Guillaume Dufay (1397–1474)
Born 1397 CE, died 1474 CE.
Guillaume Du Fay ( dyoo-FEYE, French: [ɡijom dy fa(j)i]; also Dufay, Du Fayt; 5 August 1397 – 27 November 1474) was a composer and music theorist of early Renaissance music, who is variously described as French or Franco-Flemish. Considered the leading European composer of his time, his music was widely performed and reproduced. Du Fay was well-associated with composers of the Burgundian School, particularly his colleague Gilles Binchois, but was never a regular member of the Burgundian chapel himself. While he is among the best-documented composers of his time, 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.
Text from the Wikipedia article Guillaume_Du_Fay, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.