Hello, my name is Tyson Prince, and I am a junior here at Vanderbilt double-majoring in Economics and Music. My purpose here on this web page is to provide an historical background into the life and music of Guillaume Dufay (1400-1474), one of the key composers who served as an artistic link between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
Guillaume Dufay was born in the northern region of France, near Flanders (modern Belgium), a region that for generations supplied Europe with talented musicians. Like many other composers of his day, Dufay moved to Italy early in his career, hoping to capitalize upon the favorable conditions for music there. (Joseph Kerman, Listen, Worth: Berkeley, CA, 1972). Dufay spent more than twenty-five years in Italy, receiving the best education available, serving some of the most important patrons of the day, and learning from some of the brightest minds of the Renaissance. Indeed, during his stay in Italy he served the wealthy Malesta family of Pesaro, for whom he wrote numerous works. Later in his career, Dufay served in the papal chapels in Rome, Florence, and Bologna. As Grout and Palisca noted in A History of Western Music (Norton: New York, 1996), "He (Dufay) was exceptionally educated, having attended a cathedral school and received a degree in canon law from the University of Bologna. He was appointed to influential offices in the church, not because of his music--although he was greatly admired as a composer--but because of his learning" (141). Dufay spent his later years in the glow of this popularity at the French cathedral at Cambrai.
Although the church respected Dufay as an intellectual, his music is what has made him famous. Dufay wrote in numerous styles and manners, creating works of greatly varying length, using a broad range of textures, and crossing many of the boundaries between genres.
Perhaps the best example of all of these qualities can be represented in two of Dufay's works, a chanson and a mass, which share the name Se la face ay pale (If my face is pale). In particular, the chanson can be compared and contrasted in detail with the Gloria of the mass. The chanson served as the basis for the Gloria. In fact, the chanson's tenor melody became a cantus firmus in the Gloria, which Dufay varied in duration in the Gloria. Also, both the chanson and the Gloria of the mass represent a trend during Dufay's time of writing music more in an English style, called the contenance Angloise, or English countenance. This entailed minimizing dissonances by using harmonies of thirds and sixths, as well as octaves, fifths, and fourths.
The differences between the chanson and the Gloria are differences which, in many ways, reflect the differences in the whole body of Dufay's work. For example, the chanson is a short piece, comprising relatively few measures as we now recognize them. The Gloria, on the other hand, not to mention the mass a whole, is a very long work, one which would take a considerable amount of time to perform. In relation to Dufay's whole body of work, Dufay wrote numerous short pieces such as chansons and ballades, while he also wrote several large masses. Another difference between the two pieces involves texture. In his career, Dufay wrote works that covered the spectrum of texture, from simple homophonic pieces to complex polyphonic ones. The chanson Se la face ay pale is a relatively simple-texture form. While not truly homophonic or homorhythmic, it often moves in such a manner, with the three voices sharing the same motive or idea. The Gloria of the mass, on the other hand, represents a much more complex texture, in which the four voices are polyphonically set, often repeating, imitating, or complementing one another.
Another quality of Dufay's writing that deserves mentioning is his use of isorhythm. The concept of isorhythm, believed created by Philippe de Vitry, is one in which specific rhythmic and pitch patterns are repeated throughout a piece. This was one of the most important developments in music of the period in that it helped a composer to create a sense of unity in a piece. In Dufay's case, he mainly restricted the use of this technique to motets for solemn public ceremonies. A famous example is Nuper rosarum flores, an isorhythmic motet composed for the dedication of the Florentine cathedral. As Grout mentions, Dufay felt that the use of an archaic musical style was appropriate for ceremonial occasions (144).
Guillaume Dufay lived in a period of great artistic awakening in
Europe. This transition from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance saw
incredible creative growth in nearly all artistic areas, from painting to
literature to, of course, music. Dufay was an important figure in ushering
in the new creative age, the Renaissance, and has become widely recognized
for his role in the development of Western music.
The following is a brief list of sites pertaining to the music of Guillaume Dufay in particular and to Renaissance music more generally. Several of these links include further links to Renaissance music sites.
Finally, below are some other links pertaining to MUSL 242, The Blair
School of Music, and Vanderbilt University.
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Last updated 22 April 1997