RenaissanceGuillaume Dufay
Guillaume Du Fay grew up in Cambrai, in northern France, more than six hundred years ago.
Guillaume Dufay’s life
The big moments of this life, and what was happening in the world at the same time.
A life at a glance
- 1397👶 Birth
Born around 1397, near Brussels
- 1409📚 Trainingabout age 12
Choirboy at Cambrai cathedral
- 1420🧳 Journeyabout age 23
Leaves for Italy, serving the Malatesta in Rimini and Pesaro
- 1428🎩 Careerabout age 31
Singer in the papal chapel in Rome
- 1429🌍 Meanwhile
Joan of Arc lifts the siege of Orléans
- 1433🎩 Careerabout age 36
Chapel master at the court of Savoy
- 1436🎼 Workabout age 39
Nuper rosarum flores for the dome of Florence Cathedral
- 1453🏛️ Landmarkabout age 56
Fall of Constantinople; he composes a Lamentation
- 1455🎼 Workabout age 58
Missa Se la face ay pale
- 1455🌍 Meanwhile
Gutenberg prints his Bible
- 1460🎼 Workabout age 63
Missa L’homme armé
- 1474🕯️ Deathabout age 77
Dies in Cambrai on 27 November
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Excerpts of up to 90 seconds, freely licensed recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
Once upon a time…
Guillaume Du Fay grew up in Cambrai, in northern France, more than six hundred years ago. As a boy he sang in the cathedral choir and learned to compose.
As a grown-up he went to Italy. He worked for princes, then for the Pope in Rome. In Florence a cathedral with a gigantic dome was being built: Du Fay wrote a special song for the opening celebration!
He made masses in which the same melody comes back in every part, like a common thread. One of them uses a soldiers’ song, “The Armed Man”. After him, dozens of musicians did the same.
At the end of his life he went back to Cambrai. He wrote one last song in which he slipped his own name, like a secret signature.
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