or Du Fay
born с 1400
died Nov. 27, 1474, Cambrai, Bishopric of Cambrai
Franco-Flemish composer, principal composer of the Burgundian school .
As a boy he sang in the choir of Cambrai Cathedral. Ordained a priest, he acquired a high reputation for learnedness. In 1428 he joined the papal singers in Rome, by which time his works had made him famous. He returned to Cambrai с 1440, where he would supervise the cathedral's music for the rest of his life, apart from a period (1451–58) working for the duke of Savoy. Many musicians came to learn under him, and he enjoyed renown as the greatest living composer. His surviving works, which employ a richly harmonic texture, include some 90 chansons, 13 motets, and at least 6 complete masses, including such early cantus-firmus works as L'Homme armé and Se la face ay pale.