Let us now go back to the man that is known as the first real polyphonic composer, Guillaume Dufay:

 

Background: Dufay comes straight after John Dunstaple, I add a small piece,

 

Veni Sanctu Spiritus. (website)

 

he was the first to start composing in a new way. He was introducing new sounds, it was more flowing, more gentle to the ear. And his music was well spread across the continent, partly because of the war against France, Hundreds year war

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hundred_Years%27_War

 

that benefited also cultural exchange. So the music was known to Dufay when he started his musical journey through time.

 

But when we listen to “Salve, flos Tuscae” it is still very much the French style, but also moved a long way already. Listen to the difference between

Philipoctus de Caserta. 1370-1410, De ma doulour

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rW0Qs7Nuf50

 

and Dufay’s Salve, Flos Tuscae (1436)

 

performance 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUIjCmSBSz4

 

performance 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M14Go-vu7BI

 

 

I think this truly explains what is going on now. It is not a small step, or when you are not convinced, go back to Guillaume de Machaut! There is truly a world of difference. And that is exactly the point, Dufay being the first of the long line of Flemish composers. And you can hear why he is the first!

 

Some technical remarks on Salve, Flos Tuscae:

• Gregorian chant like melody, in long lines. Like cast in concrete, defining the structure of the music

• Two separate moving lines with their own text, more freely

• Probably 1st performed in Florence,

 

Another piece of that time is Nuper Rosarum Flores (with score),

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QipoTdSDx8&list=RDgEOGZ0o5CvQ

 

 

heard at the consecration of the Santa Maria del Fiore, the great church of Florence with its famous dome designed and built by Brunelleschi.

 

 

 

 

If you are interested; there is a great book about Brunelleschi:

http://www.archive.org/stream/brunelleschisdom00king/brunelleschisdom00king_djvu.txt

(this is the full text!).

 

Just a remark: Brunelleschi was a true genius, when you realise there was a demand for construction a huge dome:

Yet by 1418 what was by far the grandest building project in Florence had still to be completed. A replacement for the ancient and dilapidated church of Santa Reparata, the new cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore was intended to be one of the largest in Christendom. Entire forests had been requisitioned to provide timber for it, and huge slabs o£ marble were bemg transported along the Arno on flotillas o{ boats. From the outset its construction had as much to do with civic pride as religious faith: the cathedral was to be built, the Commune of Florence had stipulated, with the greatest lavishness and magnificence possible, and once completed it was to be 'a more beautiful and honourable temple than any in any other party of Tuscany'. But it was clear that the builders faced major obstacles, and the closer the cathedral came to completion, the more difficult their task would become.

The way forward should have been clear enough. For the past fifty years the south aisle of the unfinished cathedral had housed a 30-foot-long scale model of the structure, in effect an artist's impression of what the cathedral should look like once finished. The problem was that the model included an enormous dome — a dome that, if built, would be the highest and widest vault ever raised. And for fifty years it had been obvious that no one in Florence — or anywhere in Italy, for that matter — had any clear idea how to construct it. The unbuilt dome of Santa Maria del Fiore had therefore become the greatest architectural puzzle of the age. Many experts considered its erection an impossible feat. Even the original planners of the dome had been unable to advise how their project might be completed: they merely expressed a touching faith that at some point in the future God might provide a solution and that architects with a more advanced knowledge would be found.

 

Finally he manages, but there is so much more to this than just some study and design, like the hoisting of all the building materials up to the foot of the dome (high above the cathedral floor) by oxen, that could not walk backwards so how to lower the hoist again? Also there Brunelleschi invented a new machine. And of course he was a true artist, capable on nearly every task! How come that in those days artist, like Leonardo da Vinci, were capable of dealing with so many fields, had so many talents. And then, were given huge responsibilities at very young ages. Remember that many people died even before getting to the age of 50 (like Jacob Obrecht)! Isn’t that also a miracle of these times. We like to think they were a bit stupid, since true science did not enter their world. But I think the opposite is true, these artists were true geniuses.

 

Dufay also wrote a motet, Mirandas Parit, the text surprises:

 

Wonderfully pretty girls
Are born in this city of Florence,
Of remarkable beauty
And radiantly elegant appearance.
The grace which, so we think,
Helen once possessed,
Finds its flourishing reflection
In our maids here at home.

 

And the music is also a step forward, three voices, free flowing, where the two top voices sing the same text, and are connected by “imitation”,  a canon like effect (The restatement in close succession of melodic figures in different voices in polyphonic textures), wiki explains:

 

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imitation_%28music%29

 

This can clearly be heard in the beginning of the piece, or at the start of a new phrase. It is like the 2nd time the music is lifted a bit, it certainly adds a special effect. In the middle section we return to the typical long lines of music of that style, the Gregorian chant is never far away.

 

The music on youtube:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGo7Nd8Epyc