The land of the lemon trees

Donald Macleod tells how Guillaume Dufay enchants a noble Italian family and avoids falling foul of warring factions, with music including one of his most famous songs, Vergene Bella.

The beauty, originality and technical mastery of Guillaume Dufay’s music illustrate why the Florentine ruler Piero de’Medici gave him the epithet “the greatest ornament of our age”. Undoubtedly he is one of the 15th century’s most distinctive voices. He was in his late 70s by the time he died in 1474; a long life by medieval standards. His outstanding talent transported him from an uncertain start in life as the illegitimate son of a servant and an unknown man, to being a musician who was feted at court, and respected by the church and the papacy alike. As his fame spread across Europe, he commanded the admiration of his fellow composers, influencing not only his direct contemporaries but also the generation of composers who succeeded him, among them Johannes Ockeghem.

Donald Macleod is joined by William Lyons, a historical music researcher and artistic director of the ensemble The Dufay Collective. Pulling together what’s known about Dufay, across the series of five programmes, they build a picture of the man behind this illustrious figure, assess the key relationships he fostered, and consider how his music flourished as he navigated the turbulent political currents of the age.

Thanks, presumably, to his reputation preceding his arrival, it isn't too long before Dufay's name is linked with one of the most important noble families in Northern Italy. Then, when another of his employers, no less a personage than the Pope is forcibly expelled from Bologna, the enterprising Dufay is able to use his connections to return to the relative calm of Rome.

Adieu ces bons vins de Lannoys
The Orlando Consort

Missa Sine Nomine - Kyrie & Gloria
Cantica Symphonia
Giuseppe Maletto, director

Ballade: Resvelliés-vous et faites chiere lye
Diabolus in Musica
Antoine Guerber, director

Vasilissa ergo gaude
Huelgas Ensemble
Paul van Nevel, director

O Sancte Sebastiane
La Reverdie

Missa Sancti Jacobi - Sanctus, Agnus Dei
Capella Pratensis
Rebecca Stewart

Vergene Bella
The Hilliard Ensemble

La Belle se siet
Cantica Symphonia
Giuseppe Maletto, director