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Guillaume Dufay

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Guillaume Dufay (c.1400 -1474) was an early renaissance composer, and the first of many polyphonic masters from the Low Countries (modern Belgium, the Netherlands, and northern France).

He was not an innovator, with the exception of a few late works, and wrote within a stable tradition. He was one of the last composers to make use of mediaeval techniques such as isorhythm, but one of the first to use the harmonies, phrasing, and expressive melodies characteristic of the early Renaissance. 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 fifteenth century he was universally regarded as the greatest composer of the time, and that belief has largely persisted to the present day. Dufay, who wrote mostly church music, was a priest. His most famous motet is probably Nuper rosarum flores composed for the consecration of the cathedral of Florence in 1436.

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renaissance, early music, classical, medieval, polyphony
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DUFAY: Chansons
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Top Tracks

1	Gloria full track	67
2	Agnus Dei full track	63
3	Kyrie full track	59
4	Adieu ces bons vins de Lannoys full track	44
5	Jubilate Deo full track	33
6	J'ay mis mon cuer full track	27
7	Supremum est mortalibus bonum full track	25
8	Se La Face Ay Pale full track	23
9	Credo full track	16
10	L'homme arme full track	11
11	Ecclesie Militaris	10
12	Nuper Rosarum Flores	9
12	Veni Sancte Spiritus full track	9
14	Par le regard de vos beaux yeux full track	8
14	Urbs beata lerusalem full track	8

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Leefromwalney wrote:
May 2009

It kind of depends where your from man, I'm English so I think the renaissance started a bit later than the the demise of Byzantium, in my country anyway. Whereas Italy was booming in the early 15th century which was kind of the birth of the renaissance period. Epic music though, from an epic time!

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r00dris wrote:
March 2009

The middle ages "officially" ended in 1453 with the fall of Constantinople, so YES, his music is correctly tagged as medieval.

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SirAlecHendrix wrote:
March 2009

besides shaping a "renaissance" style of music as a prolific composer of chansons and mass cycles ('missa'), dufay still wrote many of his works in "medieval" genres, like plainchant and motet (evolved from 14th century 'ars nova'), this makes him kind of a transitional figure IMHO. we only put composers into "era" pigeonholes.

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igOrOGOGO wrote:
January 2009

My mother always told me I shouldn't dust Guillaume Dufay .. igOr .. http://igorogogo.com

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outraradio wrote:
November 2008

it does't make sense any of these categories: early medieval, middle ages, renaissance... and so on.

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SirAlecHendrix wrote:
November 2008

this is early renaissance, the middle ages had passed

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1Sock wrote:
November 2008

I love the sound of early medieval music.

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yoscar wrote:
November 2008

genial =D

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qistinatalib wrote:
October 2008

Se la face ay pale - that song transports me back to the medieval times :P

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ChrHildebrandt wrote:
March 2008

My greatest inspiration come from Dufay - to me his is the master of all times

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Alexonium wrote:
February 2008

Dufay is only one of many composers of this time period,(15th century),who produced some of the most fabulous beautiful music which touches the depths of the human soul,psyche etc.A fab medieval bloke.

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Blessedheart wrote:
January 2008

Just bought 'Chansons'. I've been looking for stuff like this for a long time.

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lucas88 wrote:
October 2006

I love this.

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oleway wrote:
September 2006

Fantastic music.

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Figaro wrote:
August 2006

Curse you hxa7241! Now I got coffee sprayed all over the screen :)

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hxa7241 wrote:
August 2006

Hey, Monsieur Dufay, I bet you never imagined you would be here!

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