Guillaume Du Fay

Lore & Background

Du Fay's birth and family are 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. For 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 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 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, 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.

Reader's Guide

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, resulting in 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. His life is better documented than 'almost any other [European] composer of the 15th century', thanks to the thorough record keeping of the institutions he associated with and the many biographical or historical anecdotes integrated in his compositions. Modern scholarship generally spells 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 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 the composer altered the spelling while active in Italy.

Did You Know?

• Du Fay was probably the illegitimate child of a priest and a woman named Marie Du Fayt.
• He was given his own copy of Villedieu's Doctrinale Puerorum in 1411, a highly unusual event for one so young.
• Du Fay wrote the motet Nuper Rosarum Flores to celebrate the consecration of Filippo Brunelleschi's dome for the Florence Cathedral in 1436.
• He held a university law degree, likely granted by papal fiat, as there is no evidence he studied law at Bologna.
• Du Fay's parents spelt their surname as 'Du Fayt', but he altered the spelling while active in Italy.

A Cosmopolitan Career Across Europe

Du Fay's professional life was defined by constant movement. After his formative years in Cambrai, he spent roughly a decade shuttling between courts and institutions across Western Europe. He served as a subdeacon in Cambrai, then traveled to Italy to work under Carlo I Malatesta in Rimini and for the House of Malatesta in Pesaro. In Bologna, he entered the service of Cardinal Louis Aleman, where he was ordained priest. His fame eventually drew him to Rome in 1428, where he joined the papal choir under Popes Martin V and Eugene IV. When political and financial turmoil gripped Rome in the 1430s, he took leave to serve Amadeus VIII, Duke of Savoy. He later returned to Italy, joined the papal court in Bologna, and was associated with the House of Este in Ferrara. After eleven years in Cambrai serving Philip the Good, he settled there permanently in 1458. This relentless geographic mobility produced what scholars call a cosmopolitan style, drawing on the musical traditions of every region he touched.

Mysterious Origins and a Cathedral Education

Du Fay's birth circumstances remain uncertain. He was probably the illegitimate child of an unknown priest and a woman named Marie Du Fayt, likely born in Beersel near Brussels. His mother moved with him to Cambrai, where they stayed with a relative who held a canonry at the cathedral. This family connection to Cambrai Cathedral is the sole reason so much is known about his early years, since the institution kept meticulous records of all affiliated persons. His musical talent was quickly recognized by cathedral authorities, who provided him with thorough training. He studied with Rogier de Hesdin in the summer of 1409, was listed as a choirboy from 1409 to 1412, and studied under Nicolas Malin and Richard Loqueville. In 1411, the authorities gave him his own copy of Villedieu's Doctrinale Puerorum, a highly unusual gesture for a boy so young. By June 1414, at around sixteen, he already held a chaplaincy at St. Géry. That same year, he likely traveled to the Council of Konstanz, where he met members of the Malatesta court he would later serve.

Defining Works and a Shifting Artistic Focus

Du Fay's compositional output spanned virtually every polyphonic genre of his era, and his most celebrated works mark distinct phases of his career. In Rome, he wrote motets including Balsamus et munda cera, Ecclesie militantis, and Supremum est mortalibus. His most admired composition, the complex motet Nuper Rosarum Flores, was written in 1436 to celebrate the consecration of Filippo Brunelleschi's dome for the Florence Cathedral. In his final Cambrai years, his artistic focus shifted markedly: he moved away from song and motet toward English-inspired cyclic masses based on cantus firmus. This late period produced the Missa Ave regina celorum, the Missa Ecce ancilla Domini, the Missa L'Homme armé, and the Missa Se la face ay pale. He also composed a requiem, now lost, during these years. His style synthesized the contenance angloise of John Dunstaple with the famous Missa Caput tradition and techniques of younger contemporaries, creating a richly layered musical language that set new standards for European polyphony.

Legacy, Influence, and the Composer as Profession

Du Fay occupies a unique position in music history as a leading figure of the first generation of European musicians primarily identified as composers by occupation. His music was widely performed and reproduced across the continent, and he was regarded as the leading European composer of his time. Though closely associated with the Burgundian School and his colleague Gilles Binchois, he was never a regular member of the Burgundian chapel. In his final Cambrai years, he met and directly influenced the leading musicians of his generation, including Antoine Busnois, Loyset Compère, Johannes Tinctoris, and particularly Johannes Ockeghem. His extensive oeuvre, shaped by his peripatetic career, represented virtually every polyphonic genre of the fifteenth century. He is among the best-documented composers of his era, owing to the thorough record-keeping of the institutions he served and the biographical anecdotes woven into his compositions. Archival evidence also revealed that his parents spelled the surname Du Fayt, but the composer altered the spelling during his Italian years.

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