This Week in Classical Music: July 27, 2020.Dufay’s peregrinations.Guillaume Dufay, the great composer of the Early Renaissance, is unique on at least two accounts: one is his position as the most influential composer of his generation, who was acknowledged as such during his time and retained that position for the following half-millennium.Another is a curiosity: Dufay is one of the very few musicians born in the 14th century whose birthday was “reconstructed” with some certainty.It was done by the musicologist Alejandro Planchart, the foremost scholar of Dufay and his time, who established the date based on the time of Dufay’s ordination, his years as a chorister at Cambrai Cathedral, and events connected with the funding of his obit service.Planchart had determined that Dufay was born on August 5th of 1397 in Beersel, Brabant, not far from Brussels, and moved with his mother to Cambrai, France, soon after.One thing that doesn’t fail to surprise us is the mobility of musicians of the time.We know that in 1420 Dufay went to Rimini where he entered the service of Carlo Malatesta; Rimini is more than 800 miles away from Cambrai, and you have to travel to Geneva, then Turin, Milan and then Bologna in order to get there.After returning to Cambrai, Dufay went to Laon.He then went to Bologna, where he served at the court of Cardinal Louis Aleman.From Bologna Dufay went to Rome, where he served as the papal chaplain.He may have traveled for a brief stay in the Benedictine monastery of Cossonay, near Lausanne. In 1433, Dufay was hired by Duke Amédée VIII of Savoy, and traveled to Chambéry, then the capital of Duchy of Savoy. While in Savoy, Dufay met the composer Gilles Binchois, and the poet and writer on music Martin le Franc, who were working at the court of the Dukes of Burgundy. In 1435 Dufay returned to the papal chapel, which by then moved from Rome to Florence.Two years later, he left the papal employ and returned to Savoy.We know that he went to Lausanne and Basel and two years later entered the service of the Duke of Burgundy.The dukes didn’t have permanent capital and were moving around most of the time, from Dijon to Brussels to Bruges and other cities of the realm, and even though Dufay stayed mainly in Cambrai, we can assume that he also traveled along with the court, at least on some occasions.In the following years Dufay visited other cities, such as Turin, Padua and Mons.Dufay died inCambrai on November 27th of 1474. What makes his travels even more remarkable is that till 1452 the One Hundred Years War was raging between France and England –– and the fighting affected not only France but also Burgundy, making travels that more treacherous.
If you want to read more about Dufay and his time, take a look here and here.
Dufay's travels, 2020
This Week in Classical Music: July 27, 2020. Dufay’s peregrinations. Guillaume Dufay, the great composer of the Early Renaissance, is unique on at least two accounts: one is his position as
the most influential composer of his generation, who was acknowledged as such during his time and retained that position for the following half-millennium. Another is a curiosity: Dufay is one of the very few musicians born in the 14th century whose birthday was “reconstructed” with some certainty. It was done by the musicologist Alejandro Planchart, the foremost scholar of Dufay and his time, who established the date based on the time of Dufay’s ordination, his years as a chorister at Cambrai Cathedral, and events connected with the funding of his obit service. Planchart had determined that Dufay was born on August 5th of 1397 in Beersel, Brabant, not far from Brussels, and moved with his mother to Cambrai, France, soon after. One thing that doesn’t fail to surprise us is the mobility of musicians of the time. We know that in 1420 Dufay went to Rimini where he entered the service of Carlo Malatesta; Rimini is more than 800 miles away from Cambrai, and you have to travel to Geneva, then Turin, Milan and then Bologna in order to get there. After returning to Cambrai, Dufay went to Laon. He then went to Bologna, where he served at the court of Cardinal Louis Aleman. From Bologna Dufay went to Rome, where he served as the papal chaplain. He may have traveled for a brief stay in the Benedictine monastery of Cossonay, near Lausanne. In 1433, Dufay was hired by Duke Amédée VIII of Savoy, and traveled to Chambéry, then the capital of Duchy of Savoy. While in Savoy, Dufay met the composer Gilles Binchois, and the poet and writer on music Martin le Franc, who were working at the court of the Dukes of Burgundy. In 1435 Dufay returned to the papal chapel, which by then moved from Rome to Florence. Two years later, he left the papal employ and returned to Savoy. We know that he went to Lausanne and Basel and two years later entered the service of the Duke of Burgundy. The dukes didn’t have permanent capital and were moving around most of the time, from Dijon to Brussels to Bruges and other cities of the realm, and even though Dufay stayed mainly in Cambrai, we can assume that he also traveled along with the court, at least on some occasions. In the following years Dufay visited other cities, such as Turin, Padua and Mons. Dufay died inCambrai on November 27th of 1474. What makes his travels even more remarkable is that till 1452 the One Hundred Years War was raging between France and England –– and the fighting affected not only France but also Burgundy, making travels that more treacherous.
If you want to read more about Dufay and his time, take a look here and here.