Guillaume Du Fay (/djuːˈfaɪ/ dew-FY, French: [dy fa(j)i]; also Dufay, Du Fayt; 5 August 1397(?) – 27 November 1474) was a French composer and music theorist of the early Renaissance. Regarded as the leading European composer by his contemporaries, his music was widely performed and copied. Du Fay held various music positions during his lifetime, and was associated with the Burgundian School as well as among the first composers of, or at least a predecessor to, the Franco-Flemish School.
His most famous and celebrated work, the complex motet Nuper Rosarum Flores, was written for the consecration of Filippo Brunelleschi's dome on the Florence Cathedral and is considered an icon of Western culture. Du Fay left behind an extensive oeuvre, including pieces representative of virtually every genre of polyphonic music from his time. His music effectively synthesized a wide variety of styles: that of the famous Missa Caput, the Contenance angloise of his older contemporary John Dunstaple, and the techniques of his younger contemporaries Johannes Ockeghem and Antoine Busnois.
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