Description
This volume explores the work of one of medieval music's most important figures, and in so doing presents an extended panorama of musical life in Europe at the end of the middle ages. Guillaume Du Fay rose from obscure beginnings to become the most significant composer of the fifteenth century, a man courted by kings and popes, and this study of his life and career provides a detailed examination of his entire output, including a number of newly discovered works. As well as offering musical analysis, this volume investigates his close association with the Cathedral of Cambrai, and explores how, at a time when music was becoming increasingly professionalised, Du Fay forged his own identity as 'a composer'. This detailed biography will be highly valuable for those interested in the history of medieval and church music, as well as for scholars of Du Fay's musical legacy.
Table of Contents
Volume I. The Life: List of illustrations; List of music examples; List of tables; Acknowledgments; The organization of the Cathedral of Cambrai; A note on currency; List of abbreviations; Prologue; 1. Origins and first years (1397–1414); 2. The beginnings of a musician's career (1414–28); 3. The Papal Chapel and the Court of Savoy (1428–39); 4. At the Cathedral of Cambrai (1439–50); 5. The courtier (1450–58); 6. The last years (1458–74); 7. Epilogue: historical aftermath. Volume II. The Works: List of music examples; List of tables; Acknowledgments; A note on currency; List of abbreviations; 8. Guillermus Du Fay, Musicus; 9. Isorhythmic and mensuration motets; 10. Cantilena, chant paraphrase, and new-style motets; 11. Music for the office; 12. Ordinary movements; 13. The propers; 14. The early mass cycles; 15. The late mass cycles; 16. The songs; Appendices; 1. Choristers and singers in Cambrai in the long fifteenth century; 2. The Magistri puerorum at Cambrai in the fifteenth century; 3. Grammar teachers and Rectores scholarum connected to the Cathedral in the fifteenth century; 4. The last will of Guillaume Du Fay and its probate; Bibliography; Index.
