Misplaced Pages

#280719

110-431: Guillaume Du Fay ( / dj uː ˈ f aɪ / dyoo- FEYE , French: [ɡijom dy fa(j)i] ; also Dufay , Du Fayt ; 5 August 1397 – 27 November 1474) was a composer and music theorist of early Renaissance music , who is variously described as French or Franco-Flemish. Considered the leading European composer of his time, his music was widely performed and reproduced. Du Fay was well-associated with composers of

220-696: A seconda prattica (an innovative practice involving monodic style and freedom in treatment of dissonance, both justified by the expressive setting of texts) during the late 16th and early 17th centuries. In the late 16th century, as the Renaissance era closed, an extremely manneristic style developed. In secular music, especially in the madrigal , there was a trend towards complexity and even extreme chromaticism (as exemplified in madrigals of Luzzaschi , Marenzio , and Gesualdo ). The term mannerism derives from art history. Beginning in Florence , there

330-417: A Requiem mass around 1460, which is lost. After an illness of several weeks, Du Fay died on 27 November 1474. He had requested that his motet Ave regina celorum be sung for him at his deathbed, but time was insufficient for this to be arranged. Instead, his now-lost Requiem Mass was performed during his funeral service. Du Fay was buried in the chapel of St. Étienne in the cathedral of Cambrai; his portrait

440-418: A 'cosmopolitan style' and an extensive oeuvre which included representatives of virtually every polyphonic genre of his time. Like Binchois, Du Fay was deeply influenced by the contenance angloise style of John Dunstaple , and synthesized it with a wide variety of other styles, including that of the famous Missa Caput , and the techniques of his younger contemporaries, Ockeghem and Busnois. Du Fay's life

550-664: 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

660-556: A benefice. To his right, three soldiers and an angel observe the resurrected Christ. The art historian Ludovic Nys has suggested it was based on a c.  1460 woodcut from Florence, though the art historian Douglas Brine has not found this convincing. Before Du Fay's time, the concept of a ' composer '—that is, a musician whose primary occupation is composition —was largely unfamiliar in Europe. The emergence of musicians who focused on composition above other musical endeavors arose in

770-448: A cappella, predominantly light in style, and generally began as either copies or direct translations of Italian models. Most were for three to six voices. Musica reservata is either a style or a performance practice in a cappella vocal music of the latter half of the 16th century, mainly in Italy and southern Germany, involving refinement, exclusivity, and intense emotional expression of sung text. The cultivation of European music in

880-524: A few decades later in about 1476, the Flemish composer and music theorist Tinctoris reaffirmed the powerful influence Dunstaple had, stressing the "new art" that Dunstaple had inspired. Tinctoris hailed Dunstaple as the fons et origo of the style, its "wellspring and origin." The contenance angloise , while not defined by Martin le Franc, was probably a reference to Dunstaple's stylistic trait of using full triadic harmony (three note chords), along with

990-430: A large tradition of 'composer-theorists', including Johannes Ciconia , Franchinus Gaffurius and Tinctoris, among others. It is possible that these documents are the same treatise, and the references to Musica were shorthand for the work seen by Fétis. Alternatively, Rossi notes that Fétis spoke specifically of a treatise influenced by Du Fay, which may not necessarily mean he was its author. Rossi, however, contends that

1100-647: A liking for the interval of the third . Assuming that he had been on the continent with the Duke of Bedford, Dunstaple would have been introduced to French fauxbourdon ; borrowing some of the sonorities, he created elegant harmonies in his own music using thirds and sixths (an example of a third interval is the notes C and E; an example of a sixth interval is the notes C and A). Taken together, these are seen as defining characteristics of early Renaissance music. Many of these traits may have originated in England, taking root in

1210-569: A prescriptive weight that overspecifies and distorts its original openness". Renaissance compositions were notated only in individual parts; scores were extremely rare, and barlines were not used. Note values were generally larger than are in use today; the primary unit of beat was the semibreve , or whole note . As had been the case since the Ars Nova (see Medieval music ), there could be either two or three of these for each breve (a double-whole note), which may be looked on as equivalent to

SECTION 10

#1732772025281

1320-532: A relative who was a canon of the cathedral there. The link between the Du Fay family and the Cathedral of Cambrai is the sole reason a large amount of information is known about Du Fay's early life, as the institute kept detailed records on all affiliated persons. His musical gifts were noticed by the cathedral authorities, who evidently gave him a thorough training in music; he studied with Rogier de Hesdin during

1430-478: A result of the increased use of paper (rather than vellum ), as the weaker paper was less able to withstand the scratching required to fill in solid noteheads; notation of previous times, written on vellum, had been black. Other colors, and later, filled-in notes, were used routinely as well, mainly to enforce the aforementioned imperfections or alterations and to call for other temporary rhythmical changes. Accidentals (e.g. added sharps, flats and naturals that change

1540-462: A singer versed in counterpoint." (See musica ficta .) A singer would interpret his or her part by figuring cadential formulas with other parts in mind, and when singing together, musicians would avoid parallel octaves and parallel fifths or alter their cadential parts in light of decisions by other musicians. It is through contemporary tablatures for various plucked instruments that we have gained much information about which accidentals were performed by

1650-433: A sixteenth-century copy of a treatise ascribed to Du Fay, entitled Tractatus de musica mensurata et de proportionibus ('A Treatise on Measured Music and Proportions'). It was last documented as having been sold to a London book dealer in 1824. The testimony from Fétis remains problematic, as nothing of it is known aside from its name, making it impossible reconstruct. If Du Fay did indeed write these works, he would be among

1760-448: A solo instrument such as the lute, vihuela, harp, or keyboard. Such arrangements were called intabulations (It. intavolatura , Ger. Intabulierung ). Towards the end of the period, the early dramatic precursors of opera such as monody , the madrigal comedy , and the intermedio are heard. According to Margaret Bent : "Renaissance notation is under-prescriptive by our [modern] standards; when translated into modern form it acquires

1870-490: A texture dominated by the highest voice; the other two voices, unsupplied with text, were probably played by instruments. Du Fay was one of the last composers to make use of late-medieval polyphonic structural techniques such as isorhythm , and one of the first to employ the more mellifluous harmonies, phrasing and melodies characteristic of the early Renaissance. His compositions within the larger genres (masses, motets and chansons) are mostly similar to each other; his renown

1980-442: A texture dominated by the highest voice; the other two voices, unsupplied with text, were probably played by instruments. Occasionally Du Fay 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

2090-499: A variety of other sacred works. John Dunstaple (c. 1390–1453) was an English composer of polyphonic music of the late medieval era and early Renaissance periods. He was one of the most famous composers active in the early 15th century, a near-contemporary of Power, and was widely influential, not only in England but on the continent, especially in the developing style of the Burgundian School . Dunstaple's influence on

2200-427: Is "more diversified than that of any composer since Machaut". Du Fay was one of the last composers to make use of late-medieval polyphonic structural techniques such as isorhythm , and one of the first to employ the more mellifluous harmonies, phrasing and melodies characteristic of the early Renaissance. His compositions within the larger genres (masses, motets and chansons) are mostly similar to each other; his renown

2310-551: Is best known for his well-written melodies, and for his use of three themes: travel, God and sex . Gilles Binchois ( c.  1400 –1460) was a Dutch composer, one of the earliest members of the Burgundian school and one of the three most famous composers of the early 15th century. While often ranked behind his contemporaries Guillaume Dufay and John Dunstaple by contemporary scholars, his works were still cited, borrowed and used as source material after his death. Binchois

SECTION 20

#1732772025281

2420-479: Is better documented than "almost any other [European] composer of the 15th century". The reasons for this are numerous, but especially informative are the thorough record keeping of the institutions he associated with and the many biographical or historical anecdotes integrated in his compositions. In addition, while records from many northern French cathedrals were either lost or destroyed, those from Cambrai Cathedral remain extant. Modern scholarship generally spells

2530-409: Is considered to be a fine melodist, writing carefully shaped lines which are easy to sing and memorable. His tunes appeared in copies decades after his death and were often used as sources for mass composition by later composers. Most of his music, even his sacred music, is simple and clear in outline, sometimes even ascetic (monk-like). A greater contrast between Binchois and the extreme complexity of

2640-586: 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 his time, an opinion that has largely survived to the present day. Du Fay is the namesake of the Dufay Collective , an early music ensemble of historically informed performances . Renaissance music The period may be roughly subdivided, with an early period corresponding to

2750-409: 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 his time, an opinion that has largely survived to the present day. During the 16th century, Josquin des Prez ( c.  1450/1455  – 27 August 1521) gradually acquired

2860-507: Is perhaps best known for Beersel Castle , built between 1300 and 1310 by Jean II, Duke of Brabant , as a defense for Brussels. Guillaume Dufay , a notable 15th-century Franco-Flemish composer, was likely born in Beersel. In terms of gastronomy, Beersel is known for its boterham met plattekaas en radijzen (sandwich with white cheese and radishes), usually served with a geuze beer, and for its mandjeskaas (literally 'basket cheese'), which

2970-425: The ars subtilior of the prior (fourteenth) century would be hard to imagine. Most of his secular songs are rondeaux , which became the most common song form during the century. He rarely wrote in strophic form , and his melodies are generally independent of the rhyme scheme of the verses they are set to. Binchois wrote music for the court, secular songs of love and chivalry that met the expectations and satisfied

3080-501: The Baroque , but for further explanation of this transition, see antiphon , concertato , monody , madrigal , and opera, as well as the works given under "Sources and further reading." Many instruments originated during the Renaissance; others were variations of, or improvements upon, instruments that had existed previously. Some have survived to the present day; others have disappeared, only to be recreated in order to perform music of

3190-442: The Burgundian School , particularly his colleague Gilles Binchois , but was never a regular member of the Burgundian chapel himself. While he is among the best-documented composers of his time, Du Fay's birth and family is shrouded with uncertainty, though he was probably the illegitimate child of a priest. He was educated at Cambrai Cathedral , where his teachers included Nicolas Grenon and Richard Loqueville , among others. For

3300-501: The Low Countries , along with a flourishing system of music education in the area's many churches and cathedrals allowed the training of large numbers of singers, instrumentalists, and composers. These musicians were highly sought throughout Europe, particularly in Italy, where churches and aristocratic courts hired them as composers, performers, and teachers. Since the printing press made it easier to disseminate printed music, by

3410-560: The Malatesta family. Several of his compositions can be dated to this period; they contain colloquial references to Italy. There he met the composers Hugo and Arnold de Lantins , who were also among the musicians of the Malatesta household. In 1424 Du Fay returned to Cambrai, because of the illness and subsequent death of the relative with whom his mother was staying. By 1426, however, he had returned to Italy. In Bologna , he entered

Guillaume Du Fay - Misplaced Pages Continue

3520-664: The Missa L'Homme armé and the Missa Se la face ay pale . During his final years in Cambrai, Du Fay wrote his now-lost requiem and both met and influenced the leading musicians of his time, including Antoine Busnois , Loyset Compère , Johannes Tinctoris and particularly, Johannes Ockeghem . Du Fay has been described as leading the first generation of European musicians who were primarily considered ' composers ' by occupation. His erratic career took him throughout Western Europe, forming

3630-415: The cornett and sackbut , and the tabor and tambourine . At the beginning of the 16th century, instruments were considered to be less important than voices. They were used for dances and to accompany vocal music. Instrumental music remained subordinated to vocal music, and much of its repertory was in varying ways derived from or dependent on vocal models. Various kinds of organs were commonly used in

3740-413: 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

3850-583: The lute song . Mixed forms such as the motet-chanson and the secular motet also appeared. Purely instrumental music included consort music for recorders or viols and other instruments, and dances for various ensembles. Common instrumental genres were the toccata , prelude , ricercar , and canzona . Dances played by instrumental ensembles (or sometimes sung) included the basse danse (It. bassadanza ), tourdion , saltarello , pavane , galliard , allemande , courante , bransle , canarie , piva , and lavolta . Music of many genres could be arranged for

3960-501: The ordinary of the mass which were thematically unified and intended for contiguous performance. The Old Hall Manuscript contains his mass based on the Marian antiphon , Alma Redemptoris Mater , in which the antiphon is stated literally in the tenor voice in each movement, without melodic ornaments. This is the only cyclic setting of the mass ordinary which can be attributed to him. He wrote mass cycles, fragments, and single movements and

4070-516: The polyphonic style of the Franco-Flemish school . The invention of the printing press in 1439 made it cheaper and easier to distribute music and music theory texts on a wider geographic scale and to more people. Prior to the invention of printing, written music and music theory texts had to be hand-copied, a time-consuming and expensive process. Demand for music as entertainment and as a leisure activity for educated amateurs increased with

4180-494: The province of Flemish Brabant , in the Flemish region of Belgium , 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) south-west of the centre of Brussels . The municipality comprises the towns of Alsemberg , Beersel proper, Dworp , Huizingen and Lot . On 1 January 2023, Beersel had a total population of 26.473. The total area is 30.01 km (11.59 sq mi), which gives a population density of 856/km (2,220/sq mi). Beersel

4290-449: The triangle , the Jew's harp, the tambourine, the bells, cymbals , the rumble-pot, and various kinds of drums. Woodwind instruments (aerophones) produce sound by means of a vibrating column of air within the pipe. Holes along the pipe allow the player to control the length of the column of air, and hence the pitch. There are several ways of making the air column vibrate, and these ways define

4400-654: The 1430s, Du Fay took a leave of absence from the choir to serve Amadeus VIII, Duke of Savoy . Du Fay returned to Italy in 1436, writing his most admired work, the complex motet Nuper Rosarum Flores , which celebrated the consecration of Filippo Brunelleschi 's dome for the Florence Cathedral . He later joined the recently-moved papal court in Bologna, and was associated with the House of Este in Ferrara . For

4510-504: The 14th century, with highly independent voices (both in vocal music and in instrumental music). The beginning of the 15th century showed simplification, with the composers often striving for smoothness in the melodic parts. This was possible because of a greatly increased vocal range in music – in the Middle Ages, the narrow range made necessary frequent crossing of parts, thus requiring a greater contrast between them to distinguish

Guillaume Du Fay - Misplaced Pages Continue

4620-459: The 15th century, and was exemplified by Du Fay. Due to their mutual importance, Du Fay and Binchois have been grouped together since their lifetimes. The musicologist Reinhard Strohm considers this misleading, noting that that while Binchois "earned his enormous reputation in the one genre in which he excelled as a composer, performer and possibly even poet, Du Fay's creativity unfolded along many more musical lines". He furthers that Du Fay's oeuvre

4730-788: The Americas began in the 16th century soon after the arrival of the Spanish, and the conquest of Mexico. Although fashioned in European style, uniquely Mexican hybrid works based on native Mexican language and European musical practice appeared very early. Musical practices in New Spain continually coincided with European tendencies throughout the subsequent Baroque and Classical music periods. Among these New World composers were Hernando Franco , Antonio de Salazar , and Manuel de Zumaya . In addition, writers since 1932 have observed what they call

4840-484: The Baroque era. The main characteristics of Renaissance music are: The development of polyphony produced the notable changes in musical instruments that mark the Renaissance from the Middle Ages musically. Its use encouraged the use of larger ensembles and demanded sets of instruments that would blend together across the whole vocal range. As in the other arts, the music of the period was significantly influenced by

4950-616: The Basilica San Marco di Venezia (see Venetian School ). These multiple revolutions spread over Europe in the next several decades, beginning in Germany and then moving to Spain, France, and England somewhat later, demarcating the beginning of what we now know as the Baroque musical era. The Roman School was a group of composers of predominantly church music in Rome, spanning the late Renaissance and early Baroque eras. Many of

5060-653: The Burgundian School around the middle of the century. Because numerous copies of Dunstaple's works have been found in Italian and German manuscripts, his fame across Europe must have been widespread. Of the works attributed to him only about fifty survive, among which are two complete masses, three connected mass sections, fourteen individual mass sections, twelve complete isorhythmic motets and seven settings of Marian antiphons , such as Alma redemptoris Mater and Salve Regina, Mater misericordiae . Dunstaple

5170-493: The Burgundian school in particular. Most of Du Fay'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

5280-524: The Renaissance period, were masses and motets , with some other developments towards the end of the era, especially as composers of sacred music began to adopt secular (non-religious) musical forms (such as the madrigal ) for religious use. The 15th and 16th century masses had two kinds of sources that were used: monophonic (a single melody line) and polyphonic (multiple, independent melodic lines), with two main forms of elaboration, based on cantus firmus practice or, beginning some time around 1500,

5390-410: The Renaissance, from large church organs to small portatives and reed organs called regals . Brass instruments in the Renaissance were traditionally played by professionals. Some of the more common brass instruments that were played: As a family, strings were used in many circumstances, both sacred and secular. A few members of this family include: Some Renaissance percussion instruments include

5500-437: The Renaissance, including masses, motets, madrigals, chansons, accompanied songs, instrumental dances, and many others. Beginning in the late 20th century, numerous early music ensembles were formed. Ensembles specializing in music of the Renaissance era give concert tours and make recordings, using modern reproductions of historical instruments and using singing and performing styles which musicologists believe were used during

5610-542: 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 Du Fay 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

SECTION 50

#1732772025281

5720-563: 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. Seven complete Masses, 28 individual Mass movements, 15 settings of chant used in Mass propers, three Magnificats, two Benedicamus Domino settings, 15 antiphon settings (six of them Marian antiphons ), 27 hymns, 22 motets (13 of these isorhythmic in

5830-477: The bishop of Nevers, vacating his canonicate at Cambrai in the process, and Du Fay was given Vivien's canonicate by both motu proprio and Papal bull . Although the law degree was not necessary in holding the canonicate at Cambrai, Du Fay regarded both titles important enough to be mentioned in his funeral monument. During this period Du Fay also began his long association with the Este family in Ferrara , some of

5940-551: The career of Guillaume Du Fay ( c.  1397 –1474) and the cultivation of cantilena style, a middle dominated by Franco-Flemish School and the four-part textures favored by Johannes Ockeghem (1410s or '20s–1497) and Josquin des Prez (late 1450s–1521), and culminating during the Counter-Reformation in the florid counterpoint of Palestrina ( c.  1525 –1594) and the Roman School . Music

6050-515: 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 Du Fay moved into the house of the previous canon, which was to remain his primary residence for the rest of his life. Planchart speculates that around this time Du Fay might have written his works on music theory , both of which are lost. After

6160-445: The chanson and madrigal spread throughout Europe. Courts employed virtuoso performers, both singers and instrumentalists. Music also became more self-sufficient with its availability in printed form, existing for its own sake. Precursor versions of many familiar modern instruments (including the violin, guitar, lute and keyboard instruments) developed into new forms during the Renaissance. These instruments were modified to respond to

6270-509: The composer altered the spelling while active in Italy. Documents from the composer's early years in Cambrai sometimes spelled his first name as Willaume, or a related form such as Willermus, Willem or Wilhelm. From the evidence of his will, he was probably born in Beersel , in the vicinity of Brussels , the illegitimate child of an unknown priest and a woman named Marie Du Fayt. She moved with her son to Cambrai early in his life, staying with

6380-419: The composer's surname as two words, 'Du Fay'. Before the late 20th century, however, spelling the name as single word—'Dufay'—was much more common. Archival discoveries from this period revealed that the surname was usually spelled as two words in documents of the 14th and 15th century, contrary to musical sources of that time. It seems that Du Fay's parents spelt their surname as 'Du Fayt', but for unknown reasons

6490-583: The composers had a direct connection to the Vatican and the papal chapel, though they worked at several churches; stylistically they are often contrasted with the Venetian School of composers, a concurrent movement which was much more progressive. By far the most famous composer of the Roman School is Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina. While best known as a prolific composer of masses and motets, he

6600-480: The continent's musical vocabulary was enormous, particularly considering the relative paucity of his (attributable) works. He was recognized for possessing something never heard before in music of the Burgundian School : la contenance angloise ("the English countenance"), a term used by the poet Martin le Franc in his Le Champion des Dames. Le Franc added that the style influenced Dufay and Binchois . Writing

6710-536: The development of the polyphonic style of the next generation. During this period he probably wrote his mass based on the popular " L'homme armé " tune, and he may be the author of the chanson Il sera par vous – L'homme armé , which uses the same cantus firmus; 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

SECTION 60

#1732772025281

6820-543: The developments which define the Early Modern period: the rise of humanistic thought; the recovery of the literary and artistic heritage of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome ; increased innovation and discovery; the growth of commercial enterprises; the rise of a bourgeois class; and the Protestant Reformation . From this changing society emerged a common, unifying musical language, in particular,

6930-420: The different parts. The modal (as opposed to tonal , also known as "musical key", an approach developed in the subsequent Baroque music era, c. 1600–1750) characteristics of Renaissance music began to break down towards the end of the period with the increased use of root motions of fifths or fourths (see the " circle of fifths " for details). An example of a chord progression in which the chord roots move by

7040-440: The emergence of a bourgeois class. Dissemination of chansons , motets , and masses throughout Europe coincided with the unification of polyphonic practice into the fluid style which culminated in the second half of the sixteenth century in the work of composers such as Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina , Orlande de Lassus , Thomas Tallis , William Byrd and Tomás Luis de Victoria . Relative political stability and prosperity in

7150-554: The end of the 16th century, Italy had absorbed the northern musical influences with Venice , Rome, and other cities becoming centers of musical activity. This reversed the situation from a hundred years earlier. Opera, a dramatic staged genre in which singers are accompanied by instruments, arose at this time in Florence. Opera was developed as a deliberate attempt to resurrect the music of ancient Greece. Principal liturgical (church-based) musical forms, which remained in use throughout

7260-578: The era. One of the most pronounced features of early Renaissance European art music was the increasing reliance on the interval of the third and its inversion, the sixth (in the Middle Ages , thirds and sixths had been considered dissonances, and only perfect intervals were treated as consonances: the perfect fourth the perfect fifth , the octave , and the unison ). Polyphony  – the use of multiple, independent melodic lines, performed simultaneously – became increasingly elaborate throughout

7370-462: The evidence of music composed, and a later relationship with the Malatesta court, members of which he met on the trip, he probably went to the Council of Konstanz . He likely stayed there until 1418, at which time he returned to Cambrai. From November 1418 to 1420 he was a subdeacon at Cambrai Cathedral . In 1420 he left Cambrai for Italy – first to Rimini and then to Pesaro , where he worked for

7480-404: The evolution of musical ideas, and they presented new possibilities for composers and musicians to explore. Early forms of modern woodwind and brass instruments like the bassoon and trombone also appeared, extending the range of sonic color and increasing the sound of instrumental ensembles. During the 15th century, the sound of full triads became common, and towards the end of the 16th century

7590-464: The first documents mentioning him in Cambrai is dated 27 December 1440, when he received a delivery of 36 lots of wine for the feast of St. John the Evangelist. Du Fay 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

7700-480: 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 . Du Fay may have been the first composer to use the term "fauxbourdon" for this simpler compositional style, prominent in 15th-century liturgical music in general and that of the Burgundian school in particular. Most of Du Fay's secular (non-religious) songs follow

7810-420: The interval of a fourth would be the chord progression, in the key of C Major: "D minor/G Major/C Major" (these are all triads; three-note chords). The movement from the D minor chord to the G Major chord is an interval of a perfect fourth. The movement from the G Major chord to the C Major chord is also an interval of a perfect fourth. This later developed into one of the defining characteristics of tonality during

7920-459: The left beside a portative organ , with Binchois on the right holding a small harp . It is folio 98 recto of the manuscript, which is kept in Bibliothèque nationale de France ( inv. 12476). In comparison to the later depiction, Fallows characterizes the miniature as "more general in its iconography". The image's illuminator is unknown, though it was likely Barthélemy Poignare, who was

8030-530: The level of the breve–semibreve relationship, "perfect/imperfect prolation" at the level of the semibreve–minim, and existed in all possible combinations with each other. Three-to-one was called "perfect," and two-to-one "imperfect." Rules existed also whereby single notes could be halved or doubled in value ("imperfected" or "altered," respectively) when preceded or followed by other certain notes. Notes with black noteheads (such as quarter notes ) occurred less often. This development of white mensural notation may be

8140-410: 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 of his works. Seven complete masses, 28 individual mass movements, 15 settings of chant used in mass propers, three Magnificats, two Benedicamus Domino settings, 15 antiphon settings (six of them Marian antiphons ), 27 hymns, 22 motets (13 of these isorhythmic in

8250-454: The manuscript's scribe . Regardless of the illuminator's identity, the artist probably knew Du Fay personally, as their work has been identified in other manuscripts originating in Cambrai. The other is a carving on Du Fay's funeral monument where he is kneeling in the bottom left corner. Standing behind him is Saint Waltrude of Mons, the eponymous saint of the church in Mons where he also held

8360-470: The mid-15th century. Du Fay composed 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

8470-491: The modern "measure," though it was itself a note value and a measure is not. The situation can be considered this way: it is the same as the rule by which in modern music a quarter-note may equal either two eighth-notes or three, which would be written as a "triplet." By the same reckoning, there could be two or three of the next smallest note, the "minim," (equivalent to the modern "half note") to each semibreve. These different permutations were called "perfect/imperfect tempus" at

8580-433: The more angular, austere 14th-century style which gave way to more melodic, sensuous treble-dominated part-writing with phrases ending in the "under-third" cadence in Du Fay's youth) and 87 chansons definitely by him have survived. Many of Du Fay's compositions were simple settings of chant, obviously designed for liturgical use, probably as substitutes for the unadorned chant, and can be seen as chant harmonizations. Often

8690-529: The more angular, austere 14th-century style which gave way to more melodic, sensuous treble-dominated part-writing with phrases ending in the "under-third" cadence in Du Fay's youth) and 87 chansons definitely by him have survived. Of Du Fay's masses, his Missa se la face ay pale and Missa L'Homme armé are listed on AllMusic as essential compositions. Editions of Du Fay's music include: Many of Du Fay's compositions were simple settings of chant, obviously designed for liturgical use, probably as substitutes for

8800-408: 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 Du Fay composed at least one ballade for Niccolò III, Marquis of Ferrara . In 1437 Du Fay visited the town. When Niccolò died in 1441,

8910-484: The most respected musicians in Europe. As a consequence, honors in the form of benefices came to him from churches in his homeland. In 1434 he was appointed maistre de chappelle in Savoy , where he served Duke Amédée VIII . He had left Rome because of a crisis in the finances of the papal choir while seeking to escape the turbulence and uncertainty during the struggle between the papacy and the Council of Basel . By 1435 he

9020-555: The nearby church of Santa Maria Novella. The papal court moved to Bologna in April 1436, and by 10 May 1437 Du Fay was in possession of a university law degree. Since there is no evidence that Du Fay had studied law at Bologna, it is likely that the degree was granted by papal fiat. In September 1436, Du Fay achieved what he had long sought for, a lucrative benefice near the place of his birth. A certain Jehan Vivien went on to become

9130-406: The new style of "pervasive imitation", in which composers would write music in which the different voices or parts would imitate the melodic and/or rhythmic motifs performed by other voices or parts. Several main types of masses were used: Masses were normally titled by the source from which they borrowed. Cantus firmus mass uses the same monophonic melody, usually drawn from chant and usually in

9240-639: The next Marquis maintained the contact with Du Fay, and not only continued financial support for the composer but copied and distributed some of his music. The struggle between the papacy and the Council of Basel continued through the 1430s, and evidently Du Fay realised 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 Du Fay returned to his homeland, arriving in Cambrai by December of that year. One of

9350-636: The next decade, Du Fay worked throughout Europe: as a subdeacon in Cambrai, under Carlo I Malatesta in Rimini , for the House of Malatesta in Pesaro , and under Louis Aleman in Bologna, where he was ordained priest. As his fame began to spread, he settled in Rome in 1428 as musician of the prestigious papal choir, first under Pope Martin V and then Pope Eugene IV , where he wrote the motets Balsamus et munda cera , Ecclesie militantis and Supremum est mortalibus . Amid Rome's financial and political disorder in

9460-519: The next eleven years, Du Fay was in Cambrai serving Philip the Good , under whom he may have written now-lost works on music theory . After a brief return to both Savoy and Italy, Du Fay settled in Cambrai in 1458, where his focus shifted from song and motet, to composing English-inspired cyclic masses based on cantus firmus , such as the Missa Ave regina celorum , the Missa Ecce ancilla Domini ,

9570-461: The notes) were not always specified, somewhat as in certain fingering notations for guitar-family instruments ( tablatures ) today. However, Renaissance musicians would have been highly trained in dyadic counterpoint and thus possessed this and other information necessary to read a score correctly, even if the accidentals were not written in. As such, "what modern notation requires [accidentals] would then have been perfectly apparent without notation to

9680-488: The original practitioners. For information on specific theorists, see Johannes Tinctoris , Franchinus Gaffurius , Heinrich Glarean , Pietro Aron , Nicola Vicentino , Tomás de Santa María , Gioseffo Zarlino , Vicente Lusitano , Vincenzo Galilei , Giovanni Artusi , Johannes Nucius , and Pietro Cerone . The key composers from the early Renaissance era also wrote in a late Medieval style, and as such, they are transitional figures. Leonel Power (c. 1370s or 1380s–1445)

9790-543: The period on authentic instruments. As in the modern day, instruments may be classified as brass, strings, percussion, and woodwind. Medieval instruments in Europe had most commonly been used singly, often self-accompanied with a drone, or occasionally in parts. From at least as early as the 13th century through the 15th century there was a division of instruments into haut (loud, shrill, outdoor instruments) and bas (quieter, more intimate instruments). Only two groups of instruments could play freely in both types of ensembles:

9900-461: The period. Given the supposed unimportance of the treatise, the biographer Francesco Rocco Rossi questions why Gaffurius would even include the citations, and suggests that perhaps he was relying on the elder composer's authority. He concludes that "the chronological proximity between the two musicians leads us to consider this testimony faithful." The second derives from the nineteenth-century musicologist François-Joseph Fétis , who claimed to have seen

10010-570: The preceding Medieval era, and probably a rich store of popular music of the late Middle Ages is lost. Secular music was music that was independent of churches. The main types were the German Lied , Italian frottola , the French chanson , the Italian madrigal , and the Spanish villancico . Other secular vocal genres included the caccia , rondeau , virelai , bergerette , ballade , musique mesurée , canzonetta , villanella , villotta , and

10120-426: The refrain. Two written works on music theory by Du Fay have been documented, but neither has survived. The first of these is known from the theorist Gaffurius, who wrote in the margins of both his Ext, uetus parvus musicae and Tractatus brevis cantus plani references to a Musica by Du Fay. The citations, however, are very brief and reveal nothing more than information which might be found in any music treatise of

10230-548: The reputation as the greatest composer of the age, his mastery of technique and expression universally imitated and admired. Writers as diverse as Baldassare Castiglione and Martin Luther wrote about his reputation and fame. In Venice , from about 1530 until around 1600, an impressive polychoral style developed, which gave Europe some of the grandest, most sonorous music composed up until that time, with multiple choirs of singers, brass and strings in different spatial locations in

10340-565: The service of Cardinal Louis Aleman , the papal legate. While in Bologna he became a deacon , and by 1428 he was ordained priest. Cardinal Aleman was driven from Bologna by the rival Canedoli family in 1428, and Du Fay also left, going to Rome . He became a member of the Papal Choir, the most prestigious musical establishment in Europe, serving first Pope Martin V , and then after the death of Pope Martin in 1431, Pope Eugene IV . By this time his fame had spread, and he had become one of

10450-403: The subcategories of woodwind instruments. A player may blow across a mouth hole, as in a flute; into a mouthpiece with a single reed, as in a modern-day clarinet or saxophone; or a double reed, as in an oboe or bassoon. All three of these methods of tone production can be found in Renaissance instruments. Beersel Beersel ( Dutch: [ˈbeːrsəl] ) is a municipality in

10560-538: 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 Puerorum in 1411, a highly unusual event for one so young. In June 1414, aged around 16, he had already been given a benefice as chaplain at St. Géry, immediately adjacent to Cambrai where he studied under Nicolas Malin and Richard Loqueville . Later that year, on

10670-449: The system of church modes began to break down entirely, giving way to functional tonality (the system in which songs and pieces are based on musical "keys"), which would dominate Western art music for the next three centuries. From the Renaissance era, notated secular and sacred music survives in quantity, including vocal and instrumental works and mixed vocal/instrumental works. A wide range of musical styles and genres flourished during

10780-533: The taste of the Dukes of Burgundy who employed him, and evidently loved his music accordingly. About half of his extant secular music is found in the Oxford Bodleian Library. Guillaume Du Fay ( c.  1397 –1474) was a Franco-Flemish composer of the early Renaissance. The central figure in the Burgundian School , he was regarded by his contemporaries as the leading composer in Europe in

10890-413: The tenor and most often in longer note values than the other voices. Other sacred genres were the madrigale spirituale and the laude . During the period, secular (non-religious) music had an increasing distribution, with a wide variety of forms, but one must be cautious about assuming an explosion in variety: since printing made music more widely available, much more has survived from this era than from

11000-407: 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 : Du Fay may have been the first composer to use the term "fauxbourdon" for this simpler compositional style, prominent in 15th century liturgical music in general and that of

11110-411: 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 The musical form is aabC for each stanza, with C being

11220-466: The works are the same, while Planchart and Laurenz Lütteken list them separately in their catalogues. Two known depictions of Du Fay survive from his lifetime, both described by Planchart as "simplified likenesses", which "clearly depict the same person". The earlier, and better known, is a miniature of him and Binchois from a manuscript of the poet Martin le Franc's Le champion des dames , dated sometime before 1451. The illustration depicts Du Fay on

11330-589: 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 Du Fay composed the festive motet Nuper rosarum flores , one of his most famous compositions, dedicated to and performed at the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, featuring Filippo Brunelleschi 's renowned dome. Eugene at this time lived in exile at

11440-562: Was also an important madrigalist. His ability to bring together the functional needs of the Catholic Church with the prevailing musical styles during the Counter-Reformation period gave him his enduring fame. The brief but intense flowering of the musical madrigal in England, mostly from 1588 to 1627, along with the composers who produced them, is known as the English Madrigal School . The English madrigals were

11550-470: Was an English composer of the late medieval and early Renaissance music eras. Along with John Dunstaple , he was one of the major figures in English music in the early 15th century. Power is the composer best represented in the Old Hall Manuscript , one of the only undamaged sources of English music from the early 15th century. He was one of the first composers to set separate movements of

11660-507: Was an attempt to revive the dramatic and musical forms of Ancient Greece, through the means of monody , a form of declaimed music over a simple accompaniment; a more extreme contrast with the preceding polyphonic style would be hard to find; this was also, at least at the outset, a secular trend. These musicians were known as the Florentine Camerata . We have already noted some of the musical developments that helped to usher in

11770-591: Was carved onto his tombstone. After the destruction of the cathedral during the French Revolution the tombstone was lost, but it was found in 1859 (it was being used to cover a well), and is now in the Palais des Beaux Arts museum in Lille . Du Fay composed in most of the common forms of the day, including masses , motets , Magnificats , hymns , simple chant settings in fauxbourdon , and antiphons within

11880-511: Was increasingly freed from medieval constraints, and more variety was permitted in range, rhythm, harmony, form, and notation. On the other hand, rules of counterpoint became more constrained, particularly with regard to treatment of dissonances . In the Renaissance, music became a vehicle for personal expression. Composers found ways to make vocal music more expressive of the texts they were setting. Secular music absorbed techniques from sacred music , and vice versa. Popular secular forms such as

11990-469: Was more likely in a ceremonial role, since the records of the chapel never mention him. 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. 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

12100-410: Was one of the first to compose masses using a single melody as cantus firmus . A good example of this technique is his Missa Rex seculorum . He is believed to have written secular (non-religious) music, but no songs in the vernacular can be attributed to him with any degree of certainty. Oswald von Wolkenstein (c. 1376–1445) is one of the most important composers of the early German Renaissance. He

#280719