G.dufay biography

Becoming a renowned Franco-Flemish composer, he lived a long life and died on the 27th of November in Cambrai modern France. Being probably the illegitimate son of a priest and Marie Dufay, Guillaume and his mother moved to Cambrai early in his life, living in the house owned by a relative who was a canon at the Cathedral of Cambrai.

He was given an excellent education in music. In , at the age of 17, Guillaume was made a benefice as chaplain at St. In the same year, the young talented man journeyed to the Council of Constance that ended the Western Schism, where he could have stayed until and then returned to Cambrai.

Guillaume dufay most famous song

After working as a deacon at Cambrai Cathedral for a couple of years, Guillaume left for Italy, traveling first to Rimini and then to Pesaro, where he worked for the Malatesta family for 4 years and met Italian composers such as Hugo and Arnold de Lantins. In Bologna, Dufay started serving Cardinal Louis Aleman, the papal legate, and by he was ordained priest.

By this time, Dufay was a celebrated composer in Europe. In , he worked as maistre de chappelle in Savoy ruled by Duke Amadeus VIII, but soon he was back in the papal service, this time in Florence, because Pope Eugene had been forced to leave Rome in According to a papal letter of , Dufay earned a degree in canon law. In , the composer left to travel south again to Savoy and Italy, trying to find another employer there during the next 6 years.

Yet, Dufay had to return to Cambrai, where he was appointed canon of the cathedral. At home, Dufay reconnected with the Burgundian court and was welcomed by Philippe the Good. For the brilliant Feast of the Pheasant, which was organized by Philippe in to initiate a Crusade to recapture Jerusalem, Dufay composed a melancholic Lamentation for the church in Constantinople.

Dufay nuper rosarum flores analysis

During this time, he wrote numerous masses, motets, hymns , simple chant settings , and antiphons all these are sacred music , as well as rondeaux, ballades, virelais, and other chanson types secular music. None of his music was specifically instrumental. Most of his compositions were designed for liturgical use, while his secular music follows the formes fixes rondeau, ballade, and virelai , prevailing in the field in the 14th and 15th centuries.