Guillaume Dufay

Guillaume Dufay (Du Fay, Du Fayt) (?August 5, ?1397 – November 27, 1474) was a Franco-Flemish composer and music theorist of the early Renaissance. As the central figure in the Burgundian School, he was the most famous and influential composer in Europe in the mid-15th century, and can be considered as the founding member of the Netherlands school which dominated European music for the next 150 years.

Music and influence

Dufay was by far the most influential composer of the 15th century, and his music was copied, distributed and sung everywhere that polyphony had taken root. Almost all composers of the succeeding generations absorbed some elements of his style. The wide distribution of his music is all the more impressive considering that he died several decades before the availability of music printing.

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Dufay wrote 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. All of his surviving music is vocal, although instruments may have been used to reinforce the voices in actual performance for almost any portion of his output. In all, 11 isorhythmic motets, 8 non-isorhythmic motets, 7 complete masses and many independent movements of masses, 15 settings of the Proper of the mass, 3 Magnificats, 15 antiphons, 24 hymns, and 87 three- or four-voiced French secular songs survive with reliable attribution; in addition, a large amount of the anonymous repertory of the middle 15th century may be his work: assigning works to Dufay based on alleged stylistic similarities has been a favorite pastime of musicologists for at least a hundred years, judging from the copious literature on the subject.

Related Topics:
Mass - Motet - Magnificat - Hymn - Fauxbourdon - Antiphon - Rondeau - Ballade - Virelai

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Dufay was influenced by John Dunstable. He is considered the founder of the so-called Burgundian School, the first generation of the Netherlands School of polyphonic composers (approximately 1430-1580).

Related Topics:
John Dunstable - Burgundian School - Netherlands School - Polyphonic - 1430 - 1580

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He also composed Lamentationes on the fall of Constantinople in 1453.

Related Topics:
Fall of Constantinople - 1453

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Dufay's music marks a watershed — he was the last great composer to make use of medieval techniques such as isorhythm (1), but one of the first to use the harmonies, phrasing and expressive melodies characteristic of the early Renaissance (2).

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Dufay may have been the first composer to use the term fauxbourdon to describe that style, which was prominent in 15th century liturgical music.

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