Guillaume Dufay

Guillaume Dufay (c. 1400-1474), French composer, who was one of the early masters of counterpoint, especially four-part music, and was influential in establishing the smooth harmonic idiom of Renaissance composition. He was born possibly in the town of Bersele, near Brussels. As a young priest and chorister he lived in Italy and France, and during most of the years 1428-1437 he was a singer in the papal chapel in Rome. In 1436 he was made canon of the Cathedral of Cambrai, but 18 years at the courts of Savoy and Burgundy elapsed before he made Cambrai his permanent residence and a renowned centre for music. Among his compositions are magnificats, masses, motets, and chansons.

The motet Nuper rosarum flores, written for the dedication of Florence cathedral in 1436, has a structure directly related to the proportions of the newly completed cathedral dome designed by Brunelleschi. Among Dufay's most notable masses is his setting based on the secular melody 'L'homme armé', which was to become one of the most frequently used tunes in mass settings (ultimately about 40 'L'homme armé' masses were composed). Through his influence he helped establish the predominance of warmer, triadic harmony, emphasizing the intervals of the third and sixth (a tendency derived from English composers of the time) rather than the more austere fourths and fifths that had prevailed until then.