guillaume dufay

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or Du Fay born 1400 died Nov. 27, 1474, Cambrai, Bishopric of Cambrai Franco-Flemish composer, principal composer of the Burgundian school. As a boy he sang in the choir of Cambrai Cathedral. Ordained a priest, he acquired a high reputation for learnedness. In 1428 he joined the papal singers in Rome, by which time his works had made him famous. He returned to Cambrai 1440, where he would supervise the cathedral's music for the rest of his life, apart from a period (1451-58) working for the duke of Savoy. Many musicians came to learn under him, and he enjoyed renown as the greatest living composer. His surviving works, which employ a richly harmonic texture, include some 90 chansons, 13 motets, and at least 6 complete masses, including such early cantus-firmus works as L'Homme armé and Se la face ay pale