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SEE ALL THERE IS TO KNOW
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CONTRIBUTORS
Jessica Duchen Malcolm Hayes Andrew Stewart Richard Wigmore
studied music at Cambridge and has is a composer and writer. His Violin studied musicology at King’s College is a music writer, lecturer, and
worked in music journalism and Concerto was performed at the 2016 London and has written about classical broadcaster specializing in opera and
criticism for national newspapers and BBC Proms; his books include music as a journalist and author for more Lieder. His books include Schubert: The
specialist magazines for 30 years. Her biographies of Liszt and Webern, and than 30 years. He is an experienced Complete Song Texts, the Faber Pocket
output also includes numerous books, an edition of the Selected Letters of choir trainer and conductor. Guide to Haydn, and many articles for
opera libretti, and stage works. William Walton. music dictionaries and encyclopedias.
Marcus Weeks
R.G. Grant Diana Loxley is a writer and musician. He studied Iain Zaczek
has written extensively in the fields is a freelance editor and writer, music, philosophy, and musical studied French and history at
of history, biography, and culture. His and a former managing editor of instrument technology and worked as a Wadham College, Oxford University.
recent works include Sentinels of the a publishing company in London. teacher before embarking on a career He has written more than 30 books
Sea and contributions to Music: The She has a doctorate in literature. as an author. He has written and on various aspects of culture,
Definitive Visual History and Writers: contributed to many books on history, and art.
Their Lives and Works. philosophy, literature, and the arts.

PAGE 1 GRAND PIANO BY MANUEL PAGE 2 ISABELLA ANGELA COLBRAN, PAGE 3 THE FIVE SENSES: HEARING, ▷ MICHEL DE LA BARRE CONDUCTING,
ANTUNES, LISBON, 1767 JOHANN HEINRICH SCHMIDT, 1817 ABRAHAM BOSSE, c. 1635 ANDRE BOUYS, c. 1710
008 Preface

CHAPTER 1 CHAPTER 2 CHAPTER 3 CHAPTER 4

Before 17th & Early 19th Late 19th
1600 18th Century Century
Centuries
012 Guido d’Arezzo 036 Claudio Monteverdi 086 Luigi Cherubini 134 Richard Wagner

014 Hildegard of Bingen 040 Francesca Caccini 088 Ludwig van Beethoven 138 Giuseppe Verdi

018 Guillaume Dufay 042 Barbara Strozzi 094 Niccolò Paganini 142 Clara Schumann

020 Thomas Tallis 044 Arcangelo Corelli 096 Gioachino Rossini 144 César Franck

022 Giovanni da Palestrina 046 Henry Purcell 100 Franz Schubert 146 Bedřich Smetana

024 Orlande de Lassus 048 Antonio Vivaldi 104 Gaetano Donizetti 148 Anton Bruckner

026 William Byrd 052 Georg Philipp Telemann 106 Vincenzo Bellini 152 Johann Strauss II

028 Carlo Gesualdo 054 Jean-Philippe Rameau 108 Hector Berlioz 154 Alexander Borodin

030 John Dowland 056 Johann Sebastian Bach 112 Fanny Mendelssohn 156 Johannes Brahms

032 Directory 062 Domenico Scarlatti 114 Felix Mendelssohn 160 Camille Saint-Saëns

064 George Frideric Handel 118 Frédéric Chopin 162 Georges Bizet

068 Christoph Willibald Gluck 122 Robert Schumann 164 Modest Mussorgsky

070 Joseph Haydn 126 Franz Liszt 166 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

074 Muzio Clementi 130 Directory 170 AntonÍn Dvořák

076 Wolfgang Amadeus 174 Edvard Grieg

Mozart
178 Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
082 Directory
180 Gabriel Fauré

182 Giacomo Puccini

186 Gustav Mahler

190 Claude Debussy

194 Directory
 CONTENTS
CHAPTER 5 CHAPTER 6
Early 20th Late 20th
Century & 21st
Centuries
198 Leoš JanáČek 236 Charles Ives 274 JoaquÍn Rodrigo

200 Edward Elgar 238 Maurice Ravel 276 William Walton

204 Ethel Smyth 242 Manuel de Falla 278 Michael Tippett

206 Frederick Delius 244 Béla BartÓk 280 Olivier Messiaen

208 Richard Strauss 248 Igor Stravinsky 284 Benjamin Britten

212 Carl Nielsen 252 Heitor Villa-Lobos 288 Witold Lutosławski

214 Jean Sibelius 254 Sergei Prokofiev 290 Leonard Bernstein

218 Erik Satie 258 Lili Boulanger 292 GyÖrgy Ligeti

222 Ralph Vaughan Williams 260 George Gershwin 294 Karlheinz Stockhausen

226 Sergei Rachmaninoff 262 Francis Poulenc 296 Tōru Takemitsu

230 Gustav Holst 264 Dmitri Shostakovich 298 Alfred Schnittke

232 Arnold Schoenberg 268 Directory 300 Arvo Pärt

302 Philip Glass

304 Judith Weir

306 Directory

310 Glossary

312 Index

319 Acknowledgments
008 PREFACE

Preface

Around the year 600, the great scholar St. Isidore of Seville lamented and Austria seeing a glorious sequence of illustrious composers, from
that “unless sounds are remembered by man, they perish, for they Bach onward, that is unmatched anywhere else, while Vienna emerged
cannot be written down.” In fact, the Babylonians and the Ancient as the undisputed musical capital of the world.
Greeks had independently invented systems of musical notation more During the 19th century, the range of countries producing
than a thousand years earlier, but after the decay of their civilizations outstanding composers expanded greatly, with Russia, eastern Europe,
these methods had been completely forgotten. This meant that for and Scandinavia all coming to the fore; and from the 20th century, the
many centuries, the only way of preserving a musical composition distribution has become truly worldwide, with the US prominent and
was through a continuous tradition of performance, passing it on such diverse places as Australia, Brazil, Canada, and Japan figuring
from generation to generation. among the two dozen countries whose composers are represented
However, a century or so after St. Isidore’s time, monks started in this book.
experimenting with ways of making a written record of the chants Just as the geographical spread of composers has increased
they sang, and in the 11th century the most important of these pioneers, enormously over the centuries, so the type of work they produce has
Guido d’Arezzo, laid the basis of the system of notation we use today. become much more varied. In the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church was
This gives him such a momentous role in musical history that he the most widespread and influential institution in the Western world;
features as the first subject in this book. There had been composers music—like the visual arts—was dominated by religion, and many
before Guido, but it is only after him that their works and personalities leading composers devoted themselves mainly to settings of the words
really survive. of the Mass, the central church ceremony commemorating the death
Like Guido, several of the early composers included here were and resurrection of Christ. However, the Renaissance brought increasing
Italians, and another concentration of musical genius was found in secularization to the arts, expressed in new forms such as opera, which
France and neighboring Flanders. England, too, had an impressive was born in Italy around 1600, and subsequently the scope of music
musical tradition in the late Middle Ages and Renaissance. In the has expanded not only in genre but also in style and in the range of
18th century, the balance of power decisively shifted, with Germany instruments and other sound sources used.
 PREFACE 009

The lives of some of the earlier figures covered in this book are sparsely Some composers have sought solitude, but others have lived their lives
documented, but for many others there is a rich fund of biographical on the public stage—for example, Mendelssohn, the prototype of the
information. The popular “Hollywood” image of the great composer has modern international star musician, who numbered Queen Victoria and
been created largely by a handful of the giants of 19th-century music Prince Albert among his friends. Several have been directly affected by
whose lives are the stuff of legend: Beethoven, the proud, rebellious political events: William Byrd and Thomas Tallis had to steer careful
outsider, increasingly isolated by deafness; Berlioz, pouring his courses through the dangerous waters of the English Reformation, and
unrequited passion for a beautiful actress into one of the most original both Prokofiev and Shostakovich were forced to toe the party line in
of all symphonies; Chopin, the exquisite poet of the piano whose career Stalin’s repressive Soviet Union.
was blighted by debilitating illness; Tchaikovsky, whose turbulent Some of this book’s subjects had lamentably short careers, notably
personal life and puzzling death continue to inspire speculation; and Lili Boulanger, who suffered ill health from infancy and was only 24
Wagner, whose colossal ego was matched by his colossal creative when she died. The deaths of several other composers are known or
energy and originality. believed to have been hastened by syphilis (Delius, Donizetti, Schubert,
Not all composers have been such memorable personalities, of and Smetana among them), and Mussorgsky is perhaps the most
course, but there are nevertheless many remarkable characters among famous example of a composer whose life was cut short by alcoholism.
them—the lesser-known figures as well as the household names. At the opposite extreme are those who ended their days at a ripe age
They include Carlo Gesualdo, the Italian nobleman who brutally and loaded with honors: Rodrigo and Tippett lived well into their
murdered his wife and her lover but escaped punishment for the nineties, and Saint-Saëns, Stravinsky, and Verdi into their late eighties.
crime; Erik Satie, regarded as a kind of patron saint of eccentricity; The varied lives and achievements of these extraordinary men and
and the formidable Ethel Smyth, a feminist heroine not only because women are celebrated in this book and set within wider historical and
she achieved success in a male-dominated world but also because cultural contexts. Their friendships, loves, rivalries, key influences,
she was a prominent figure in the suffragette movement and was and working methods are all part of the stories of how they created
imprisoned for her activism. the masterpieces that speak to us so eloquently across the centuries.
BEFORE
1600
Guido d’Arezzo 012

CHAPTER 1
Hildegard of Bingen 014
Guillaume Dufay 018
Thomas Tallis 020
Giovanni da Palestrina 022
Orlande de Lassus 024
William Byrd 026
Carlo Gesualdo 028
John Dowland 030
Directory 032
012

▷ GUIDO D’AREZZO, FRESCO

This 19th-century fresco in the Chigiana
Music Academy in Tuscany, Italy, shows
the famous Italian monk and music
theorist as an inspirational teacher.

Guido d’Arezzo
c. 991–c. 1033, ITALIAN
While serving as a Benedictine monk, Guido developed innovative
methods for learning the chants of the services, as well as a system
of writing music on which modern Western notation is based.
 GUIDO D’AREZZO 013

Born in the city-state of Arezzo, some

50 miles (80 km) south of Florence, ON TECHNIQUE
in about 990 ce, Guido Monaco became From neumes to staff
known as Guido d’Arezzo as his fame
spread throughout the world of Italian
notation
church music. Little is known about The numerous chants of the Catholic
his family or early life, except that Church were originally learned by
rote by the monks and then passed
he was educated at the Benedictine on orally. However, from around the
abbey of Pomposa on the northeast 9th century, graphic symbols, known
coast of Italy, and served there as a as neumes, began to appear above
monk when he was young. the texts to suggest the shape of the
melody. In time, these were placed
on a horizontal line representing
Solving problems a pitch, such as C or F. Guido is
At Pomposa, Guido showed great credited with the idea of using four
musical talent and, noticing the lines (which were later expanded to
the familiar five-line staff) to identify
difficulties the monks had in learning the precise pitch of each note.
the plainsong melodies, gained a
reputation as an inspirational teacher. 12TH-CENTURY MUSIC NOTATION SHOWING DIASTEMATIC
OR HEIGHTENED NEUMES AND A SINGLE-LINE STAFF
He also studied music theory and
developed ways to improve the
singers’ ability to learn the chants Although these new techniques made invited by the pope to Rome in 1028,
by heart, using a sketchy system learning and performing easier, many but ill health restricted his activities
of notation as a study aid. of the monks at Pomposa disliked until his death some five years later.
Guido realized that this arduous Guido's innovation, and he left the
process could be made considerably abbey in about 1025. He returned to Legacy and influence
simpler by employing mnemonics— Arezzo, where the bishop appointed Guido was not, strictly speaking,
assigning each note of the scale a him as a teacher to the choristers of a significant composer (his only
name (associated with the melody the cathedral, and commissioned him known original work is the hymn
of a hymn to John the Baptist to write a treatise on the principles of that he used as a teaching aid), but
that he composed specially for his musical theories and to compile his principles of musical education
the purpose). He also visualized a collection of antiphons to present and the development of staff notation
these names as if mapped on to Pope John XIX. had profound influence. With a system
the joints of a hand, dramatically Guido completed his Micrologus of precise notation, musicians could ▽ 16TH-CENTURY GUIDONIAN HAND
shortening the time it took to learn de disciplina artis musicae (Treatise perform more complex music, and Guido created his notated-hand system
new chants, and devised a way on the teaching of the art of music) even produce original compositions, so that, in his words, “any intelligent
of writing music as marks on the in about 1026—it soon became the knowing that these could be and diligent person” could learn a chant.
This 16th-century example is complete
staff or stave (a system of parallel standard text for music theory and accurately reproduced. A written
with solmization syllables (re, mi, fa, for
horizontal lines), indicating the education in the Middle Ages. His record of the music meant that it was example)—syllables that are attributed
precise pitch of each note. reputation spread, and he was possible to distribute ideas widely to the notes in a musical scale.
and quickly. It is no exaggeration to
say that Guido ushered in the age
of Western classical composers.

◁ AERIAL VIEW OF POMPOSA ABBEY

The imposing bell tower of Pomposa
Abbey, where Guido spent several years
of his life, dominates the spectacular
Codigoro landscape in northeast Italy.
 HILDEGARD OF BINGEN 015

Hildegard of Bingen
1098–1179, GERMAN
A mystic, composer, scholar, theologian, preacher, and scientist,
Hildegard was an astonishingly gifted woman, whose musical works
are hailed as among the most accomplished of the Middle Ages.

Hildegard of Bingen—also known capital—unlike the Spanheims, lived in small stone cells, isolated
as St. Hildegard and the Sibyl of the who were an extremely wealthy, from the monks. By 1115, Hildegard
Rhine—was born in 1098 in a small influential family in the region. had taken her vows and, on Jutta’s △ MONASTERY OF DISIBODENBERG
village in the Rhineland (now Western The placement helped to secure death in 1136, succeeded Jutta as Hildegard began her life of religious
Germany), possibly Bermersheim, to their daughter’s future stability. abbess. Hildegard spent almost devotion at the Disibodenberg monastery
in the Rhineland when she was just 14
a noble, although not hugely wealthy, In 1112, after living together for six half her life at Disibodenberg. years old. She stayed there for 40 years.
landowning family. She is thought to years, the two young women began a Her assistant there was the learned
have been the last of 10 children. highly reclusive, intensely religious life Volmar, a monk and scribe who, in
Even as a child, Hildegard was at the (male) Benedictine monastery of accordance with standard monastic
exceptional. From the age of five Disibodenberg at Odernheim (see box, practice, became her secretary and
she began to have visions that, many below), which soon after extended to helped to document her visions. He
years later, came to assume great include a small nunnery, or convent, was also her spiritual guide, confessor,
spiritual significance in her life where Jutta became abbess. The nuns and companion. His death in 1173,
(see p.16), and that she eventually
documented via her own striking
illustrations, music, and a series of IN CONTEXT
accomplished theological works. Challenging elite
monasticism
A life of devotion
Monasteries were hugely influential
In 1106, at the age of eight, Hildegard institutions in Europe at the time of
was placed under the guidance of Hildegard’s birth and had exerted
Jutta of Spanheim (1092–1136), a their impact on economic, political,
hugely devout young noblewoman, and spiritual life. Monks and nuns
were often from privileged families
who taught her Latin and the Psalms. and wielded tremendous power in the
The decision to place Hildegard region, which led to corruption and
in Jutta’s care was doubtless as excessive wealth. Challenges to this
much a financial as an educational system emerged in the 12th century
by, for example, the Cistercians—a
or religious decision on the part of religious order that advocated manual
her parents, who did not have great labor for monks and nuns—and by
the religious leader Peter Waldo,
who renounced his wealth, calling
◁ HILDEGARD OF BINGEN for voluntary poverty.
Hildegard challenged patriarchy via
the Church, her music, and her books CISTERCIAN MONKS AND NUNS
on topics from theology and the natural LABORING IN THE FIELDS
world to medicine and sexuality.

“ [Music is] the sacred sound through

which all creation resounds. ”
HILDEGARD OF BINGEN
016 BEFORE 1600

six years before her own, would At the age of 60, Hildegard to be inextricably connected: “The
have been a great personal and began a series of preaching tours words symbolize the body, and
professional loss for her. in Germany that focused on her the … music indicates the spirit.”
In 1141 Hildegard recorded a vision visions and spiritual insights— Music was fundamental to life in
of a “… mass of fiery light of the a bold and courageous decision the cloisters and Hildegard would
greatest brightness pouring down for a woman of that period in have been familiar with chant genres,
from the heavens. It enveloped my a ferociously patriarchal world. including Gregorian chant (the
brain and my heart was kindled Among Hildegard’s passions plainsong or liturgical chant of
with a flame that … warmed me and numerous talents was music: medieval church music), and may
as the sun warms the earth.” This paradise, for her, was to be filled have been exposed to some secular
powerful experience, which she with it. She maintained that her music (see box, opposite). She would
claimed to be divine intervention, compositions “completed” her visions. also probably have been aware of the
prompted her to make public Her pieces always combine music work of the 11th-century German
her visions—in part, via her and words—she perceived the two composers and theorists Hermanus
theological texts. The most
acclaimed of these are: Scivias
(Know the Way, 1141–1151), thought
to have been illustrated by Hildegard
△ THE UNIVERSE AND COSMIC MAN herself, which discusses creation,
This 13th-century illustration of a redemption, and salvation; the Book of
human astride the spheres that form Life’s Merits (1158–1163), an exchange
the universe is from Hildegard’s Book of
Divine Works (1163–1174). In this text, she between virtue and vice; and her last
set out, among other things, her theories great visionary text, Book of Divine
of man and the cosmos—all of which Works (1163–1174), which outlines
spring from the basic (early Greek) the author’s theories on cosmology.
premise that humans are composed
of the same elements that form the
world: earth, water, air, and fire. New directions
The revelations about her visions
brought Hildegard considerable
fame and numerous converts,
inspiring her to found her own
convent at Rupertsberg near
Bingen (from where her name is
derived) around 1148. She also
later founded a second monastery,
at Eibingen, on the hillside above
Rüdesheim on the east bank of the
Rhine, but never lived there.

▷ HILDEGARD RECEIVING A VISION

In this medieval illustration, Hildegard
of Bingen is depicted (left), during one
of her visionary experiences, receiving
divine inspiration. She is accompanied
by her assistant, the scribe and prior
Volmar. A shaft of bright light from
Heaven is shown descending on her
head as she documents the extraordinary
experience on a tablet.
 HILDEGARD OF BINGEN 017

“ I am the fiery life of divine substance,

I blaze above… the fields, I shine in the
waters, I burn in the sun, moon, and stars. ”
HILDEGARD OF BINGEN

Contractus and Berno of Reichenau.

However, as Hildegard indicates in her IN CONTEXT
writings, she was largely uneducated Poet-musicians of the
and had never studied music, form,
or composition. Her work, by all
12th century
accounts, was propelled by her As well as her undoubted knowledge
visionary experiences. The literary of Gregorian chant and the religious
music of the day, Hildegard may have
scholar and linguist Mark Atherton
been familiar with the trouvères,
has suggested that Hildegard’s aristocratic poet-composers, who
technique departs substantially from were active in southern Europe
the accepted conventions of Gregorian in the 12th century, and whose
lyrics were sung, often by the poets
plainsong: “Her melody often ranges
themselves, sometimes with an
over two octaves, frequently leaping instrumental accompaniment.
suddenly from a low note to a high, Hildegard would also certainly
varying its short phrases and motifs, have heard of the minnesänger, or
minnesingers, traveling singers of
and lingering on one syllable as it
northern Europe, and of their famous
ascends and descends.” composer-performer Walther von
Hildegard’s compositions extend der Vogelweide (c. 1170–c. 1230), who
from flamboyant early works and wrote poems on politics and love, and
whose delightful and best-known
sensual pieces to the more restrained and humming the songs, or if she’s △ RUPERTSBERG MONASTERY
work, “Under the Linden Tree,”
chants of later years. Rooted in perhaps humming and writing The monastery at Rupertsberg in Bingen, resembles the song of a nightingale.
liturgical practice and dated between them down on a white tablet, with on the junction of the Rhine and Nahe
rivers, was founded by Hildegard in
c. 1140 and c. 1160, they include a final version then being written by c. 1148. It was destroyed in 1632 by the
devotional songs, antiphons, elaborate someone else on slate or parchment … Swedish army in the Thirty Years’ War.
responsories, hymns, and sequences We don’t know if the words come first,
for the Mass. Her most famous or if the words and the music grow
compositions are her version of together in an organic development.” little attention—it is only since the
opera, Ordo virtutum (Order of the 1980s that Hildegard’s pioneering
Virtues, c. 1150)—a morality play A pioneering woman achievements in this field have
set to music, with 82 melodies—and Hildegard of Bingen died in 1179 been recognized. Her legacy also
her 77 liturgical chants, Symphonia at her monastery in Rupertsberg. extends to an impressive body
armonie celestium revelationum She was canonized by Pope Benedict of writing on medicine, science,
(Symphony of the Harmony of XVI in 2012. During her lifetime, cosmology, and the natural world.
Heavenly Revelations, c. 1158). she was revered as a visionary She has acquired almost iconic
According to Christopher Page, prophet, but her extreme seclusion status in some circles, particularly MINSTRELS, FROM THE CODEX OF THE
a scholar of medieval music, “We and the fact that she was a woman within feminism, and is the subject of CANTIGAS DE SANTA MARIA, c. 1280
don’t know if Hildegard is sitting meant that her music received great popular and scholarly interest.

KEY WORKS

1141–51 c. 1150 c. 1158 1158–63 1163–74

Writes Scivias (Know Composes a type of Composes Symphonia Writes the Book of Compiles her
the Way), her first opera, Ordo virtutum armonie celestium Life’s Merits, which masterpiece,
remarkable visionary (Order of the Virtues), revelationum stages a dialogue Book of Divine
and theological a play set to music. (Symphony of the between good Works, the final
manuscript. Harmony of Heavenly and evil. text on her visions.
Revelations).
018 BEFORE 1600

Guillaume Dufay
c.1397–1474, FRENCH
The foremost composer of the Burgundian School in the 15th century,
IN PROFILE
Dufay perfected his craft while working in Italy, developing an elegant Philip the Good
style that bridged the transition from medieval to Renaissance. The court of the dukes of Burgundy
was famous for its patronage of the
arts, in particular during the reign of
Philip III (known as Philip the Good),
The illegitimate son of a priest, music at the cathedral, and also made
from 1419 to his death in 1467.
Guillaume Dufay was probably connections with the court of Philip Under his benevolent and liberal
born in 1397 in Beersel, near the Good of Burgundy (see box, right). rule, Flemish artists such as Jan
Brussels (then in the Burgundian van Eyck flourished, and Franco-
Flemish composers, including Dufay
Netherlands). His father’s identity A new style of music and Gilles Binchois (both almost
remains unknown. Guillaume Dufay was considered to be one of the exact contemporaries of the duke),
was brought up by his mother, finest composers in Europe at that established an influential “school”
and adopted her name of Du Fayt, time, known for both his sacred and of composition, which also attracted
musicians from England and France.
later also spelled Du Fay or Dufay. his secular compositions. He pioneered
While Guillaume was still a the composition of complete Masses
child, he moved with his mother to based on a single chant or melody
Cambrai to live with a relative who (“cyclical” Masses)—often the tune of
was a canon at the cathedral. In 1409, a popular secular song, or one of his
through this connection, he became own chansons. With his colleague
a cathedral chorister and began his Gilles Binchois, he established a
musical education in earnest. He highly distinctive Burgundian early-
rose through the ranks of the clergy Renaissance style, moving away from
to become a subdeacon. the austerity of medieval music and
△ MUSICAL CODEX, 1420s introducing the lyricism of Italian
Travels in Italy An early-15th-century illuminated melodies, as well as the contenance
In 1420, Dufay traveled to Italy to page from a manuscript written angloise, or “English manner”—the
by Dufay that is an important
take up a post in the service of the source for his early works. sweeter harmonies of English
Malatesta family in Rimini. This composers such as John Dunstaple.
allowed him to further his career in Dufay still had hopes of settling
the Church and to broaden his musical chapelle (choirmaster) in the court of in Italy, and in 1449 he went back to
horizons, coming into contact with the Savoy, under Duke Amédée VIII (later Turin and Savoy in search of a post
latest developments of the nascent Antipope Felix V); then at the papal for his retirement years. However, PHILIP III OF BURGUNDY, AFTER ROGIER
Italian Renaissance musical style. chapel in Florence; and finally in the the political situation was still volatile, VAN DER WEYDEN, c. 1445
From Rimini, he moved to Bologna, service of the Este family in Ferrara. so he returned to the Burgundy court
where he was ordained as a priest Throughout the 1430s, political in Cambrai again in 1458 and, thanks
in 1428, and then went on to Rome turmoil between the papacy and the to a degree in canon law conferred
to join the papal choir. By this time, Council of Basel rocked the Catholic on him by the pope while in Turin, he ▷ PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG MAN
This portrait by the Flemish artist
he had made a name for himself as Church, and Dufay’s position in Italy was also made a canon at Cambrai
Jan van Eyck, c. 1432, is generally
a composer and managed to secure a became insecure. In about 1440, he cathedral. Dufay then remained in believed to be of Dufay when he was
series of prestigious posts: maître de returned to Cambrai to supervise Cambrai until his death in 1474. in his thirties.

“ If my face is pale, the cause is love. ”

GUILLAUME DUFAY, IN THE SONG “IF MY FACE IS PALE”
020

▷ THOMAS TALLIS
Tallis, the foremost composer of English
choral music in the 16th century, worked
for both Catholics and Protestants during
the Reformation. As a member of the
Chapel Royal (an institution rather than
a building), he wrote music that met the
changing spiritual needs of the royal
family. Tallis is depicted here in a
stained-glass window at St. Alfege
Church at Greenwich in London.

Thomas Tallis
c. 1505–1585, ENGLISH
Tallis was a leading composer of church music during the Tudor period.
He steered a difficult course through the Reformation, but maintained
his status as a distinguished member of the Chapel Royal.