Guillaume dufay contributions

As the central figure in the Burgundian School , he was the most famous and influential composer in Europe in the mid-fifteenth century. From the evidence of his will, he was probably born in Beersel, in the vicinity of Brussels.

Guillaume dufay compositions

He was the illegitimate child of an unknown priest and a woman named Marie Du Fayt. 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 , and he was listed as a choirboy in the cathedral from to In June , at the age of only 16, he had already been given a benefice as chaplain at St.

Later that year he probably went to the Council of Constance Konstanz , staying possibly until , at which time he returned to Cambrai. From November to , he was a subdeacon at Cambrai Cathedral. In , he left Cambrai again, this time going to Rimini, and possibly Pesaro, where he worked for the family of the House of Malatesta. Although no records survive of his employment there, several compositions of his can be dated to this period.

They contain references which make a residence in Italy reasonably certain.

Guillaume dufay music style

It was there that he met the composers Hugo de Lantins and Arnold de Lantins, who were among the musicians of the House of Malatesta household. In , Dufay again returned to Cambrai, this time because of the illness and subsequent death of the relative with whom his mother was staying. By , however, he had gone back to Italy, this time to Bologna, where he entered the service of Cardinal Louis Aleman, the papal legate.