to him from churches in his homeland.[4] In 1434 he
was appointed maistre de chappelle in Savoy, where he served Duke Amédée VIII. He had left Rome because of a crisis in the
finances of the papal choir while seeking to escape the turbulence and uncertainty during the struggle between the papacy and the
Council of Basel. By 1435 he was again in the service of the papal chapel, but this time it was in Florence – Pope Eugene having
been driven from Rome in 1434 by the establishment of an insurrectionary republic there, sympathetic to the Council of Basel and the
Conciliar movement. In 1436 Du Fay composed the festive motet Nuper rosarum flores, one of his most famous compositions,
dedicated to and performed at the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, featuring Filippo Brunelleschi's renowned dome.[4]
[1]
Eugene at this time lived in exile at the nearby church of Santa Maria Novella.

During this period Du Fay also began his long association with the Este family in Ferrara, some of the most important musical
patrons of the Renaissance, and with which he probably had become acquainted during the days of his association with the Malatesta
family; Rimini and Ferrara are not only geographically close, but the two families were related by marriage, and Du Fay composed at
least one ballade for Niccolò III, Marquis of Ferrara. In 1437 Du Fay visited the town. When Niccolò died in 1441, the next Marquis
maintained the contact with Du Fay, and not only continued financial support for the composer but copied and distributed some of his
music.[4]

Return to Cambrai
The struggle between the papacy and the Council of Basel continued through the 1430s, and evidently Du Fay realised that his own
position might be threatened by the spreading conflict, especially since Pope Eugene was deposed in 1439 by the Council and
replaced by Duke Amédée of Savoy himself, as Pope (Antipope) Felix V. At this time Du Fay returned to his homeland, arriving in
Cambrai by December of that year. In order to be a canon at Cambrai, he needed a law degree, which he obtained in 1437; he may
have studied at University of Turin in 1436.[4] One of the first documents mentioning him in Cambrai is dated 27 December 1440,
[4]
when he received a delivery of 36 lots of wine for the feast of St. John the Evangelist.

Du Fay was to remain in Cambrai through the 1440s, and during this time he was also in the service of the Duke of Burgundy. While
in Cambrai he collaborated with Nicolas Grenon on a complete revision of the liturgical musical collection of the cathedral, which
included writing an extensive collection of polyphonic music for services. In addition to his musical work, he was active in the
general administration of the cathedral. In 1444 his mother Marie died, and was buried in the cathedral; and in 1445 Du Fay moved
[1]
into the house of the previous canon, which was to remain his primary residence for the rest of his life.

Travels to Savoy and Italy

After the abdication of the last antipope (Felix V) in 1449, his own former employer Duke Amédée VIII of Savoy, the struggle
between different factions within the Church began to heal, and Du Fay once again left Cambrai for points south. He went to Turin in
1450, shortly before the death of Duke Amédée, but returned to Cambrai later that year; and in 1452 he went back to Savoy yet again.
This time he did not return to Cambrai for six years, and during that time he attempted to find either a benefice or an employment
which would allow him to stay in Italy. Numerous compositions, including one of the four Lamentationes that he composed on the
Fall of Constantinople in 1453, his famous mass based on Se la face ay pale, as well as a letter to Lorenzo de' Medici, survive from
this period: but as he was unable to find a satisfactory position for his retirement, he returned north in 1458. While in Savoy he served
more-or-less officially as choirmaster for Louis, Duke of Savoy, but he was more likely in a ceremonial role, since the records of the
chapel never mention him.

Final years in Cambrai

When he returned to Cambrai for his final years, he was appointed canon of the cathedral. He was now the most renowned composer
in Europe. Once again he established close ties to the court of Burgundy, and continued to compose music for them; in addition he
received many visitors, includingBusnois, Ockeghem, Tinctoris, and Loyset Compère, all of whom were decisive in the development
of the polyphonic style of the next generation. During this period he probably wrote his mass based on L'homme armé, as well as the
chanson on the same song; the latter composition may have been inspired by Philip the Good's call for a new crusade against the
Turks, who had recently capturedConstantinople. He also wrote a Requiem mass around 1460, which is lost.

Death
After an illness of several weeks, Du Fay died on 27 November 1474.He had requested that his motetAve regina celorum be sung for
him as he died, with pleas for mercy interpolated between verses of the antiphon, but time was insufficient for this to be arranged. Du
Fay was buried in the chapel of St. Étienne in the cathedral of Cambrai; his portrait was carved onto his tombstone. After the
destruction of the cathedral the tombstone was lost, but it was found in 1859 (it was being used to cover a well), and is now in the
Palais des Beaux Arts museum in Lille.

Music and influence

Du Fay composed in most of the common forms of the day, including masses, motets, Magnificats, hymns, simple chant settings in
fauxbourdon, and antiphons within the area of sacred music, and rondeaux, ballades, virelais and a few other chanson types within
the realm of secular music. None of his surviving music is specifically instrumental, although instruments were certainly used for
some of his secular music, especially for the lower parts; all of his sacred music is vocal. Instruments may have been used to
reinforce the voices in actual performance for almost any of his works. Seven complete Masses, 28 individual Mass movements, 15
settings of chant used in Mass propers, three Magnificats, two Benedicamus Domino settings, 15 antiphon settings (six of them
Marian antiphons), 27 hymns, 22 motets (13 of these isorhythmic in the more angular, austere 14th-century style which gave way to
more melodic, sensuous treble-dominated part-writing with phrases ending in the "under-third" cadence in Du Fay's youth) and 87
chansons definitely by him have survived. Of Du Fay's masses, his Missa se la face ay pale and Missa L'Homme armé are listed on
AllMusic as essential compositions.[5][6]

Chant settings and fauxbourdon

Many of Du Fay's compositions were simple settings of chant, obviously designed for liturgical use, probably as substitutes for the
unadorned chant, and can be seen as chant harmonizations. Often the harmonization used a technique of parallel writing known as
fauxbourdon, as in the following example, a setting of the Marian antiphonAve maris stella:
 Portion of Du Fay's setting ofAve maris stella, in fauxbourdon. The top line is a paraphrase of the
chant; the middle line, designated "fauxbourdon",(not written) follows the top line but exactly a perfect
fourth below. The bottom line is often, but notalways, a sixth below the top line; it is embellished, and
reaches cadences on the octave. Play

Du Fay may have been the first composer to use the term "fauxbourdon" for this simpler compositional style, prominent in 15th
century liturgical music in general and that of theBurgundian school in particular.

Secular music
Most of Du Fay's secular songs follow the formes fixes (rondeau, ballade, and virelai), which dominated secular European music of
the 14th and 15th centuries. He also wrote a handful of Italian ballate, almost certainly while he was in Italy. As is the case with his
motets, many of the songs were written for specific occasions, and many are datable, thus supplying useful biographical information.

Most of his songs are for three voices, using a texture dominated by the highest voice; the other two voices, unsupplied with text,
were probably played by instruments. Occasionally Du Fay used four voices, but in a number of these songs the fourth voice was
supplied by a later, usually anonymous, composer. Typically he used the rondeau form when writing love songs. His latest secular
songs show influence from Busnois and Ockeghem, and the rhythmic and melodic differentiation between the voices is less; as in the
work of other composers of the mid-15th century, he was beginning to tend towards the smooth polyphony which was to become the
predominant style fifty years later.

A typical ballade is Resvellies vous et faites chiere lye, which was written in 1423 for the marriage of Carlo Malatesta and Vittoria di
Lorenzo Colonna[7][8] The musical form is aabC for each stanza, with C being the refrain. The musical setting emphasizes passages
in the text which specifically refer to the couple being married.

Writings on music theory

Two written works by Du Fay have been documented, but neither has survived. A note in the margin in a manuscript held in the
Biblioteca Palatina in Parma refers to a Musica which he wrote; no copy of the work itself has been found. Nineteenth-century
musicologist François-Joseph Fétis claimed to have seen a sixteenth-century copy of a Tractatus de musica mensurata et de
proportionibus by Du Fay, last documented as having been sold to a London book dealer in 1824. The contents of neither work are
known.[1]

Influence
Du Fay was one of the last composers to make use of late-medieval polyphonic structural techniques such as isorhythm,[9] and one of
the first to employ the more mellifluous harmonies, phrasing and melodies characteristic of the early Renaissance.[10] His
compositions within the larger genres (masses, motets and chansons) are mostly similar to each other; his renown is largely due to
what was perceived as his perfect control of the forms in which he worked, as well as his gift for memorable and singable melody.
During the 15th century he was universally regarded as the greatest composer of his time, an opinion that has largely survived to the
present day.
The early music ensembleDufay Collective is named after him.

Sound samples
Ecclesie Militantis performed by Blue Heron Renaissance Choir
Rite Majorem performed by Blue Heron Renaissance Choir

Notes
1. Alejandro Enrique Planchart. "Du Fay, Guillaume", Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online(http://www.oxfordmusi
conline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/08268); accessed June 23, 2015.
2. Leeman L. Perkins; Patrick Macey. "Motet: II, Renaissance"(http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/gro
ve/music/40086pg2). Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 19 December
2016.
3. Pryer, Fallows, Anthony, David. "Dufay, Guillaume" (http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/opr/t114/e2
108). The Oxford Companion to Music. Oxford Music Online . Oxford University Press. Retrieved October 24, 2016.
4. Hamm, Charles. "Dufay, Guillaume," in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
, ed. Stanley Sadie. 20
vol. London, Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1980. V
ol 5, pp 674. ISBN 1-56159-174-2
5. Dickey, Timothy. "Missa se la face ay pale, for 4 voices"(http://www.allmusic.com/composition/missa-se-la-face-ay-p
ale-for-4-voices-mc0002373592). AllMusic. Retrieved December 23, 2016.
6. Dickey, Timothy. "Missa L'Homme armé, for 4 voices"(http://www.allmusic.com/composition/missa-lhomme-arm%C
3%A9-for-4-voices-mc0002361755). AllMusic. Retrieved December 23, 2016.
7. Newberry Consort programme note(http://www.newberry.org/consort/codexcanoniciprogram.html)
8. Programme note, with historical content by Du Fay scholar Alejandro Planchart
(http://www.dacamera.org/Default.as
px?contentValue=event&season=2006%20-%202007&month=February&day=03)
9. David Munrow's notes for the recording of the early Mass 'Se la Face ay Pale' with the Early Music Consort of
London(1974)
10. Pryer A, 'Dufay' in New Oxford Companion to Music, ed. Arnold (1983)

References
David Fallows, Dufay, revised edition. The Master Musicians Series. London and Melbourne: J. M. Dent & Sons, Ltd.
(1987); ISBN 0-460-02493-0
Massimo Mila: "Guillaume Dufay", ed. Simone Monge, u Trin: Einaudi Editore (1997);ISBN 88-06-14672-6
Massimo Mila: "Guillaume Dufay", Turin: Giappichelli, 1972–73. 2 vol.
Charles Hamm, "Guillaume Dufay",The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians , ed. Stanley Sadie. 20 vol.
London: Macmillan (1980);ISBN 1-56159-174-2
Mark Lindley and Graeme Boone, "Euphony in Dufay . Harmonic 3rds and 6ths with explicit sharps in the early
songs", in Jahrbuch des Staatlichen Instituts für Musikforschung(2004), Berlin:
Gustave Reese, Music in the Renaissance. New York: W.W. Norton & Company (1954);ISBN 0-393-09530-4
Alejandro Planchart: "Du Fay [Dufay; Du Fayt], Guillaume", Grove Music Online ed. Deane Root ; accessed 24 July
2014 (subscription access)
Harold Gleason and Warren Becker, Music in the Middle Ages and Renaissance(Music Literature Outlines Series I),
Bloomington, Indiana: Frangipani Press (1986);ISBN 0-89917-034-X
Guillaume Dufay, Opera omnia (collected works in six volumes), ed. Heinrich Besseler with revisions by David
Fallows. Corpus mensurabilis musicaeCMM 1, Rome: American Institute of Musicology , 1951–1995. Further info
and sample pages
Craig Wright, "Dufay at Cambrai: Discoveriesand Revisions", Journal of the American Musicological Society28
(1975):175-229
F. Alberto Gallo (tr. Karen Eales), Music of the Middle Ages (II). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (1977;
original Italian edition) and 1985 (in English);ISBN 0-521-28483-X.
E. Dartus, Un grand musicien cambrésien: Guillaume Du Fay . Preface by Norbert Dufourcq. Extrait du tome XCIV
des Mémoires de la Société d'Émulation de Cambrai. Cambrai (1974).
Van den Borren (I), "Guillaume Du Fay, son importance ....", Mémoires de l'Académie royale de Belgique2, no. 2
(1926):
 Van den Borren (II), "Guillaume Du Fay, centre de rayonnement...",Bulletin de l'Institut historique belge de Rome,
no. 20. Bruxelles, Rome (1939):
J. Chailley, Histoire musicale du Moyen Age. Paris, Paris: P.U.F. (1950)
S. Baldi, Introduction toIl Conto dell'esecuzione del testamento e l'Inventario dei beni di Guillaume Dufay,
Miscellanea di Studi 6, a cura di Alberto Basso, o Trino, Centro Studi Piemontesi: Istituto per i Beni Musicali in
Piemonte (2006), pp. 47–134.
S. Baldi, "Guillaume Du Fay a Pinerolo",Bollettino della Società Storica Pinerolese25 (2008), pp. 15–31 [with
abstract in English].
E. Gasparini, "Tra musica e architettura. Il Nuper rosarum flores di Dufay e la brunelleschiana cupola di Santa Maria
del Fiore". Musica Realtà 88 (2009).

External links
Guillaume Dufay at Encyclopædia Britannica
Hear The Hilliard Ensemble perform Dufay's Moribus et genere; Vergene bella and Lamentatio sanctae matris
ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae in London, 25 September 2010
Free scores by Guillaume Du Fayin the Choral Public Domain Library(ChoralWiki)
Free access to high-resolutionimages of manuscriptscontaining works by du Fay from Digital Image Archive of
Medieval Music
Free pdfs of New Du Fay edition by Alejandro Planchartdownloadble from Digital Image Archive of Medieval Music
Ave Regina Caelorum, the score at the classicaland.com
Free scores by Guillaume Du Fayat the International Music Score Library Project(IMSLP)

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