Leonel Power

(c.1375-1445) English composer. He was associated during the first part of his career, from about 1413 until 1421, with the Household Chapel of Thomas, Duke of Clarence (brother to Henry V and thus heir presumptive to the throne). Later, from 1438 through 1445, he served as the first Master of the Lady Chapel Choir at Canterbury, although his association with Canterbury began as early as 1423. The middle period of his life, between 1421 and 1438, is obscure, though some connection with the Chapel Royal seems likely, probably involving time spent abroad among the English possessions in northern France. Whilst the bulk of his extant works is found in the Old Hall MS, other sources provide us with an important Mass (based on Alma redemptoris mater as cantus firmus) and several late motets in a new, more lyrical style. The style of his later works shows Power clearly moving towards the consonant, less rhythmically complex sound of the 'contenance angloise' ('English countenance'), typified by the music of John Dunstable and composers such as

Bedyngham, Plummer and Frye. This music, for which English musicians became famous, is characterised by a fullness of sound, sweetened by the almost constant presence of thirds and sixths, and rendered graceful by the suavity of the interlacing melodic contours. With Dunstable, he was one of the most influential English composers on the Continent. He also wrote a treatise on Descant.

John Dunstable
(c.1380-1453)
English composer. We know so little about him that almost the only sure historical fact is that he died on Christmas Eve 1453. Beyond that, the inscription of his epitaph describes his different professions, and in a book on astronomy in St John's College, Cambridge, he states in his own hand that he was a musician in the service of the Duke of Bedford. The fact that much of his music survives in Continental sources suggests that his fame was widespread. Fifty-five works that are normally considered as by Dunstable survive, including two complete Masses (one isorhythmic) and several paired and single Mass sections, a large number of motets, and possibly two secular songs.

Thus all that we have of his music is in the form of liturgical or votive church music; what may be counted as secular music amounts to so little that even the most celebrated 'O rosa bella' is not his for certain. What is certain is that Dunstable was the greatest English composer before William Byrd. He was the man whose 'contenance anglaise' influenced music for a century. it did so abecause of his residence in France for a number of years as musician to John, Duke of BedfordHenry V's brother and Regent of France from 1422 to 1435. It seems likely that the composer visited Italy also, judging from the number of his works that exist in Italian manuscripts. At any rate he was sufficiently renowned in France to be acclaimed by a contemporary French poet, Martin le Franc, who in 1441-2 wrote: The English guise they wear with grace They follow Dunstable aright, And thereby have they learned apace To make their music gay and bright. 'They' refers to the two leading composers on the Continent at that time, Dufay and Binchois. The 'English guise' (or 'contenance anglaise') as presented by

Dunstable was not only an increased sonority, but a more pronounced feeling for chords and chord progressions, a more refined treatment of discord, a fresher, more lyrical vocal line, and a greater equality of part-writing than had existed before, the chordal sense and equality of part-writing being a natural outcome of English discant and conductus style combined. Although Dunstable might well be called the first great composer in the early Renaissance period, mediaeval features persist in much of his musicfor instance, isorhythm (which, like most of the examples in the Old Hall manuscript, usually occurs in all the voices), polytextuality, and distinction between the parts, both through rhythmic differences and (more especially) through the use of voices and instruments, particularly in secular pieces, the most common layout being a vocal top part with two lower instrumental parts.

Guillaume Dufay(c.1400-1474)
Binchois with Dufay Guillaume Dufay was born about 1400 and received his musical education as a chorister in the Cathedral of Cambrai. Very early in his life he started to show great talent as a singer and composer and was called to Italy, first to the Court of Malatesta at Rimini and Pesaro, and later as a member of the Papal Choir in Rome as well as the Court of

Louis of Savoy at Geneva. 1436 finds him in the service of Pope Eugene IV in Florence, where he composed motels for the inauguration of the dome built by Brunelleschi. He frequently returned to his home in Burgundy and later held canonries at Cambrai, where he spent the rest of his life up to the time of his death in 1474. Dufay's travels brought him in close touch with the musical style of both the North and the South. Thus the year 1425 puts him down as the so-called founder of the Netherland's Polyphonic School, and from 1440 on he was generally considered the leading master of church as well as secular music.

Gilles Binchois
(c.1400-1460)

Binchois with Dufay Franco-Flemish composer. From c.1419 through 1423 he was

organist at S. Waudru, Mons; later he was in the service of the Duke of Suffolk in Paris (1424/5) and may have traveled with him to England. From some time before 1431 through 1453 he was chaplain at the Court of Burgundy. He was also a canon at a church in Mons together with Dufay , whom he undoubtedly came to know in middle life. Binchois is known to have written some twenty-eight Mass sections, four Magnificats, some thirty motets and hymn settings and around 55 chansons. His chansons are particularly remarkable, and he ranks with Dufay as a major exponent of the form. Many of them have a rather sad, nostalgic quality, the texts treating of unrequited love in the somewhat stilted manner of the courtly tradition. Often highly formal, he nevertheless often achieves a noteworthy depth of feeling.