Submitted by top500music on Tue, 07/28/2009 - 15:02.
Guillaume Dufay
Guillaume Dufay (Du Fay, Du Fayt) (August 5, 1397? – November 27, 1474) was a Franco-Flemish composer 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.
Life
Early life
From the evidence of his will, he was probably born in Beersel, in the vicinity of Brussels. He was the illegitimate child of an unknown priest and a woman named Marie Du Fayt.[1] Marie moved with her son to Cambrai early in his life, staying with a relative who was a canon of the cathedral there. Soon Dufay's 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 to 1412. 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 in 1411, a highly unusual event for one so young. In June 1414, at the age of only 16, he had already been given a benefice as chaplain at St. Géry, immediately adjacent to Cambrai. Later that year he probably went to the Council of Konstanz, staying possibly 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 again, this time going to Rimini, and possibly Pesaro, where he worked for the Malatesta family. Although no records survive of his employment there, several compositions of his can be dated to this period; they contain references that make a residence in Italy reasonably certain. It was there that he met the composers Hugo and Arnold de Lantins, who were among the musicians of the Malatesta household. In 1424 Dufay again returned to Cambrai, this time because of the illness and subsequent death of the relative with whom his mother was staying. By 1426, however, he had gone back to Italy, this time to Bologna, where he entered the service of Cardinal Louis Aleman, the papal legate. While in Bologna he became a deacon, and by 1428 he was a priest. Cardinal Aleman was driven from Bologna by the rival Canedoli family in 1428, and Dufay also left at this time, going to Rome. He became a member of the Papal Choir, serving first Pope Martin V, and then after the death of Pope Martin in 1431, Pope Eugene IV. In 1434 he was appointed maistre de chappelle in Savoy, where he served Duke Amédée VIII; evidently he left Rome because of a crisis in the finances of the papal choir, and to escape the turbulence and uncertainty during the struggle between the papacy and the Council of Basel. Yet in 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 Dufay composed the festive motet Nuper rosarum flores, one of his most famous compositions, which was sung at the dedication of Brunelleschi's dome of the cathedral in Florence, where Eugene lived in exile.
During this period Dufay 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 Dufay composed at least one ballade for Niccolò III, Marquis of Ferrara. In 1437 Dufay visited the town. When Niccolò died in 1441, the next Marquis maintained the contact with Dufay, and not only continued financial support for the composer but copied and distributed some of his music.
Return to Cambrai
The struggle between the papacy and the Council of Basel continued through the 1430s, and evidently Dufay realized 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 Dufay 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. One of the first documents mentioning him in Cambrai is dated December 27, 1440, when he received a delivery of 36 lots of wine for the feast of St. John the Evangelist.
Dufay 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 Dufay moved 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 Dufay 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.[2] Once again he established close ties to the court of Burgundy, and continued to compose music for them; in addition he received many visitors, including Busnois, 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 captured Constantinople. He also wrote a Requiem mass around 1460, which is lost.
After an illness of several weeks, Dufay died on November 27, 1474. He had requested that his motet Ave 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. Dufay was buried in the chapel of St. Etienne 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 a museum in Lille.
Music and influence
Dufay was among the most influential composers 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.
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. 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 portion of his output. In his lifetime, Dufay wrote seven complete masses, 28 individual Mass movements, 15 settings of chant used in Mass Propers, three Magnificats, two Benedicamus Domino settings, 15 antiphon settings (6 are Marian antiphons), 27 hymns, 22 motets (13 are isorhythmic) and 87 chansons. 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.
Masses
At the beginning of Dufay's career, the cyclic mass — the setting of all the sections of the Mass Ordinary by a single composer, unified by a common musical means, such as a cantus firmus — was in its infancy. By the end of his career, the cyclic mass had become the predominant and most substantial form of sacred music composition in Europe.
Dufay's first complete cyclic masses, the Missa sine nomine and the Missa S Jacobi, were written before 1440, and contain possibly the earliest use of fauxbourdon. In addition, most of Dufay's early mass composition used the "head-motif" technique, i.e. the beginnings of sections shared a common, and easily identifiable, musical idea. However, by the 1450s, Dufay's masses were much influenced by the English style (for example, the music of John Dunstaple); his masses of this period mostly use cantus firmus technique, and also isorhythm, as in his motets. The archaic head-motif technique he left behind. Still later in the period Dufay began to use a more seamless contrapuntal technique with occasional imitation, a style which foreshadowed the work of Obrecht and Johannes Ockeghem. One late mass, the Missa 'Ave regina' , based on a Marian antiphon setting of that name he wrote in 1463, uses all of the techniques Dufay used during his career, and may have been written as a deliberate summation.
Dufay's late masses are all tenor masses, i.e. the cantus firmus is in the tenor. While this style originated in England with composers such as Leonel Power and John Dunstaple, Dufay brought it to the continent.
Motets
Most of Dufay's motets were relatively early works, and he seems not to have written any during the last thirty years of his life. His motets were apparently not intended for liturgical use, but instead were written for specific occasions, sometimes considerably ceremonial ones. This gives biographers extremely valuable data, since many can be dated exactly.
In style they are isorhythmic, using a structural method which had been in use already for more than a hundred years; and in addition they are compositions of considerable complexity, with the isorhythm often occurring in all voices. Sometimes the sections of the motets themselves are carefully contrived to have a symbolic value, such as in the motet Nuper rosarum flores, written for the dedication of Brunelleschi's dome to the cathedral in Florence on 25 March 1436, in which the proportions of the sections exactly match the supposed proportions of Solomon's Temple. Dufay himself probably took part in this performance, and an eyewitness account attests to the presence of numerous string and wind players at the performance, who filled the chamber with their sounds during the impressive ceremony; likely they also accompanied the motet. Dufay evidently thought enough of his own motet to quote its coda at the end of the last isorhythmic motet he ever wrote, Fulgens iubar, in 1447.
Dufay also composed four laments on the fall of Constantinople (1453). Only one of these survives, (O tres piteulx/Omnes amici eius), written sometime between 1454 and 1457. While technically not classed as a motet, it has a similar texture and uses a cantus firmus.
Chant settings and fauxbourdon
Many of Dufay's compositions were simple settings of chant, obviously designed for liturgical use, likely 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 antiphon Ave maris stella:
The beginning of Dufay's setting of Ave maris stella, in fauxbourdon. The top and bottom lines are freely composed; the middle line, designated "fauxbourdon" in the original chant, follows the top line but exactly a perfect fourth below. The bottom line is often, but not always, a sixth below the top line; it is embellished, and reaches cadences on the octave.
Dufay may have been the first composer to use the term fauxbourdon to describe this style, which was prominent in 15th century liturgical music, especially that of the Burgundian school.
Secular music
Most of Dufay'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 likely played by instruments. Occasionally Dufay 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[3] (Carlo was a son of Malatesta dei Sonetti, Lord of Pesaro. Vittoria was the niece of Pope Martin V).[4] 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 Dufay have been documented, but neither has survived. A note in the margin in a manuscript held in the Biblioteca Nazionale 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 Dufay, last seen in a bookshop in London in 1824. The contents of neither work are known.[5]
Influence
Dufay was one of the last composers to make use of medieval techniques such as isorhythm [6], but one of the first to use the harmonies, phrasing and expressive melodies characteristic of the early Renaissance [7]. 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 the time, and that belief has largely persisted to the present day.
The early music ensemble Dufay Collective is named for the composer.
Submitted by top500music on Tue, 07/28/2009 - 15:01.
WP:
Guillaume Dufay
Le compositeur franco-flamand Guillaume Dufay est né vers 1400 peut-être à Cambrai ou Fay près de Cambrai, plus probablement à Beersel -non loin de Bruxelles- ou Chimay -non loin de Charleroi-, et mort à Cambrai le 27 novembre 1474. Son nom dit d'ailleurs son origine et doit être prononcé en trois syllabes, comme ceux des hameaux de Wallonie et du nord de la France qui parlent d'un « fayt », c'est-à-dire d'une hêtraie[1].
Biographie
Dufay chanta et étudia la musique à la cathédrale de Cambrai, ville alors renommée pour la musique sacrée[2] et qui fournit des musiciens au Vatican. En 1419, à Constance, le Prince Carlo Malatesta l'embaucha à la cour de Rimini (Italie). Il y composa ses premiers motets, fut chantre à la chapelle papale en 1428 et ordonné prêtre. Il servit la famille d'Este et séjourna à la cour de Savoie entre 1425 et 1428 puis à Rome jusqu'à 1433 avant de partir pour Chambéry, Florence, Ferrare, Genève ou Lausanne, dont il devint chanoine de la cathédrale en 1431.
En 1436, pour l'inauguration du dôme Brunelleschi de Florence, il composa le motet Nuper rosarum flores. Il rencontra Gilles Binchois à la cour de Bourgogne, le 5 mai 1437, une lettre du pape mentionne qu'il est bachelier en droit ; il quitte la chapelle papale à la fin du même mois et retourne à la cour de Savoie. Il retourna à Cambrai en 1439, où il dirigea une maîtrise d'enfants et s'y retira définitivement en 1458 en servant à la cathédrale.
Musicien le plus célèbre d'Europe au XVe siècle, estimé des monarques — notamment de Charles VII et Louis XI —
Dufay a marqué le début de l'école dite franco-flamande, dont le rayonnement perdura jusqu'à la fin du XVIe siècle. En combinant avec brio l'Ars nova de Guillaume de Machaut, l'harmonie anglaise de John Dunstable et la mélodie italienne, sa musique a annoncé le madrigalisme et la musique de la Renaissance. Pour l'historien belge et militant wallon Léopold Genicot,
« Pasqueyes, chansons, cramignons de Liège, nous revoilà dans la musique, qui demeurait le grand art wallon. Les Hainuyers continuèrent à en commander l'évolution aussi longtemps que la polyphonie garda la faveur. Dufay l'avait dotée de la messe unitaire, bâtie sur un seul thème...[3] »
Ses œuvres et sa technique musicale
Dufay acquit une grande renommée par la qualité de ses rondeaux, tels Donnez l'assaut à la forteresse ou La plus mignonne de mon cœur. Précurseur d'Ockeghem ou Josquin des Prés, il utilisa des thèmes profanes pour certaines de ses messes, telle la célèbre L'Homme armé. Il fut le premier à composer un Requiem, dont la partition est perdue, ainsi que des cycles complets pour l'Ordinaire de la messe : Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Agnus. Il composa 83 ballades, chansons polyphoniques, virelais et rondeaux, 76 motets, neuf messes) et un Requiem.
Robert Wangermée analyse de cette manière les nouveautés introduites par Guillaume Dufay et son compatriote Gilles Binchois:
« Au XIVe siècle [...] la dissonance avait été traitée avec beaucoup de liberté dans le contrepoint mélismatique issu de l'organum primitif. En principe une consonance parfaite devait se rencontrer à chaque point d'appui périodique; les dissonances étaient des accidents qui prenaient place librement entre deux consonances: mais en fait les déplacements rythmiques pouvaient mettre en évidence une dissonance et escamoter la consonance en la retardant ou en la faisant sonner avant le point d'appui. On admettait aussi que la dissonance fût attaquée directement, provoquant une tension agressive. Chez John Dunstable, Dufay et Binchois, la dissonance est préparée, elle est un moment de passage règlementé entre deux consonances. Elle ne trouve plus guère place sur des points d'appui rythmiques, sur ce que l'on appellera plus tard les temps forts de la mesure, sinon comme le prolongement d'une consonance, comme sur la suspension d'une voix sur une autre en mouvement; elle est rapidement résolue, dissoute dans une nouvelle consonance, car on a renoncé aux syncopes en chaîne. En outre, alors que le contrepoint du XIVe siècle ne se préoccupait que des rapports des différentes voix avec l'une d'entre elles - le plus souvent le ténor - Dufay évite le heurt qui peut résulter de tous les rapports entre les différentes voix. [4] »
Œuvres
* 1420, Vasilissa ergo gaude, motet à quatre voix. Dans le manuscrit de Berlin, (sur Cleofe Malatesta).
* 1423, Resvellies vous, ballade. Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford (sur Carlo Malatesta)
* 1425, Je me complains, ballade. Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* 1426 (avant 1426), Missa sine nomine, à trois voix. Ordinarium. Dans le manuscrit Q 15, Bologna = Manuscrit de Berlin
* 1426 (vers 1426-1428), Missa Sancti Jacobi, à trois ou quatre voix. Ordinarium et Proprium. Dans le manuscrit de Berlin
* 1431, Ecclesiae militanti
* 1431, Balsamus et munda, motet à quatre voix. Manuscrit de Berlin, composé pour la chapelle papale
* 1433, Supremum est mortalibus bonum, motet à trois voix avec faux-bourdon. Manuscrit de Berlin (sur le pape Eugêne IV et l'empereur Sigismond)
* 1433, C'est bien raison, ballade. Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford (sur Nicolas III de Ferrare)
* 1435 (vers 1435) Salve flos Tuscae gentis ; Vos nunc, motet à quatre voix. Manuscrit 471, Modena (avec la citation : Guillermus cecini, natus en ipse Fay)
* 1435 (vers 1435), Mirandas parit haec urbs Florentina puellas, à trois voix. Dans le manuscrit lat. 471, Modena (pour Florence)
* 1436, Nuper rosarum flores, motet à quatre voix. Manuscrit 471, Modena (pour la bénédiction de la cathédrale de Florence)
* 1438, Magnanimae gentis ; Nexus amicitiae, motet à quatre voix. Manuscrit 471, Modena (sur un pacte entre Bern et Freiburg)
* 1440 (vers 1440), Missa Caput, messe à quatre voix pour ténor. Dans le manuscrit de Coventry
* 1450 (vers 1450), Missa Se la face ay pale (à 4 voix). Messe pour ténor. Dans le manuscrit 88 de Trente
* 1454, 'O tres piteux (Lamentatio Sanctae Matris Ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae), motet à quatre voix). Manuscrit Riccardiana 2794, Firenze (composé pour un banquet de Philippe le Bon à Lille)
* 1463, Missa Ecce ancilla domini (à quatre voix), messe pour ténor. Dans le manuscrit 5557 de Bruxelles (copié à Cambrai en 1463))
* 1464 (ou plus tard), Missa Ave regina caelorum (à quatre voix), messe pour Ténor. Dans le manuscrit 5557 de Bruxelles
* 1464, Ave regina caelorum
* sd, Inclyta stella maris (à 4 voix). Dans le manuscrit de Berlin
* sd, Juvenis qui puellam ( à 3 voix). Dans le manuscrit 3224 München 3224
* sd, Missa La mort de Saint Gothard (à 4). Messe pour ténor. Dans le manuscrit lat. 456 de Modena (sans nom d'auteur)
* sd, Missa L'homme armé (à 4 voix) ; Messe pour ténor. Dans le manuscrit Capp. Sist. 14, Roma
* sd, Missa Sancti Antonii Viennensis ( à 3 voix). Ordinarium. Dans le manuscrit 90 de Trente
* sd, O beate Sebastiane (à 3 voix).Dans le manuscrit de Berlin (sur saint Sébastien, lors d'une épidémie de peste)
* sd, O flos florum virginum ( à 3 voix). Dans le manuscrit 3232a de München (certainement une contrefaçon)
* sd, O proles Hispaniae ; O sidus Hispaniae (à 4 voix) Dans le manuscrit lat. 471, Modena (sur saint Antoine de Padoue)
* sd, Qui latuit in virgine (à 3 voix). Dans le manuscrit 3232a de München (authenticité incertaine)
* sd, Vergine bella ( à 3 voix). Dans le manuscrit de Berlin
* sd. Fulgens jubar ; Puerpera pura (motet à à 4). Manuscrit 471, Modena (Pour le fête de la purification, acec accrostiche de Petrus de Castello)
* sd., Avevirgo qua de caelis ( à 3 voix).Dans le manuscrit 92 de Trente
* sd., O gloriose tiro ; Divine pastus (motet à 4 voix) in Mod B (sur saint Théodore)
* sd., O sancte Sebastiane ; O martyr Sebastiane ; O quam mira (motet à 4 voix). Dans le manuscrit de Dans le manuscrit de Berlin (sur saint Sebastien, lors dune épidémie de peste)
* sd., Moribus et genere ; Virgo, virga virens (motet à 4 voix). Manuscrit 471, Modena (sur saint Jean, avec une mention de Dijon)
* sd., 1 voix de contre-ténor dans un Gloria anonyme à 3 voix. Dans les manuscrits 6 et 11, Bibliothèque municipale de Cambrai
* sd., 11 Kyrie à 3 voix dont 7 dans le manuscrit Q 15, Bologna = Berlin ; 4 dans les manuscrits 87 et 92 Trente
* sd., 14 Gloria à trois et quatre voix dont 8 dans le manuscrit de Berlin ; 5 dans le manuscrit 92 de Trente ; 1 dan sle manuscrit 3232a, München
* sd., 4 Agnus Dei à 3 voix dont 2 dans le manuscrit de Berlin ; 2 dans le manuscrit 92 de Trente
* sd., 4 Credo à trois et quatre voix. Dans le manuscrit de Berlin
* sd., 4 Sanctus à 3 voix dont 3 dans le manuscrit de Berlin ; 1 dans le manuscrit 92 de Trente
* sd., Ad caenam agni providi (hymne). Dans le manuscrit lat. 471, Modena
* sd., Adieu ces bons vins (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford = Oxf (datiert 1426)
* sd., Alleluja Veni sancte spiritus, All. Dans le manuscrit 90 de Trente. sd.,
* sd., Alma redemptoris mater ( à 3 voix). Dans le manuscrit lat. 471, Modena
* sd., Alma redemptoris mater ( à 3 voix). Dans le manuscrit Q 15, Bologna = manuscrit de Berlin
* sd., Anima mea liquefacta est ( à 3 voix). Dans le manuscrit de Berlin
* sd., Audi benigne conditor (hymne). Dans le manuscrit lat. 471, Modena
* sd., Aurea luce (hymne). Dans le manuscrit Q 15, Bologna = Berlin
* sd., Ave regina caelorum ( à 3 voix). Dans le manuscrit lat. 471, Modena
* sd., Ave maris stella (hymne). Dans le manuscrit 92 de Trente
* sd., Ave maris stella (hymne). Dans le manuscrit de Berlin
* sd., Ave regina caelorum ( à 3 voix). Dans le manuscrit de Berlin
* sd., Benedicamus domino (I). Dans le manuscrit de Berlin
* sd., Benedicamus domino (II). Dans le manuscrit de Berlin
* sd., Christe redemptor omnium (hymne). Dans le manuscrit de Berlin
* sd., Conditor alme siderum (hymne). Dans le manuscrit de Berlin
* sd., Cum tua doctrina. Motet (5 voix, texte italien). Manuscrit Q 15, Bologna, composé pour la bénédicion de la cathédrale de Patras.
* sd., Departes vous, male bouche (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit 871 N, Monte Cassino
* sd., Deus tuorum militum (hymne). Dans le manuscrit de Berlin
* sd., Epiphaniam domino (hymne). dans le manuscrit 87 de Trente
* sd., Exultet caelum laudibus (hymne). Dans le manuscrit de Berlin
* sd., Festum nunc celebre (hymne). dans le manuscrit 87 de Trente
* sd., Flos florum ( à 3 voix). Dans le manuscrit de Berlin
* sd., Gaude virgo, mater Christi (à 4 voix). Dans le manuscrit de Berlin
* sd., Hic vir despiciens (antienne). Dans le manuscrit lat. 471, Modena
* sd., Hic jocundus sumit mundus ( à 3 voix). Dans le manuscrit 3232a de München (certainement une contrefaçon)
* sd., Hostis Herodes impie (hymne). Dans le manuscrit de Berlin
* sd., Iste confessor (hymne). Dans le manuscrit de Berlin
* sd., Isti sunt duae olivae (antienne). Dans le manuscrit 87 de Trente
* sd., Je n'ai doubté (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit 87 de Trente
* sd., Jesu corona virginum (hymne). Dans le manuscrit de Berlin
* sd., Magnificat 1. toni. Dans le manuscrit lat. 471, Modena
* sd., Magnificat 5. toni. Dans le manuscrit lat. 471, Modena
* sd., Magnificat 6. toni. Dans le manuscrit lat. 471, Modena
* sd., Magnificat 8. toni. Dans le manuscrit lat. 471, Modena
* sd., Magnificat. Dans le manuscrit 811 N du Monte Cassino
* sd., Miserere tui labentis Dufay (motet 4 voix). Manuscrit
* sd., O gemma lux ; Sacer pastor Barensium (motet à 4 voix ). Dans le Manuscrit de Berlin (sur saint Nicolas de Bari)
* sd., Phrases de cantliènes. Dans le manuscrit 3232a, München 3232a (5e partie) (relations avec Alma redemptoris mater du manuscrit Q 15, Bologna)
* sd., Rite majorem Jacobum ; Artibus summis (motet à 4 et 3 voix avec ténor soliste). Dans le Manuscrit de Berlin (sur saint Jacob avec accrostiche Robertus Auclou Curatus Sancti Jacobi )
* sd., Roma, San Pietro B 80 (copié à Cambrai en 1464)
* sd., Sanctorum arbitrio ; Bella canunt genies (motet à 5 voix) Manuscrit 87 de Trente (composé pour le pape Eugêne IV)
* sd., A solis ortus cardine (hymne). Dans le manuscrit lat. 471, Modena
* sd., Adieu m'amour (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit 714 de Porto
* sd., Adieu quitte le demeurant (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit 90 de Trente.
* sd., Belle plaissant et gracieuse (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Belle que vous (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit 87 de Trente
* sd., Belle vueillies vostre mercy donner (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Belle vueillies moy retenir (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Belle vuellies moy vengier (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit XIX 176, Firenze
* sd., Bien veignes vous (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Bien doy servir (ballade). dans le manuscrit 87 de Trente
* sd., Bon jour, bon mois (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Ce moys de may (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Ce jour de l'an (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Ce jour le doibt (ballade). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Craindre vous vueil (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., De ma haulte et bonne aventure (virelai). Dans le manuscrit Ricc. 2794, Firenze
* sd., Dieu gard la bone (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit XIX 176, Firenze
* sd., Dona i ardentirai (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Donna gentile (rondeau). Dans le Manuscrit de la Yale University Library
* sd., Donnez l'assault (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit 87 de Trente
* sd., Du tout m'estoit (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit fr. 15123 de Paris
* sd., Entre les plus plaines d'anoy (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit 714 de Porto
* sd., Entre vous gentils amoureux (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Estrines moy (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Franc cuer gentil (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit 92 de Trente
* sd., He compaignons (rondeau à 4 voix). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Helas et quant vous veray (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit n.a. fr. 6771 de Paris
* sd., Helas mon duel (virelai). Dans le manuscrit 714 de Porto
* sd., Helas, ma dame (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Invidia nimica (ballade à 4 voix). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., J'atendray tant (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., J'ay grant (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit 222 de Strasbourg (copie d'E. de Coussemaker)
* sd., J'ay mis mon cuer (ballade). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Je donne a tous (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Je languis en piteux martire (ballade). Dans le manuscrit 92 de Trente
* sd., Je ne puis plus (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Je ne suy plus (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Je ne vis oncques (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit 871 N, Monte Cassino
* sd., Je prens congié (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit n.a. fr. 6771 de Paris
* sd., Je requier a tous amoureux (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Je triomphe de crudel duel (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit 714 de Porto
* sd., Je veul chanter (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Je vous pri (à 4 voix) Dans le manuscrit XIX 178, Firenze
* sd., Jesu nostra redemptio (hymne). Dans le manuscrit de Berlin
* sd., La belle se siet (ballade). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., La dolce vista (ballade). Dans le manuscrit Urb. lat. 1411, Roma
* sd., Laetabundus (séquence). Dans le manuscrit de Berlin
* sd., L'alta belleza (ballade). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Las, que feray (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Lauda Sion salvatorem (séquence). Dans le manuscrit 92 de Trente
* sd., Ma belle dame souverainne (rondeau à 4 voix) Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Ma belle dame, je vous pri (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Magi videntes stellam (antienne). Dans le manuscrit lat. 471, Modena
* sd., Malheureux cueur (virelai). Dans le Chansonnier Laborde, Washington
* sd., Mille bon jours (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit 222 de Strasbourg (copie de E. de Coussemaker)
* sd., Mon bien, m'amour (rondeau). dans le manuscrit 87 de Trente
* sd., Mon chier amy (ballade). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Mon cuer me fait (rondeau à 4 voix). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Mon seul plaisir (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit XIX 176, Firenze
* sd., Navré je suy (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Ne je ne dors (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit XIX 176, Firenze
* sd., O gemma martyrum (antienne). Dans le manuscrit lat. 471, Modena
* sd., O lux beata trinitas (hymne). Dans le manuscrit de Berlin
* sd., Or pleust a dieu (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Pange lingua (hymne). Dans le manuscrit de Berlin
* sd., Pange lingua (hymne). Dans le manuscrit 92 de Trente (attribution incertaine)
* sd., Par droit je puis bien (rondeau à 4 voix). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Par le regart (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit 714 de Porto
* sd., Passato e il tempo omai (ballade). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Petrus apostolus (antienne). Dans le manuscrit lat. 471, Modena
* sd., Portugaler (ballade). Dans le manuscrit 222 de Strasbourg (copie de E. de Coussemaker)
* sd., Pour ce que veoir (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Pour l'amour (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Pouray je avoir (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Proles de caelo prodiit (hymne). Dans le manuscrit lat. 471, Modena
* sd., Propter nimiam caritatem (antienne). Dans le manuscrit lat. 471, Modena
* sd., Puisque celle (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit 87 de Trente
* sd., Quel fronte, signorille (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford (composé à Rome)
* sd., Qu'est devenue leaulté (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit 714 de Porto
* sd., Resistera (à 4 voix). Dans le manuscrit XIX 176, Firenze
* sd., Resvelons nous (ténor : Alons ent bien tos au may) (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Salva nos, domine (antienne). Dans le manuscrit 90 de Trente.
* sd., Salve sancte pater (antienne). Dans le manuscrit lat. 471, Modena
* sd., Sanctorum meritis (hymne). Dans le manuscrit de Berlin
* sd., Sapiente filio (antienne). Dans le manuscrit lat. 471, Modena
* sd., Se la face ay pale (ballade). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Se ma damme (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., S'il est plaisir (rondeau à 4). Dans le manuscrit 3232a de München
* sd., Tibi Christe splendor patris (hymne). Dans le manuscrit de Berlin
* sd., Trop lonc temps ai esté (rondeau). in Rom, Urb. lat. 1411
* sd., Urbs beata Jerusalem (hymne). Dans le manuscrit de Berlin
* sd., Ut queant laxis (hymne). Dans le manuscrit de Berlin
* sd., Va t'en, mon cuer (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit 714 de Porto
* sd., Veni creator spiritus (hymne). Dans le manuscrit de Berlin
* sd., Veni sancte spiritus (séquence). Dans le manuscrit 92 de Trente
* sd., Vexilla regis prodeunt (hymne). Dans le manuscrit lat. 471, Modena
* sd., Victimae paschali laudes (séquence). Dans le manuscrit 92 de Trente.
* sd., Vo regart et doulche maniere (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit 3232a de München 3232a
* sd., Vostre bruit (rondeau). Dans le Chansonnier de Laborde, Washington
Guillaume Dufay
Guillaume Dufay
Guillaume Dufay (Du Fay, Du Fayt) (August 5, 1397? – November 27, 1474) was a Franco-Flemish composer 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.
Life
Early life
From the evidence of his will, he was probably born in Beersel, in the vicinity of Brussels. He was the illegitimate child of an unknown priest and a woman named Marie Du Fayt.[1] Marie moved with her son to Cambrai early in his life, staying with a relative who was a canon of the cathedral there. Soon Dufay's 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 to 1412. 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 in 1411, a highly unusual event for one so young. In June 1414, at the age of only 16, he had already been given a benefice as chaplain at St. Géry, immediately adjacent to Cambrai. Later that year he probably went to the Council of Konstanz, staying possibly 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 again, this time going to Rimini, and possibly Pesaro, where he worked for the Malatesta family. Although no records survive of his employment there, several compositions of his can be dated to this period; they contain references that make a residence in Italy reasonably certain. It was there that he met the composers Hugo and Arnold de Lantins, who were among the musicians of the Malatesta household. In 1424 Dufay again returned to Cambrai, this time because of the illness and subsequent death of the relative with whom his mother was staying. By 1426, however, he had gone back to Italy, this time to Bologna, where he entered the service of Cardinal Louis Aleman, the papal legate. While in Bologna he became a deacon, and by 1428 he was a priest. Cardinal Aleman was driven from Bologna by the rival Canedoli family in 1428, and Dufay also left at this time, going to Rome. He became a member of the Papal Choir, serving first Pope Martin V, and then after the death of Pope Martin in 1431, Pope Eugene IV. In 1434 he was appointed maistre de chappelle in Savoy, where he served Duke Amédée VIII; evidently he left Rome because of a crisis in the finances of the papal choir, and to escape the turbulence and uncertainty during the struggle between the papacy and the Council of Basel. Yet in 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 Dufay composed the festive motet Nuper rosarum flores, one of his most famous compositions, which was sung at the dedication of Brunelleschi's dome of the cathedral in Florence, where Eugene lived in exile.
During this period Dufay 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 Dufay composed at least one ballade for Niccolò III, Marquis of Ferrara. In 1437 Dufay visited the town. When Niccolò died in 1441, the next Marquis maintained the contact with Dufay, and not only continued financial support for the composer but copied and distributed some of his music.
Return to Cambrai
The struggle between the papacy and the Council of Basel continued through the 1430s, and evidently Dufay realized 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 Dufay 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. One of the first documents mentioning him in Cambrai is dated December 27, 1440, when he received a delivery of 36 lots of wine for the feast of St. John the Evangelist.
Dufay 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 Dufay moved 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 Dufay 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.[2] Once again he established close ties to the court of Burgundy, and continued to compose music for them; in addition he received many visitors, including Busnois, 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 captured Constantinople. He also wrote a Requiem mass around 1460, which is lost.
After an illness of several weeks, Dufay died on November 27, 1474. He had requested that his motet Ave 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. Dufay was buried in the chapel of St. Etienne 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 a museum in Lille.
Music and influence
Dufay was among the most influential composers 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.
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. 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 portion of his output. In his lifetime, Dufay wrote seven complete masses, 28 individual Mass movements, 15 settings of chant used in Mass Propers, three Magnificats, two Benedicamus Domino settings, 15 antiphon settings (6 are Marian antiphons), 27 hymns, 22 motets (13 are isorhythmic) and 87 chansons. 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.
Masses
At the beginning of Dufay's career, the cyclic mass — the setting of all the sections of the Mass Ordinary by a single composer, unified by a common musical means, such as a cantus firmus — was in its infancy. By the end of his career, the cyclic mass had become the predominant and most substantial form of sacred music composition in Europe.
Dufay's first complete cyclic masses, the Missa sine nomine and the Missa S Jacobi, were written before 1440, and contain possibly the earliest use of fauxbourdon. In addition, most of Dufay's early mass composition used the "head-motif" technique, i.e. the beginnings of sections shared a common, and easily identifiable, musical idea. However, by the 1450s, Dufay's masses were much influenced by the English style (for example, the music of John Dunstaple); his masses of this period mostly use cantus firmus technique, and also isorhythm, as in his motets. The archaic head-motif technique he left behind. Still later in the period Dufay began to use a more seamless contrapuntal technique with occasional imitation, a style which foreshadowed the work of Obrecht and Johannes Ockeghem. One late mass, the Missa 'Ave regina' , based on a Marian antiphon setting of that name he wrote in 1463, uses all of the techniques Dufay used during his career, and may have been written as a deliberate summation.
Dufay's late masses are all tenor masses, i.e. the cantus firmus is in the tenor. While this style originated in England with composers such as Leonel Power and John Dunstaple, Dufay brought it to the continent.
Motets
Most of Dufay's motets were relatively early works, and he seems not to have written any during the last thirty years of his life. His motets were apparently not intended for liturgical use, but instead were written for specific occasions, sometimes considerably ceremonial ones. This gives biographers extremely valuable data, since many can be dated exactly.
In style they are isorhythmic, using a structural method which had been in use already for more than a hundred years; and in addition they are compositions of considerable complexity, with the isorhythm often occurring in all voices. Sometimes the sections of the motets themselves are carefully contrived to have a symbolic value, such as in the motet Nuper rosarum flores, written for the dedication of Brunelleschi's dome to the cathedral in Florence on 25 March 1436, in which the proportions of the sections exactly match the supposed proportions of Solomon's Temple. Dufay himself probably took part in this performance, and an eyewitness account attests to the presence of numerous string and wind players at the performance, who filled the chamber with their sounds during the impressive ceremony; likely they also accompanied the motet. Dufay evidently thought enough of his own motet to quote its coda at the end of the last isorhythmic motet he ever wrote, Fulgens iubar, in 1447.
Dufay also composed four laments on the fall of Constantinople (1453). Only one of these survives, (O tres piteulx/Omnes amici eius), written sometime between 1454 and 1457. While technically not classed as a motet, it has a similar texture and uses a cantus firmus.
Chant settings and fauxbourdon
Many of Dufay's compositions were simple settings of chant, obviously designed for liturgical use, likely 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 antiphon Ave maris stella:
The beginning of Dufay's setting of Ave maris stella, in fauxbourdon. The top and bottom lines are freely composed; the middle line, designated "fauxbourdon" in the original chant, follows the top line but exactly a perfect fourth below. The bottom line is often, but not always, a sixth below the top line; it is embellished, and reaches cadences on the octave.
Dufay may have been the first composer to use the term fauxbourdon to describe this style, which was prominent in 15th century liturgical music, especially that of the Burgundian school.
Secular music
Most of Dufay'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 likely played by instruments. Occasionally Dufay 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[3] (Carlo was a son of Malatesta dei Sonetti, Lord of Pesaro. Vittoria was the niece of Pope Martin V).[4] 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 Dufay have been documented, but neither has survived. A note in the margin in a manuscript held in the Biblioteca Nazionale 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 Dufay, last seen in a bookshop in London in 1824. The contents of neither work are known.[5]
Influence
Dufay was one of the last composers to make use of medieval techniques such as isorhythm [6], but one of the first to use the harmonies, phrasing and expressive melodies characteristic of the early Renaissance [7]. 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 the time, and that belief has largely persisted to the present day.
The early music ensemble Dufay Collective is named for the composer.
Guillaume Dufay
WP:
Guillaume Dufay
Le compositeur franco-flamand Guillaume Dufay est né vers 1400 peut-être à Cambrai ou Fay près de Cambrai, plus probablement à Beersel -non loin de Bruxelles- ou Chimay -non loin de Charleroi-, et mort à Cambrai le 27 novembre 1474. Son nom dit d'ailleurs son origine et doit être prononcé en trois syllabes, comme ceux des hameaux de Wallonie et du nord de la France qui parlent d'un « fayt », c'est-à-dire d'une hêtraie[1].
Biographie
Dufay chanta et étudia la musique à la cathédrale de Cambrai, ville alors renommée pour la musique sacrée[2] et qui fournit des musiciens au Vatican. En 1419, à Constance, le Prince Carlo Malatesta l'embaucha à la cour de Rimini (Italie). Il y composa ses premiers motets, fut chantre à la chapelle papale en 1428 et ordonné prêtre. Il servit la famille d'Este et séjourna à la cour de Savoie entre 1425 et 1428 puis à Rome jusqu'à 1433 avant de partir pour Chambéry, Florence, Ferrare, Genève ou Lausanne, dont il devint chanoine de la cathédrale en 1431.
En 1436, pour l'inauguration du dôme Brunelleschi de Florence, il composa le motet Nuper rosarum flores. Il rencontra Gilles Binchois à la cour de Bourgogne, le 5 mai 1437, une lettre du pape mentionne qu'il est bachelier en droit ; il quitte la chapelle papale à la fin du même mois et retourne à la cour de Savoie. Il retourna à Cambrai en 1439, où il dirigea une maîtrise d'enfants et s'y retira définitivement en 1458 en servant à la cathédrale.
Musicien le plus célèbre d'Europe au XVe siècle, estimé des monarques — notamment de Charles VII et Louis XI —
Dufay a marqué le début de l'école dite franco-flamande, dont le rayonnement perdura jusqu'à la fin du XVIe siècle. En combinant avec brio l'Ars nova de Guillaume de Machaut, l'harmonie anglaise de John Dunstable et la mélodie italienne, sa musique a annoncé le madrigalisme et la musique de la Renaissance. Pour l'historien belge et militant wallon Léopold Genicot,
« Pasqueyes, chansons, cramignons de Liège, nous revoilà dans la musique, qui demeurait le grand art wallon. Les Hainuyers continuèrent à en commander l'évolution aussi longtemps que la polyphonie garda la faveur. Dufay l'avait dotée de la messe unitaire, bâtie sur un seul thème...[3] »
Ses œuvres et sa technique musicale
Dufay acquit une grande renommée par la qualité de ses rondeaux, tels Donnez l'assaut à la forteresse ou La plus mignonne de mon cœur. Précurseur d'Ockeghem ou Josquin des Prés, il utilisa des thèmes profanes pour certaines de ses messes, telle la célèbre L'Homme armé. Il fut le premier à composer un Requiem, dont la partition est perdue, ainsi que des cycles complets pour l'Ordinaire de la messe : Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Agnus. Il composa 83 ballades, chansons polyphoniques, virelais et rondeaux, 76 motets, neuf messes) et un Requiem.
Robert Wangermée analyse de cette manière les nouveautés introduites par Guillaume Dufay et son compatriote Gilles Binchois:
« Au XIVe siècle [...] la dissonance avait été traitée avec beaucoup de liberté dans le contrepoint mélismatique issu de l'organum primitif. En principe une consonance parfaite devait se rencontrer à chaque point d'appui périodique; les dissonances étaient des accidents qui prenaient place librement entre deux consonances: mais en fait les déplacements rythmiques pouvaient mettre en évidence une dissonance et escamoter la consonance en la retardant ou en la faisant sonner avant le point d'appui. On admettait aussi que la dissonance fût attaquée directement, provoquant une tension agressive. Chez John Dunstable, Dufay et Binchois, la dissonance est préparée, elle est un moment de passage règlementé entre deux consonances. Elle ne trouve plus guère place sur des points d'appui rythmiques, sur ce que l'on appellera plus tard les temps forts de la mesure, sinon comme le prolongement d'une consonance, comme sur la suspension d'une voix sur une autre en mouvement; elle est rapidement résolue, dissoute dans une nouvelle consonance, car on a renoncé aux syncopes en chaîne. En outre, alors que le contrepoint du XIVe siècle ne se préoccupait que des rapports des différentes voix avec l'une d'entre elles - le plus souvent le ténor - Dufay évite le heurt qui peut résulter de tous les rapports entre les différentes voix. [4] »
Œuvres
* 1420, Vasilissa ergo gaude, motet à quatre voix. Dans le manuscrit de Berlin, (sur Cleofe Malatesta).
* 1423, Resvellies vous, ballade. Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford (sur Carlo Malatesta)
* 1425, Je me complains, ballade. Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* 1426 (avant 1426), Missa sine nomine, à trois voix. Ordinarium. Dans le manuscrit Q 15, Bologna = Manuscrit de Berlin
* 1426 (vers 1426-1428), Missa Sancti Jacobi, à trois ou quatre voix. Ordinarium et Proprium. Dans le manuscrit de Berlin
* 1431, Ecclesiae militanti
* 1431, Balsamus et munda, motet à quatre voix. Manuscrit de Berlin, composé pour la chapelle papale
* 1433, Supremum est mortalibus bonum, motet à trois voix avec faux-bourdon. Manuscrit de Berlin (sur le pape Eugêne IV et l'empereur Sigismond)
* 1433, C'est bien raison, ballade. Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford (sur Nicolas III de Ferrare)
* 1435 (vers 1435) Salve flos Tuscae gentis ; Vos nunc, motet à quatre voix. Manuscrit 471, Modena (avec la citation : Guillermus cecini, natus en ipse Fay)
* 1435 (vers 1435), Mirandas parit haec urbs Florentina puellas, à trois voix. Dans le manuscrit lat. 471, Modena (pour Florence)
* 1436, Nuper rosarum flores, motet à quatre voix. Manuscrit 471, Modena (pour la bénédiction de la cathédrale de Florence)
* 1438, Magnanimae gentis ; Nexus amicitiae, motet à quatre voix. Manuscrit 471, Modena (sur un pacte entre Bern et Freiburg)
* 1440 (vers 1440), Missa Caput, messe à quatre voix pour ténor. Dans le manuscrit de Coventry
* 1450 (vers 1450), Missa Se la face ay pale (à 4 voix). Messe pour ténor. Dans le manuscrit 88 de Trente
* 1454, 'O tres piteux (Lamentatio Sanctae Matris Ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae), motet à quatre voix). Manuscrit Riccardiana 2794, Firenze (composé pour un banquet de Philippe le Bon à Lille)
* 1463, Missa Ecce ancilla domini (à quatre voix), messe pour ténor. Dans le manuscrit 5557 de Bruxelles (copié à Cambrai en 1463))
* 1464 (ou plus tard), Missa Ave regina caelorum (à quatre voix), messe pour Ténor. Dans le manuscrit 5557 de Bruxelles
* 1464, Ave regina caelorum
* sd, Inclyta stella maris (à 4 voix). Dans le manuscrit de Berlin
* sd, Juvenis qui puellam ( à 3 voix). Dans le manuscrit 3224 München 3224
* sd, Missa La mort de Saint Gothard (à 4). Messe pour ténor. Dans le manuscrit lat. 456 de Modena (sans nom d'auteur)
* sd, Missa L'homme armé (à 4 voix) ; Messe pour ténor. Dans le manuscrit Capp. Sist. 14, Roma
* sd, Missa Sancti Antonii Viennensis ( à 3 voix). Ordinarium. Dans le manuscrit 90 de Trente
* sd, O beate Sebastiane (à 3 voix).Dans le manuscrit de Berlin (sur saint Sébastien, lors d'une épidémie de peste)
* sd, O flos florum virginum ( à 3 voix). Dans le manuscrit 3232a de München (certainement une contrefaçon)
* sd, O proles Hispaniae ; O sidus Hispaniae (à 4 voix) Dans le manuscrit lat. 471, Modena (sur saint Antoine de Padoue)
* sd, Qui latuit in virgine (à 3 voix). Dans le manuscrit 3232a de München (authenticité incertaine)
* sd, Vergine bella ( à 3 voix). Dans le manuscrit de Berlin
* sd. Fulgens jubar ; Puerpera pura (motet à à 4). Manuscrit 471, Modena (Pour le fête de la purification, acec accrostiche de Petrus de Castello)
* sd., Avevirgo qua de caelis ( à 3 voix).Dans le manuscrit 92 de Trente
* sd., O gloriose tiro ; Divine pastus (motet à 4 voix) in Mod B (sur saint Théodore)
* sd., O sancte Sebastiane ; O martyr Sebastiane ; O quam mira (motet à 4 voix). Dans le manuscrit de Dans le manuscrit de Berlin (sur saint Sebastien, lors dune épidémie de peste)
* sd., Moribus et genere ; Virgo, virga virens (motet à 4 voix). Manuscrit 471, Modena (sur saint Jean, avec une mention de Dijon)
* sd., 1 voix de contre-ténor dans un Gloria anonyme à 3 voix. Dans les manuscrits 6 et 11, Bibliothèque municipale de Cambrai
* sd., 11 Kyrie à 3 voix dont 7 dans le manuscrit Q 15, Bologna = Berlin ; 4 dans les manuscrits 87 et 92 Trente
* sd., 14 Gloria à trois et quatre voix dont 8 dans le manuscrit de Berlin ; 5 dans le manuscrit 92 de Trente ; 1 dan sle manuscrit 3232a, München
* sd., 4 Agnus Dei à 3 voix dont 2 dans le manuscrit de Berlin ; 2 dans le manuscrit 92 de Trente
* sd., 4 Credo à trois et quatre voix. Dans le manuscrit de Berlin
* sd., 4 Sanctus à 3 voix dont 3 dans le manuscrit de Berlin ; 1 dans le manuscrit 92 de Trente
* sd., Ad caenam agni providi (hymne). Dans le manuscrit lat. 471, Modena
* sd., Adieu ces bons vins (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford = Oxf (datiert 1426)
* sd., Alleluja Veni sancte spiritus, All. Dans le manuscrit 90 de Trente. sd.,
* sd., Alma redemptoris mater ( à 3 voix). Dans le manuscrit lat. 471, Modena
* sd., Alma redemptoris mater ( à 3 voix). Dans le manuscrit Q 15, Bologna = manuscrit de Berlin
* sd., Anima mea liquefacta est ( à 3 voix). Dans le manuscrit de Berlin
* sd., Audi benigne conditor (hymne). Dans le manuscrit lat. 471, Modena
* sd., Aurea luce (hymne). Dans le manuscrit Q 15, Bologna = Berlin
* sd., Ave regina caelorum ( à 3 voix). Dans le manuscrit lat. 471, Modena
* sd., Ave maris stella (hymne). Dans le manuscrit 92 de Trente
* sd., Ave maris stella (hymne). Dans le manuscrit de Berlin
* sd., Ave regina caelorum ( à 3 voix). Dans le manuscrit de Berlin
* sd., Benedicamus domino (I). Dans le manuscrit de Berlin
* sd., Benedicamus domino (II). Dans le manuscrit de Berlin
* sd., Christe redemptor omnium (hymne). Dans le manuscrit de Berlin
* sd., Conditor alme siderum (hymne). Dans le manuscrit de Berlin
* sd., Cum tua doctrina. Motet (5 voix, texte italien). Manuscrit Q 15, Bologna, composé pour la bénédicion de la cathédrale de Patras.
* sd., Departes vous, male bouche (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit 871 N, Monte Cassino
* sd., Deus tuorum militum (hymne). Dans le manuscrit de Berlin
* sd., Epiphaniam domino (hymne). dans le manuscrit 87 de Trente
* sd., Exultet caelum laudibus (hymne). Dans le manuscrit de Berlin
* sd., Festum nunc celebre (hymne). dans le manuscrit 87 de Trente
* sd., Flos florum ( à 3 voix). Dans le manuscrit de Berlin
* sd., Gaude virgo, mater Christi (à 4 voix). Dans le manuscrit de Berlin
* sd., Hic vir despiciens (antienne). Dans le manuscrit lat. 471, Modena
* sd., Hic jocundus sumit mundus ( à 3 voix). Dans le manuscrit 3232a de München (certainement une contrefaçon)
* sd., Hostis Herodes impie (hymne). Dans le manuscrit de Berlin
* sd., Iste confessor (hymne). Dans le manuscrit de Berlin
* sd., Isti sunt duae olivae (antienne). Dans le manuscrit 87 de Trente
* sd., Je n'ai doubté (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit 87 de Trente
* sd., Jesu corona virginum (hymne). Dans le manuscrit de Berlin
* sd., Magnificat 1. toni. Dans le manuscrit lat. 471, Modena
* sd., Magnificat 5. toni. Dans le manuscrit lat. 471, Modena
* sd., Magnificat 6. toni. Dans le manuscrit lat. 471, Modena
* sd., Magnificat 8. toni. Dans le manuscrit lat. 471, Modena
* sd., Magnificat. Dans le manuscrit 811 N du Monte Cassino
* sd., Miserere tui labentis Dufay (motet 4 voix). Manuscrit
* sd., O gemma lux ; Sacer pastor Barensium (motet à 4 voix ). Dans le Manuscrit de Berlin (sur saint Nicolas de Bari)
* sd., Phrases de cantliènes. Dans le manuscrit 3232a, München 3232a (5e partie) (relations avec Alma redemptoris mater du manuscrit Q 15, Bologna)
* sd., Rite majorem Jacobum ; Artibus summis (motet à 4 et 3 voix avec ténor soliste). Dans le Manuscrit de Berlin (sur saint Jacob avec accrostiche Robertus Auclou Curatus Sancti Jacobi )
* sd., Roma, San Pietro B 80 (copié à Cambrai en 1464)
* sd., Sanctorum arbitrio ; Bella canunt genies (motet à 5 voix) Manuscrit 87 de Trente (composé pour le pape Eugêne IV)
* sd., A solis ortus cardine (hymne). Dans le manuscrit lat. 471, Modena
* sd., Adieu m'amour (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit 714 de Porto
* sd., Adieu quitte le demeurant (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit 90 de Trente.
* sd., Belle plaissant et gracieuse (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Belle que vous (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit 87 de Trente
* sd., Belle vueillies vostre mercy donner (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Belle vueillies moy retenir (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Belle vuellies moy vengier (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit XIX 176, Firenze
* sd., Bien veignes vous (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Bien doy servir (ballade). dans le manuscrit 87 de Trente
* sd., Bon jour, bon mois (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Ce moys de may (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Ce jour de l'an (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Ce jour le doibt (ballade). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Craindre vous vueil (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., De ma haulte et bonne aventure (virelai). Dans le manuscrit Ricc. 2794, Firenze
* sd., Dieu gard la bone (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit XIX 176, Firenze
* sd., Dona i ardentirai (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Donna gentile (rondeau). Dans le Manuscrit de la Yale University Library
* sd., Donnez l'assault (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit 87 de Trente
* sd., Du tout m'estoit (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit fr. 15123 de Paris
* sd., Entre les plus plaines d'anoy (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit 714 de Porto
* sd., Entre vous gentils amoureux (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Estrines moy (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Franc cuer gentil (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit 92 de Trente
* sd., He compaignons (rondeau à 4 voix). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Helas et quant vous veray (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit n.a. fr. 6771 de Paris
* sd., Helas mon duel (virelai). Dans le manuscrit 714 de Porto
* sd., Helas, ma dame (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Invidia nimica (ballade à 4 voix). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., J'atendray tant (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., J'ay grant (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit 222 de Strasbourg (copie d'E. de Coussemaker)
* sd., J'ay mis mon cuer (ballade). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Je donne a tous (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Je languis en piteux martire (ballade). Dans le manuscrit 92 de Trente
* sd., Je ne puis plus (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Je ne suy plus (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Je ne vis oncques (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit 871 N, Monte Cassino
* sd., Je prens congié (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit n.a. fr. 6771 de Paris
* sd., Je requier a tous amoureux (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Je triomphe de crudel duel (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit 714 de Porto
* sd., Je veul chanter (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Je vous pri (à 4 voix) Dans le manuscrit XIX 178, Firenze
* sd., Jesu nostra redemptio (hymne). Dans le manuscrit de Berlin
* sd., La belle se siet (ballade). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., La dolce vista (ballade). Dans le manuscrit Urb. lat. 1411, Roma
* sd., Laetabundus (séquence). Dans le manuscrit de Berlin
* sd., L'alta belleza (ballade). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Las, que feray (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Lauda Sion salvatorem (séquence). Dans le manuscrit 92 de Trente
* sd., Ma belle dame souverainne (rondeau à 4 voix) Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Ma belle dame, je vous pri (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Magi videntes stellam (antienne). Dans le manuscrit lat. 471, Modena
* sd., Malheureux cueur (virelai). Dans le Chansonnier Laborde, Washington
* sd., Mille bon jours (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit 222 de Strasbourg (copie de E. de Coussemaker)
* sd., Mon bien, m'amour (rondeau). dans le manuscrit 87 de Trente
* sd., Mon chier amy (ballade). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Mon cuer me fait (rondeau à 4 voix). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Mon seul plaisir (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit XIX 176, Firenze
* sd., Navré je suy (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Ne je ne dors (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit XIX 176, Firenze
* sd., O gemma martyrum (antienne). Dans le manuscrit lat. 471, Modena
* sd., O lux beata trinitas (hymne). Dans le manuscrit de Berlin
* sd., Or pleust a dieu (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Pange lingua (hymne). Dans le manuscrit de Berlin
* sd., Pange lingua (hymne). Dans le manuscrit 92 de Trente (attribution incertaine)
* sd., Par droit je puis bien (rondeau à 4 voix). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Par le regart (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit 714 de Porto
* sd., Passato e il tempo omai (ballade). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Petrus apostolus (antienne). Dans le manuscrit lat. 471, Modena
* sd., Portugaler (ballade). Dans le manuscrit 222 de Strasbourg (copie de E. de Coussemaker)
* sd., Pour ce que veoir (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Pour l'amour (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Pouray je avoir (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Proles de caelo prodiit (hymne). Dans le manuscrit lat. 471, Modena
* sd., Propter nimiam caritatem (antienne). Dans le manuscrit lat. 471, Modena
* sd., Puisque celle (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit 87 de Trente
* sd., Quel fronte, signorille (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford (composé à Rome)
* sd., Qu'est devenue leaulté (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit 714 de Porto
* sd., Resistera (à 4 voix). Dans le manuscrit XIX 176, Firenze
* sd., Resvelons nous (ténor : Alons ent bien tos au may) (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Salva nos, domine (antienne). Dans le manuscrit 90 de Trente.
* sd., Salve sancte pater (antienne). Dans le manuscrit lat. 471, Modena
* sd., Sanctorum meritis (hymne). Dans le manuscrit de Berlin
* sd., Sapiente filio (antienne). Dans le manuscrit lat. 471, Modena
* sd., Se la face ay pale (ballade). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., Se ma damme (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit Can. misc. 213, Oxford
* sd., S'il est plaisir (rondeau à 4). Dans le manuscrit 3232a de München
* sd., Tibi Christe splendor patris (hymne). Dans le manuscrit de Berlin
* sd., Trop lonc temps ai esté (rondeau). in Rom, Urb. lat. 1411
* sd., Urbs beata Jerusalem (hymne). Dans le manuscrit de Berlin
* sd., Ut queant laxis (hymne). Dans le manuscrit de Berlin
* sd., Va t'en, mon cuer (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit 714 de Porto
* sd., Veni creator spiritus (hymne). Dans le manuscrit de Berlin
* sd., Veni sancte spiritus (séquence). Dans le manuscrit 92 de Trente
* sd., Vexilla regis prodeunt (hymne). Dans le manuscrit lat. 471, Modena
* sd., Victimae paschali laudes (séquence). Dans le manuscrit 92 de Trente.
* sd., Vo regart et doulche maniere (rondeau). Dans le manuscrit 3232a de München 3232a
* sd., Vostre bruit (rondeau). Dans le Chansonnier de Laborde, Washington