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.
- Provides a detailed biography of one of the most important musicians of the fifteenth century, exploring how the increasing professionalization of music enabled Du Fay to construct his own identity as 'a composer'
- Offers an in-depth examination of all of Du Fay's music, including a number of recently discovered works, with numerous examples
- Presents the most complete description yet of the workings of the Cathedral of Cambrai, one of the major musical institutions of the fifteenth century, which will benefit scholars of both music and liturgy
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Awards
- Winner, 2019 PROSE Award for Music and the Performing Arts
Reviews & endorsements
'… Guillaume Du Fay: The Life and Works is a wonderful and important book. Anyone who has any interest in fifteenth century music will be consulting it for many decades into the future.' Julie E. Cumming, Revue de musicology

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Product details
- Date Published: September 2018
- format: Multiple copy pack
- isbn: 9781107166158
- length: 950 pages
- dimensions: 273 x 206 x 100 mm
- weight: 2.46kg
- contains: 15 b/w illus. 36 tables 69 music examples
- availability: In stock
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.
Look Inside
Author
Alejandro Enrique Planchart, University of California, Santa Barbara
Alejandro Planchart's wide-ranging and distinguished career as composer, conductor and scholar began in Caracas, Venezuela and took him via Yale and Harvard to the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he is now Emeritus Professor. In 1963 he founded an early music ensemble, Cappella Cordina, with whom he issued a pioneering series of recordings of medieval and renaissance music. His book The Repertory of Tropes at Winchester (1977) won the Gustave O. Arlt Award in the Humanities in 1979. In 2006 he received the Howard M. Brown Award from Early Music America and in 2013 he received the Medal of the City of Tours. He was also winner, in 2009, of the Arion Prize from the Cambridge Society for Early Music for his work on Guillaume Du Fay, of which this book is the long-awaited summation.
Awards
- Winner, 2019 PROSE Award for Music and the Performing Arts

This title is available for institutional purchase via Cambridge Core

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Guillaume Du Fay
The Life and Works
2 Volume Hardback Set