Dufay, Guillaume (gēyōm` düfā`), c.1400–1474, principal composer at the Burgundian court. After his early training in the cathedral choir at Cambrai, he sang in the papal chapel in Rome (1428–33) and later in Florence and Bologna (1435–37). He was in the service of the antipope Felix V for seven years and was a canon of the cathedral of Cambrai, where he lived from 1445 until his death. He traveled a great deal, knew many musical styles, and was highly esteemed by his contemporaries. His music is in the northern French tradition, but contains some Italian and English elements. He composed three-part chansons, masses, and motets.

Bibliography

See studies by Hamm (1964) and Fallows (1982).

Dufay, Guillaume

or Du Fay

(born c. 1400—died Nov. 27, 1474, Cambrai, Bishopric of Cambrai) Franco-Flemish composer, principal composer of the Burgundian school. As a boy he sang in the choir of Cambrai Cathedral. Ordained a priest, he acquired a high reputation for learnedness. In 1428 he joined the papal singers in Rome, by which time his works had made him famous. He returned to Cambrai c. 1440, where he would supervise the cathedral's music for the rest of his life, apart from a period (1451–58) working for the duke of Savoy. Many musicians came to learn under him, and he enjoyed renown as the greatest living composer. His surviving works, which employ a richly harmonic texture, include some 90 chansons, 13 motets, and at least 6 complete masses, including such early cantus-firmus works as L'Homme armé and Se la face ay pale.