Guillaume Dufay | Timeline

Guillaume Du Fay (also Dufay, Du Fayt; 5 August, 1397 – 27 November 1474) was a Franco-Flemish composer of the early Renaissance. A central figure in the Burgundian School, he was regarded by his contemporaries as one of the leading composers in Europe in the mid-15th century. His uniquely contrapuntal and complex motet "Nuper rosarum flores" demonstrates the influential exchange of musical ideas among artists around the world during the early Renaissance period. (Intro from Wikipedia)

August 5, 1397 - Beersel, near Brussels - Guillaume Du Fayt is born

August(?) 1(?), 1409 - Cambrai - Guillaume studies with Rogier de Hesdin during the summer of 1409. Becomes a choirboy in the Cathedral of Cambrai

January(?) 1(?), 1411 - Cambrai - The authorities give him his own copy of Villedieu’s "Doctrinale Puerorum" after being impressed with the boy's gifts
June 1(?), 1414 - St.Géry - 16-year old Dufay is given a benefice as chaplain at St. Géry, immediately adjacent to Cambrai
December(?) 1(?), 1414 - Konstanz (German-Swiss border) - Travels for the Council of Konstanz
January(?) 1(?), 1418 - Cambrai - Returns to Cambrai
November 1(?), 1418 - Cambrai - Becomes a subdeacon at Cambrai Cathedral =(START)
January(?) 1(?), 1420 - Rimini | Pesaro - Departs to Italy - first to Rimini and then to Pesaro
January(?) 1(?), 1424 - Cambrai - Returns to Cambrai
January(?) 1(?), 1426 - Bologna - Returns to Italy and enters service of Cardinal Louis Aleman, the papal legate
January(?) 1(?), 1428 - Rome - Cardinal Aleman is driven from Bologna by the rival Canedoli family in 1428, and Du Fay also leaves, going to Rome. He becomes a member of the Papal Choir, the most prestigious musical establishment in Europe, serving first Pope Martin V
June(?) 1(?), 1428 - Rome - Dufay is ordained a priest
March 3, 1431 - Rome - Begins serving Pope Eugene IV, after the death of Pope Martin. By this time his fame had spread, and he had become one of the most respected musicians in Europe. As a consequence, honors in the form of benefices came to him from churches in his homeland
August 1(?), 1433 - Rome - Dufay departs from Rome
January(?) 1(?), 1434 - Chambéry, Savoy - Dufay is appointed maistre de chappelle in Savoy, where he served Duke Amédée VIII. He had left Rome because of a crisis in the finances of the papal choir while seeking to escape the turbulence and uncertainty during the struggle between the papacy and the Council of Basel
January(?) 1(?), 1435 - Florence - Dufay returns to the service of the papal chapel, but this time it was in Florence – Pope Eugene having been driven from Rome in 1434 by the establishment of an insurrectionary republic there, sympathetic to the Council of Basel and the Conciliar movement
June(?) 1(?), 1435 - Modena - Composition of "Salve flos Tuscae gentis; Vos nunc, motet à quatre voix" and "Mirandas parit haec urbs Florentina puellas, à trois voix"
March 25, 1436 - Florence - Dufay composes the festive motet "Nuper rosarum flores", one of his most famous compositions, which is sung at the dedication of Brunelleschi's dome of the cathedral in Florence, where Eugenius lived in exile
June(?) 1(?), 1436 - Turin - Dufay may have studied at the University of Turin
January(?) 1(?), 1437 - Turin(?) - Obtains a Law Degree
June(?) 1(?), 1437 - Ferrara - During this period Du Fay also begins his long association with the Este family in Ferrara, some of the most important musical patrons of the Renaissance, and with which he probably had become acquainted during the days of his association with the Malatesta family; Rimini and Ferrara are not only geographically close, but the two families were related by marriage, and Dufay composed at least one ballade for Niccolò III, Marquis of Ferrara. In 1437 Du Fay visits the town
January(?) 1(?), 1438 - Modena - Composition of "Magnanimae gentis; Nexus amicitiae, motet à quatre voix"
July 6, 1439 - Cambrai - Returns to Cambrai, after feeling threatened by the spreading conflict between the Papacy and the Council of Basel. He enters the service of the Duke of Burgundy
December 9, 1439 - Cambrai - Present at the general chapter of the Cambrai Cathedral
December 27, 1440 - Cambrai - Receives a delivery of 36 lots of wine for the feast of St.John the Evangelist
January(?) 1(?), 1444 - Cambrai - His mother Marie dies

Dufay (L) and Gilles Binchois (R)

January(?) 1(?), 1445 - Cambrai - Dufay moves into the house of the previous canon
January(?) 1(?), 1446 - Mons - Dufay becomes a canon at St.Waltrudis, where he meets composer Gilles Binchois
April 7, 1449 - (While in Cambrai) - Abdication of the last antipope (Felix V) in 1449, his own former employer Duke Amédée VIII of Savoy
January(?) 1(?), 1450 - Turin - Travels to Turin
October(?) 1(?), 1450 - Cambrai - Returns to Cambrai
January(?) 1(?), 1452 - Chambéry, Savoy - Travels to Savoy again
January(?) 1(?), 1454 - Florence - Composition of "O tres piteux (Lamentatio Sanctae Matris Ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae), motet à quatre voix"
January(?) 1(?), 1458 - Cambrai - Returns to Cambrai after 6 years in Italy. When he returned to Cambrai for his final years, he was appointed canon of the cathedral. He was now the most renowned composer in Europe
January(?) 1(?), 1460 - Cambrai - Writes a Requiem Mass (which is lost today)
November 27, 1474 - Cambrai - Dufay dies after an illness of several weeks, aged 77 =(END)